One year later, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves still feels underrated

Dungeons & Dragons is currently at the peak of its popularity and shows no signs of slowing down. The brand isn’t merely unstoppable on the plane of tabletop RPGs but also doing incredibly well on even the most unlikely of entertainment fronts.

Critical Role, a show composed of very long episodes where you watch a party play the classic board game while embodying their characters, is one of the biggest things ever on Twitch. The people behind Stranger Things, one of the most successful TV series ever, don’t even bother hiding that they borrow more lore straight out of D&D than they create their own. Baldur’s Gate 3 is basically a video game adaptation of the tabletop RPG — well, do I even need to talk about its success?

With all that, I think Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the movie adaptation of the popular brand, exists in an absolutely bizarre place. It sports this hugely popular brand name and was very well-liked — if not loved —by most people who saw it. And yet, it still failed to break even at the box office.

Over a year after its release, and in a time when even most great movies can perform awfully at the box office, I’m having trouble handling all the hopeful headlines about sequels that we want but that no studio would want to make right now. So, let’s look back on this should-be Blockbuster in the beautifully delusional hopes of kickstarting the wave that will one day turn this tide.

Why Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is special

One of the things that might prevent you from engaging with a work of classic Fantasy is the innate fear of drowning in a sea of overly serious lore. Lord Of The Rings did a service to the world of fiction in general, but they aren’t for everyone.

Dungeons & Dragons writers John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, and Michael Gilio knew that. They also knew that one of the best things about D&D is how it allows players to use their imagination, which will inevitably bring about hilarity. Despite not being a comedy, Honor Among Thieves is funnier than anything that came out that year.

Just as importantly, it also understands fantasy. Much of the film’s efficacy stems from stellar writing and directing but also from the magic of whatever wizard put this cast together.

Chris Pine’s Edgin Darvis is one of the most interesting protagonists I’ve seen. He’s the conventionally handsome protagonist, but he has to make up for his hilarious lack of combat skills with charm, wits, and pathos. While he’s the movie’s emotional core, none of the other cast members fall far behind.

You can tell the filmmakers were incredibly confident in their cast and writing. Midway through the movie, they introduce a character who’s funnier (and, arguably, hotter) than anyone else in the movie, keep him around for a couple of scenes, and then let him go off on his own. Did they do that to flex on the audience? I don’t know, but I’d believe it — and love them for it.

The action is also awesome, courtesy of some spectacular choreography and stunt work that a lesser movie would have ignored in favor of CGI. Honor Among Thieves could’ve quickly fallen into the fantasy pitfall of making everything CGI, but it avoids it. The final act felt especially satisfying in how it employs CGI, dividing its use between a few segments. It manages not to take your attention away from the characters and the journey at hand.

You can see a lot of love was put into this beautiful blend of CGI, neat and cozy sets, and impressive puppet and animatronic work. They used every trick in the book to make the movie work and keep moviegoers wondering how they achieved many of their special effects.

When all is said and done, the movie’s winning formula is simple: equal parts heart and laughter, but we all know damn well just how hard that simple mix is to pull off. The ensemble antics of Honor Among Thieves might have learned some lessons from the original Guardians Of The Galaxy, but I’d argue that it’s probably an even better movie than its teacher.

I’ve been careful not to spoil any plot element, but I assure you that the plot of both films plays nothing alike. The influences here are all about the group’s dynamic and have nothing to do with the progression of the plot. Even though it’s not an entirely original film, it still provides a wildly original and spectacular take on a formula many feared cursed — and for a more or less understandable reason.

Honor Among Thieves isn’t the first attempt at a Dungeons & Dragons film, and let me tell you, the original one was bad. Is the original D&D movie the reason why people of my age and above steered clear from Honor Among Thieves?

I’ll admit it: that original film is the reason I resisted the clear allure of Honor Among Thieves. However, I didn’t resist for long, especially not after I realized that Honor Among Thieves has absolutely nothing to do with whatever that thing was.

Perhaps the most significant sign of Honor Among Thieves‘ quality, though, is that you just read glowing praise about a Dungeons & Dragons movie from someone who’s otherwise unable to stand Dungeons & Dragons. Yes, I concede that my predicament is weird and for reasons well beyond the obvious.

I love board games in general. I’m fond of other tabletop RPGs like Vampire: The Masquerade, and I even adore many D&D-based video games, such as Knights Of The Old Republic. There’s just something about having to fill out character sheets and come up with a backstory that kills any interest I might have, even before the first dice roll. You really don’t want me to join your party unless you want the company of a Tortle Bard or something even dumber than that.

You can watch Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on Netflix or Amazon, and you have my blessing to join me on my quest to promote this marvelous movie. You can even try to be more annoying than I just was when you bring it up in conversation with your friends today.