Reviews Film / Dungeons And Dragons Honor Among Thieves

A LIGHTNING BOLT in a Bottle

It is a testament to the rising successes of table top RPG games that we get a proper big budget release out of what was once one of the most sneered upon of hobbies. Is there anything as nerdy as the title "Dungeons and Dwagons?" I can't think of one. And so I felt like a complete dork just asking for two tickets, and to finish the image off, my wife had chosen to turn up to the cinema wearing her broken glasses, crudely stuck back together.

But I am glad I watched it, Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Amoung Thieves is a Very Good Film that feels in many ways like it is going to be the zoomer generation's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. For starters, there is the tone of the movie, which is a well balanced combination of silliness, wry humour and sincere warm heartedness. It manages to poke fun at its source material without the bland, self-referential smartassery of Marvel Superhero movies, and as a result it manages to actually be funny. There are lots of well delivered jokes, timed so that they don't undercut the heartfelt or dramatic moments. That somehow feels like a major feat in this day and age.

Our story consists of two former burglars attempting to put together the heist of the century in a medieval fantasy land. It's all for a good cause, but it requires getting their old gang back together, with lots of fiasco action scenes and magical doohickory. There are lots of well realised characters who are each given their moment in the limelight: the wise-acre bard Edgin, the plain talking barbarian Holga, the apprehensive amateur wizard Simon, the cynical druid Doric, and Mr Perfect himself, paladin Xenk. Everyone is going to have a favourite.

Another way in which it is like Pirates is how it manages to make the best use of its fantastical premise and tropes to deliver on some really imaginative set piece action scenes. There's some awesome brawls with Holga, some thinking with portals with the wizard, and a one-shot pursuit involving Doric shape-shifting her way out of a fortress. Not only are these scenes cleverly done, it'll feel familiar to any seasoned D&D player who has found themselves chaotically hurtling through encounters by the seat of their pants. Even the special effects are something to brag about; there's an excellent blend of big budget CGI and practical effects that - yes, it bears repeating - are the last thing I would expect to see in a Dungeons and Dragons licensed movie.

I'm not claiming Honour Amoung Thieves is brilliant. But it acts as a much needed break from Disney's domination of the geek franchise movies. It gets right everything that it should. My only fear is that, again like Pirates of the Caribbean, its success is going to spawn an excessive number of sequels with diminishing returns. Until then, enjoy the movie.