X
- 2023
- PG-13
- 2 h 14 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- 2 h 14 m
Summary A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings the rich world and playful spirit of the legendary roleplaying game to the big screen in a hilarious and action-packe...
Directed By: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
- 2023
- PG-13
- 2 h 14 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- 2 h 14 m
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
72
7.5
Where to Watch
Summary A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings the rich world and playful spirit of the legendary roleplaying game to the big screen in a hilarious and action-packe...
Directed By: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 57 Critic Reviews
72
82% Positive
47 Reviews
47 Reviews
12% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
5% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 57 Critic Reviews
72
82% Positive
47 Reviews
47 Reviews
12% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
5% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
If there was anything missing from the lives of swords ‘n’ sorcery-loving nerds, it would be a proper Dungeons & Dragons movie. Now we have one.
What's especially welcome about the humor in Honor Among Thieves is that it doesn't wink or mock its material; the characters just say funny things and bounce off each other as organically as a real-life friend group. The fantasy elements are played straight, and the central story is a relatable romp about how people who fail as individuals can still succeed together.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 433 User Ratings
7.5
80% Positive
346 Ratings
346 Ratings
12% Mixed
51 Ratings
51 Ratings
8% Negative
36 Ratings
36 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 433 User Ratings
7.5
80% Positive
346 Ratings
346 Ratings
12% Mixed
51 Ratings
51 Ratings
8% Negative
36 Ratings
36 Ratings
Honour Among Thieves could have tidied away its plot more economically, but the leisurely pacing does allow us to connect with the surprisingly fleshy characters. It is no mean feat to make something so funny from such unpromising material. It is more impressive still to end on a genuinely moving note. A welcome surprise.
Honor Among Thieves is a big, bright, iridescent gem of a heist movie in a spectacular, vibrant, and fantastical world.
It manages to capture not only the adventure of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, but also the sense of camaraderie the game engenders, because it is typically played by groups of close friends meeting regularly for months or even years to a complete a campaign.
Although the script does have a zippy, wisecracking feel, there’s also an earnestness at play: the characters embrace the strangeness of their world without ever feeling the need to remark on it. In short, this is a film that is fun while also taking its premise somewhat seriously.
Every element other than Mr. Grant is brain-scarringly awful—the flat characters, the dull acting, the rusted-battleax dialogue, and above all the action scenes, which are frenzied, chaotic, meaningless and vapid, overflowing with CGI that is no more awe-inspiring than the average TV commercial about lizards selling auto insurance.
The movie is a positive surprise. It is entertaining, has a lot of good humor, tons of fan service and enjoyable characters. Sadly it will be one of those movies that is really good but no one watched. Also I have seen the first D&D movie in cinema that was hilariously bad (but entertaining). This is an improvement by several levels. I bought the movie on DVD after hearing many people praised it. It was even better than I hoped for. The story starts with the bard Edgin and female barbarian Holga in a prison. They hope to be pardoned and telling the story how they got into trouble. However this is just the set up as they did not know that there was more behind it. The story fully works. All characters have their flaws, motivations and heroes journey. More movies need to do this. I liked them because I can relate to their struggles. Everyone has doubts, made decisions that backfire or dis-improves things by trying to fix them. There are also tons of lore, easter eggs and references. If you pay attention you even see the characters from the old D&D cartoon. The cast is near perfect and fits their roles. Chris Pine, Michelle Rodrigues, Sophia Lillis, Rege Jean Page, Justine Smith and all the others are excellent and have great chemistry. The bad guys are so enjoyable. I love to hate them. I should also praise the writers and directors. They made an awesome movie. Other than that I praise the humor and action scenes. Both are fully satisfying. The special effects are great too. They fit into the movie in a way that feels genuine. Overall I think I should give a 10/10. It might not be that good but it is a positive surprise and immense improvement. Also they made some positive example how to subvert expectation (In a way that I would applaud).
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I did NOT want to see this movie. I was steadfast against it because of the writers saying the quiet part out loud about purposely emasculating men. Spoiler alert: they weren't kidding (except for a nicely portrayed old school Paladin). But, being a parent of a teen, he was quite keen to see this movie, and we have strongly bonded over both baseball and old school AD&D, so off to the theater we went (matinee prices). I played AD&D in the 80s, during the height of the "zomg satanic" scares. My friends and I were, above all, nerds. Stranger Things portrayed that aspect of us quite well, minus the parallel world and telekinetic teen. It's been a joy to play AD&D as DM for my children and friends, although we are strictly a 1e, not 5e world. I'm sort of pleased to see so many people trying to retrofit to 1e from 5e in light of latest drama. However, having said that, I still recognized that this movie was going to try to cater/nod its way towards 5e players. The inclusion of things like the Dragonborn and bird people(?) races confirmed that for me. To the critiques: Even APART from "most tabletop adventures at home will be better than what the writers can come up with" criticism (which I find quite valid), we shouldn't forget that Gary Gygax et al created just EPIC adventures in module form. Tomb of Horrors, the Against the Giants series, even The Temple of Elemental Evil are all rousing adventures that are just sort of . . . out there for inspiration. My son pointed out that adventures like that almost might be better for a streaming service, in a serial form. That would also allow for far more character development/arcs. More nitpicky: I guess that while I enjoyed the movie, I also had quite a few problems with the writers not taking a few simple extra steps for either fan service, or just . . . making the movie MORE like D&D. For instance, Capt. Kirk certainly is portrayed to be a Bard. The old Bard started off as a fighter, abandons that class to become a thief, and then after sufficient time becomes a Bard, whereupon the character can employ abilities from the two abandoned classes. Capt. Kirk is shown, early in the movie, to be a fighter (armored, with a sword), later gives that up to become a thief, and then wields a lute, but there's no mention as to why that's important. IS he even a Bard, or do they just go to efforts to make it look that way, and then "lol nope?" Even a throwaway line might have helped, much less him using his OWN lute to cast an illusion at a later point in the movie (I won't be specific since it's just out). Also, what was with the "wheel of spells" thing on the belt of the Magic User? Not a line about how he got it, what it even is, or why he is inept at selecting spells? Is it a random thing, like the Deck of Many Things, or a Wand of Wonder? There is a single mention of the word "Cleric" in the movie -- those are typically healers. With a bit more knowledge, the writers could have allowed the Magic User to say, at a CERTAIN point in the movie ("I can't help [person]. I'm not a cleric."). Something like that, at least. Finally, they went to a hell of a lot of trouble to obtain the helm -- did anyone see what became of it by the end of the movie? Is this a Shazam 2 thing, where in the next movie someone is going to find it in a museum? Despite all these criticisms overall the movie was certainly . . . mid. Worth the matinee price at least. I'll be interested in how much 5e players like this movie compared to my traditionalist 1e self.
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A Hollywood's fan service to nerds. More an assumption Hollywood has what a nerd would like to see than what an actual nerd would like to see. I give a bigger score than it deserves, because at least they try. They still don't seem to grasp though why GoT (sans the last season) was such a massive success. You have to be serious about fantasy. Not try to wink-wink audience into your belief that it's all utter bollocks so let's better get it on with it.
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This has nothing to do with Dungeons & Dragons. These are modern people acting silly in a thinly decorated modern world with all the usual absurdities. I suppose if you want to laugh at the game, then this is the movie for you. Otherwise, it's the usual boring, modernized, preposterous, and bland. Pine and Grant do the best they can with what they're given, but they aren't given much.
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Very woke movie. Not bad in many ways, but the actresses they picked were all the ugliest, except the tiefling girl. Even the evil witch woman was cuter than Chris Pine's wife, Rodriguez, and their daughter. It's like they don't want women to be attractive anymore, but guys can be? Very woke. And the main guy and his little biotch boy mage friend are bumbling idiots half the time. Strong female leads are great, but why are **** male leads the norm as well? The story was alright. It incorporates some DnD elements. But it's all about overcoming your mistakes and low confidence rather than what skills apply or clever thinking (though there are moments of clever thinking, it isn't the main message of the movie... which is to try your best and you will succeed). The gross modern elements by Goldstein and co. are what drop the score low.
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Production Company
Paramount Pictures,
Entertainment One,
Allspark Pictures,
Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC),
British Film Commission,
Film in Iceland,
Hasbro Studios,
Hasbro,
Marzano Films,
Northern Ireland Screen
Release Date Mar 31, 2023
Duration 2 h 14 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline Who needs heroes when you have thieves?
Awards
Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Awards
• 2 Nominations
SXSW Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
