acid reflects

Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a surprisingly entertaining low-stakes comedy adventure you’d wish you we in. It’s engrossing enough to ask for a continuing franchise. Thankfully it’s not quite like the gameplay, which means even non-fans can enjoy it.

Taking cue from classic Lord of the Rings staples such as an epic quest, treasure, a fellowship of heroes and fantastic realms, Honor Among Thieves is an old-school magical medieval adventure where a merry band of misfits travels far and wide to find a mystical object that leads them to their heroic destinies. There’d be dungeons and dragons and evil wizards in between, intruders beware.

Upon their release from prison, Edgin (Chris Pine) of the spying Harpers, and the brute, barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) return to their old town to reunite with Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman.) At a tavern, they learn that their former accomplice, Forge (Hugh Grant) has become lord of the city of Neverwinter where Forge has taken and raised the girl. (Red flags, but cross your fingers!)

But Forge has been keeping secrets, including the true story of why Edgin and Holga were imprisoned (well, he is a con man.) Forge sends the two to their death, but they escape. Determined to prove their innocence to Kira, Edgin and Holga plan to break into Forge’s vault and steal the Tablet of Resurrection (stop there, to avoid spoilers.)

First, they need help from their former thieving teammate, the bumbling sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith), plus a recruit, the shapeshifting tiefling druid Doric (Sophia Lillis.) Along the way, they meet the prim and proper paladin Xenk (Regé-Jean Page) who helps the group during big moments. Dead soldiers and giant fish included. Standing (or floating) in their way is the red wizard Sofina (Daisy Head) who has darker plans apart from providing advise to Forge in Neverwinter.

Needless to say, not all things happen according to Edgin’s plans, but it all comes to a very satisfying conclusion.

DnD: Honor Among Thieves is based on the fantasy tabletop role-playing game first developed by Tactical Studies Rules in 1974 and later on published by Wizards of the Coast in 1997. DnD was the grandparent of modern role-playing games – from Pokemon to Final Fantasy, Defense of the Ancients to Fallout (much like LOTR was the OG of all things fantasy.)

I briefly dabbled in DnD back in the day – a few college friends who regularly played it like the famous teens in 1980s Hawkins introduced me to the gist of the game. But I would sink into Magic: The Gathering more than I would any other game. As I said, the movie is unlike DnD gameplay – but it does cover the basics of the game.

In a nutshell, the game happens as a sort of mission or campaign that players have to accomplish based on a set of longstanding basic rules set by the makers of DnD. A Dungeon Master or DM plays along with the rest of the characters, setting up the world and describing what happens. Each player creates a character with certain abilities. To do something, a character rolls a dice, which determines if the act is successful or not, or do nothing, based on the rules. The more detailed the characters are and the better the DM’s descriptions, the richer the story develops. In effect, it’s improv storytelling.

Can you set DnD in 1980s Hawkins? Or in the Philippines, with manananggals and tikbalangs for monsters? Yes, for as long as rules are met. Some would describe Guardians of the Galaxy as a DnD story where a bunch of different characters with specific skills band together for a heist. In the Amazon Studios adult animation Legends of Vox Machina – a series based on the long-running DnD web series Critical Role – one character uses a magical gun. It’s almost anything goes, for as long as the basic rules are met.

How does the movie measure? The movie establishes a medieval fantasy world quite early on, where talking creatures talk side by side with humans in frigid mountains to volcanic plains. There’s no DM narrating the quest, which was the path taken by the famous TOEI animated series in the mid-1980s. Instead of a narrator, the characters themselves sometimes describe what happens – most of the time Edgin – similar to the storytelling device employed by Vox Machina. No die is cast, no hit points appear on the screen.

And so the magic of DnD: Honor Among Thieves is that it lets you into the exciting world of the Forgotten Realms without burdening noobs with character sheets, encyclopedic rules, and a lifetime of commitment. Yet.

The movie does follow the basic rules, and characters perform some of their characters’ iconic skills. Holga the Barbarian goes on a rage and reckless attack which lead to certain consequences, the paladin Xenk performs Laying of Hands to heal and sniffs evil danger with Divine Sense. The druid shapeshifts in various shapes and sizes – and in one exhilarating long take, scurries across the castle floors as a mouse.

But as persons in a story, our thieving fellowship doesn’t quite make the home run. Michelle Rodriguez stands out as the badass barbarian and sells the physicality required for the role and ends up as the emotional core of the film – not Edgin, whose quest is the impetus of the story. Maybe it’s the problem of the bland, righteous hero character that Edgin fits into. Chris Pine is Chris Pine, he’s already established himself quite comfortably in comedies throughout these years, and he even gamely sings a couple of songs here. But it feels like it’s missing just a smidge of physical comedy or a lingering closeup to fully feel Edgin in the film. Hugh Grant, in contrast, felt like he overdid it – you’d think a con man would be more subtle. This is a minor gripe because my actual reaction was that Grant didn’t feel like he fit in the film squarely. I kept imagining a much older veteran actor doing the bit as Forge. Justice Smith and Daisy Head are fine as dueling wizards – their “hand-to-hand” final battle was pretty impressive. Smith’s Simon has a good backstory – it’s possible to put him as a recurring character in a future spinoff. Overall, the film provides a stable foundation of basic DnD characters that newbies can build upon. And cosplay to. The story’s pretty thin, we have to admit that.

If you think all this fantasy role-playing is mere child’s play, there is a real-world practical application of it. NBC News’ Meet The Press conducted a war game that explored how the United States might react should China invade Taiwan around 2027. The scenario was played out by experts in national security and US-China relations from think tanks to the Department of Defense and members of the US Congress. You can watch how the Philippines gets involved in the war game here.

The verdict? It’s all fun and games, one that I would not mind returning to in a few years for a new quest. The Forgotten Realms is making an open invitation for magical adventure. These days, there are many paths to take to join or create your own story. The choice is ours to make.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is produced by Paramount Pictures and Hasbro. Directed by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein from a story by Chris McKay, Michael Gilio. Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.