Pop-Culturalist.com

SXSW 2023 is officially here and the headline opener this year is Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The entire two levels of the Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin, Texas were completely packed for this two-hour-and-fourteen-minute showing. And by the end of it, the audience was hooting and hollering for more!

Chris Pine joined the crowd for the screening tonight along with Michelle Rodriguez, Rege-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis, Justice Smith, and Daisy Head. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a light-hearted fantasy adventure that starts off with Edgin (Pine) and Holga (Rodriguez) in jail, recounting how they got there through a series of hilarious flashbacks. Though they are not romantic partners, Edgin and Holga do have a strong relationship with one another, raising Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) together after her mother’s death. Long story short, Forge (Hugh Grant) betrayed Edgin, took his daughter as his own, and made a pact with the evil witch Sofina (Head) in exchange for unfathomable riches.

The character development displayed in Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is outstanding. Though we are introduced to many adventurers, each character has clearly explained motivations and backstory, which makes them feel grounded in this fantasy setting. Doric (Lillis) for example, decides to join Edgin as they both have a common enemy – Forge. Forge has taken over the capital city, and recently has been burning and killing their way into Doric’s homeland. Doric join in hopes that they can somehow bring a stop to this.

Each character also has a unique special skill they bring to the table, and everybody has fleshed-out character arcs too. My favorite was Justice Smith’s portrayal of Simon the wizard. Simon is introduced as a dollar store, self-deprecating magician performing parlor tricks in a shed – like abracadabra-ing the smell of grass – in front of a small audience, but by the end of the film, he’s an all-powerful wizard, flinging giant handfuls of rocks and stone across the screen.

But character development is not the only thing this film does well; the skills, items, and how they are utilized within this world are exquisitely imaginative. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves contains the most realistic and ingenious use of the portal spell in any movie to date! The fight scene choreography, and the direction and editing of said scenes clearly takes a page from the old Jackie Chan films of yore – clear, stable shots of the action, with minimal quick cuts. (Shout to Regé-Jean Page and Spencer Wilding for an amazing mid-movie sword-play ballet!)

Though this movie nails a lot of things, some of the plot was just plain tiring. While the whole basis of a normal Dungeon and Dragons campaign is basically chasing an object around, with the “meat” of the actual adventure coming from the interactions between the characters, the enemies, and the world itself. But the MacGuffin chasing in Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is just too much. It felt like the entire first and second act was just chasing one MacGuffin after another. And once our adventurers get their MacGuffin, the plot necessitates yet another MacGuffin in its place. I quietly sighed, “Oh COME ON!” at least twice.

Another nitpick against Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is… the title. It’s quite possibly the blandest name I’ve ever seen. I mean, if you’re not a fan of the whole “Dungeons and Dragons” thing, you’re immediately turned off. If you are a fan of Dungeons and Dragons, you’d think that this was a cheap corporate cash in, as Hasbro, the owner of the intellectual property that is “Dungeons and Dragons”, recently was in the news trying to turn the historically open-license associated with D&D into a restrictive, profits-first licensing model. Hasbro immediately backpedaled after the initial backlash from the D&D community, but the taint from this decision is still fresh on the minds of many fans.

All in all, don’t let the stigma of the name, or a MacGuffin or two turn you off from watching Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves when it comes out later this month. This is one of the best action-adventure films of 2023. Granted, it’s still early, but from what we’ve seen at SXSW 2023, this is the one to beat!

 

★ ★ ★ ★ out of 4

 

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hits theatres March 31, 2023.