Skip to main content

Dungeons & Dragons 2023 -- a review

After a disastrous first attempt at making a movie in 2000, with Dungeons & Dragons, they’ve tried it again in 2023 with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. And this time, they’ve scored a bullseye in creating a very successful quest. Fresh from the behind the scenes shenanigans of the vastly disappointing Don’t Worry Darling, Chris Pine stars (and also has a producer credit) here as charming thief Edgin Darvis, who breaks out of jail with his partner in crime Holga Kilgore, played by the always great Michelle Rodriguez.

Edgin is eager to reconnect with Kira (Chloe Coleman), his young daughter, whom he left behind when he and Holga got caught while trying to pull a heist. They were out to score a magical amulet that would have brought Edgin’s deceased wife back from the dead. But, Edgin discovers that his old partner, Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant)--who promised Edgin that he would take care of Kira--has become the ruler of the city of Neverwinter, and that Forge had poisoned Kira against Edgin and Holga. After barely escaping being murdered by the machinations of Sofina (Daisy Head), a powerful wizard working with Forge, Edgin and Holga form a team to infiltrate Neverwinter so they can rescue Kira.

Running against the current grain of the “dark and gloomy epic fantasy saga with everybody fighting to save the world” trend, the new D&D movie is a more vibrant, family-friendly adventure that’s a welcome change of pace. But while the D&D ‘23 movie is lighter in tone than most of the recent darker TV fantasy productions, it still takes its threats and villains very seriously in very well-executed action sequences. Even the extensive CGI sequences are extremely well done; they support the story while creating a great deal of tension without taking over the film.

The focus here is on the characters, and it helps that the movie has a great cast. Hugh Grant is superb as the dastardly, back-stabbing Forge. And Daisy Head is appropriately creepy as the mysterious Sofina. Justice Smith does a good job in playing Simon Aumar, a young sorcerer who’s always done in by his insecurities. Sophia Lillis, who was so good in the It remake films, is also great here as Doric, a shape-shifter who doesn’t trust humans (and with good reason).

Directors Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley have crafted the perfect blend of comedy and adventure, while deftly bringing to life the vast, imaginative fantasy world that these characters inhabit. Much like the Star Wars films, this D&D movie also has various critters and people wandering around in the background, giving the viewer the sense that there is a fully-evolved world that exist just beyond the fringes of the story we’re watching. The new D&D film was such a pleasure for me to watch that I really want to see more of these characters, and their well-thought out fantasy world, in a sequel. But even if we don’t get a sequel, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves can still confidentially stand alone as a highly enjoyable entry in the ever-growing fantasy film/TV genre. --SF

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves can be seen on the Paramount+ streaming service. It is also available on all physical media.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Explorer From Another World

It’s Friday night during the summer in Beutter county, an idyllic farming community in Indiana, and the good folks are settling in for what should be another humdinger of an evening. Until their plans are shattered by the arrival of an Explorer From Another World! This turns out to be an alien (Gemma Sterling) who starts savagely killing people from the moment it disembarks from its flying saucer. Local kids Eddie (Colin McCorquodale), Marybeth (Sage Marchand) and Culpepper (Nolan Gay) are planning on seeing a movie, but it looks like they’ll be battling for the very survival of the human race instead! Explorer From Another World is a wonderfully done throwback to the B-movies of the 1950s and 1960s. Ably directed by Woody Edwards (who gives himself a small cameo as Hank in the sheriff’s jail cell), the film is forty five minutes long, but manages to tell its torrid but funny story very effectively in the time allotted. And the short running time tracks when you...
Post a Comment
Read more

Batman: The Return of the Caped Crusaders -- a review

Holy animation,, Batman! Batman: The Return of the Caped Crusaders is a loving tribute to the 1960s TV series that manages to feel like the second 1960s-era Batman movie, thanks to the voice-casting of original Batman and Robin stars Adam West and Burt Ward, along with Julie Newmar, who reprises her role as Catwoman. Taking place in the same time period as the series, the film is filled with the social mores of the time, such as having Catwoman demurely step to the side whenever Batman and Robin battle the villainous henchmen (complete with the customary BIFF! BAM! and POW! word balloons the original series always flashed during the fight scenes). Catwoman is a part of a fearsome foursome of rogues that includes the Joker, Penguin and the Riddler as they set out to work together to wreak havoc on Gotham City. The fact that these villains team up, along with their use of a penguin-themed zeppelin later in the film, is a nice nod to the original 1966 Batman movie that was relea...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jurassic World: Rebirth -- a review

Released 32 years after the original Jurassic Park , and ten years after the first reboot, Jurassic World , the latest film, Jurassic World: Rebirth , is the seventh entry in the long-running cinematic series and, judging from its strong box office take, it won’t be the last. Scarlett Johansson, who was nine years old when the first JP film was released, is now the lead of Rebirth , starring as Zora Bennett, a mercenary who gets hired for a special mission in the jungles on the equator. And she convincingly plays the part with casual ease. The dinosaurs that had been returned to the modern day through science have not been doing too well in the intervening years, with their numbers dwindling to the point to where they now only thrive in areas along the equator, which is designated off limits to humans. Zora is hired to take a team of her fellow mercenaries to one of these forbidden locations that plays host to the dinosaurs because a pharmaceutical company wants them to e...
Post a Comment
Read more