"Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" is a Triumph for Fun Fantasy

The new film is a brilliant example of how fantasy films don't have to be dour but can instead be pure, infectious escapism.

There’s a tendency in fantasy, particularly when it comes to film and TV, to skew toward the epic. Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, HBO’s Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and even The Witcher all adhere in one way or another to the epic sensibility. These are all very serious stories about very serious things, where very often the world itself hangs in the balance. Much as I love the epic in all of its manifestations, I found it rather refreshing that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, based on the very popular game, jettisons much of the dour seriousness of much fantasy in favor of a rollicking good time, becoming in the process a film that never takes itself too seriously but still allows us to become invested in its story and its characters. 

To be sure, there are some elements of the epic DNA running through Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. It focuses on Edgin Darvis, a former Harper who escapes from prison and tries to reconnect with his daughter, who has been raised by his former partner in crime, Forge Fitzwilliam. Unfortunately, Forge has become the pawn of a sinister Red Wizard, who plans to sacrifice the residents of the city of Neverwinter. Thus, in an effort to rescue his daughter, Edgin has to overthrow these two would-be tyrants, and he sets off on a quest and, as the film goes on, it deftly weaves together the political and the personal. Even after Edgin manages to pry her from Forge’s grubby fingers, he still has to defeat the nefarious Red Wizard, Sofina. Fortunately, all ends up happily, with the stage set for further adventures. 

Stating the obvious: the entire cast is phenomenal. Chris Pine is undeniably one of the few actors who can truly be said to have star power, and he brings his usual charm and charisma to his role as Edgin, who begins the film as something of a scapegrace but ultimately shows his truly noble nature. However, this is very much an ensemble piece, and credit also has to be given to Michlele Rodriguez, who plays Edgin’s right-hand woman, Holga. In the actress’ capable hands she becomes much more than just a fantasy stereotype but instead a warrior with a heart of gold who has had to endure no small amount of sacrifice (including leaving her tribe for the man she loved, only to find herself unable to truly care for him in the way he needed). The other supporting actors, including Justice Smith and Regé-Jean Page are equally excellent. I particularly enjoyed Page’s tongue-in-cheek approach to his role.  

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Hugh Grant, who has a grand and campy time as Forge Fitzwilliam. If ever there was someone born to play an amoral scoundrel who nevertheless manages to be irresistibly charming, it would be Hugh Grant. In fact, Grant seems to have embraced his “villain era,” as roles like this one and his (similarly camp) performance in Paddington 2 make abundantly clear. You want to hate the guy but, come on, this is Hugh Grant we’re talking about. When he flashes those teeth, you just can’t help but help but fall prey to his charm. 

The screenplay is light on its feet, and it never gets bogged down in the details. This is clearly a world with its own rich mythology and histories and cultures, and we do certainly get glimpses of them. However, the plot–which is largely episodic and quest-driven–keeps moving at a fast clip, so that we don’t have too much time to spend in any one location. There’s also quite a bit of dashing wordplay, and I found myself laughing out loud at several points (always a good thing in a film like this). It’s the kind of film that just sort of sweeps you up in its own propulsive narrative, which makes it enjoyable for both fans of the game and those who may not know anything about it.  

Visually, Honor Among Thieves is similarly delightful. There are some lovely shots of the Icelandic countryside, and nothing is quite as evocative of a fantasy sensibility as a wide overhead of noble warriors galloping across a countryside. It would have been easy for the film to go all-in on the kinds of fight scenes that de rigueur in so many fantasy filmmaking, but instead it shows a remarkable amount of restraint, including them only where necessary. Likewise, rather than overwhelming the film with CGI, it uses a judicious mix of CGI and practical effects, which makes the set pieces featuring the former all the more impactful. Sometimes, even in the world of fantasy, less is more. 

There is, I think, something pure and maybe even a little nostalgic about Honor Among Thieves, in that it hearkens back to an earlier period of fantasy, one which sought to tell a good story more than anything else. One of the most notable examples of these is Willow, with all of its sword and sorcery badassery, but this sensibility is also present in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films (far less so in The Hobbit). This is the type of film that invites you to just sit back and enjoy the show. 

If anything, Honor Among Thieves, and its success among critics, shows us that there’s still a lot of room in the world of fantasy filmmaking for this kind of irreverent and fun approach to the genre. In its own way, Disney+’s Willow did the same thing, as does Amazon Prime’s The Legend of Vox Machina (also based on Dungeons and Dragons, by the way). Even if this particular film doesn’t engender a franchise–and it’s still very unclear whether it will or not–it succeeds on its own terms and as a self-contained story. In this day and age, when every film or TV show seems to lead into another, that is quite an accomplishment.