Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Paramount Pictures
It’s hard to blame anyone who’s feeling a little skeptical toward Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves; the last time Hollywood tried to adapt the fantasy tabletop game into a film series, the results were almost supernaturally awful. Even so, anyone who loves D&D would do well to roll the dice again on this new adventure. Unlike its predecessor, this one’s a certified crowd-pleaser—even for those among us who’ve never glimpsed a character sheet.
Those who have played Dungeons & Dragons will find plenty of details to love in Honor Among Thieves (including an excellently deployed owlbear), but the film also avoids egregious pandering and excessively loud Easter eggs. In place of strained references, Dungeons & Dragons, which premiered Friday night at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival, rewards the game’s fans with a satisfying journey that emphasizes companionship, tenacity, and most importantly, playfulness above all else. In other words, the movie succeeds because it actually manages to capture what makes the game such fun to play.
A killer cast also never hurts. We open on two longtime partners in crime—the charismatic Edgin (Chris Pine), and his more taciturn partner Holga (Michelle Rodriguez)—as they plead their case for release from prison on charges of thievery and skullduggery. These two might’ve already gotten caught red-handed during one heist, but it doesn’t take long for them to embark on another once they’ve flown the coop. They’ve got good motivation: Edgin needs to find his daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman), whom he hopes to find in the care of another member of his crew, Forge (Hugh Grant). Unfortunately for Edgin, his former colleague is living proof that there’s no honor among—well, you know.