If you want another mid-2020s adventure film that mixes elements of fantasy with contemporary action and comedy, you should definitely roll the dice on “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the 2023 movie manages to appeal to both die-hard fans of the culturally dominant tabletop roleplaying game as well as those who don’t know their D20s from their D6s, largely by harnessing the real, relatable chaos of an actual D&D game and channeling it through a story that resembles the best of Marvel Studios’ crowd-pleasing adventures.
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Anyone who’s played even one game of D&D will be charmed by how accurately it nails the game’s bewildering mechanics while capturing the spirit of collaborative, improvisational storytelling that serves as the game’s beating heart, which could have something to do with the fact that the directors and the cast themselves actually played D&D as part of their creative process.
Speaking of the cast, it includes so many underrated performers getting to do what they do best, from Chris Pine’s dashing scoundrel of a bard and Michelle Rodriguez’s brutal barbarian to Regé-Jean Page’s pompous paladin. You don’t even need to be a player to fall in love with the entire ensemble cast (there are also a few surprise cameos from actors who nearly threaten to steal the entire movie, but we won’t spoil them here).
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Despite clearly being set up to launch a series or perhaps even a whole franchise of “Dungeons and Dragons” related films and television shows, “Honor Among Thieves” was a critical failure at the box office (though the second life it found on Netflix may help keep the dice rolling). For now, it’s a wildly entertaining film that will surely entertain fans of “A Minecraft Movie.”