We must never stop failing, because the minute we do, we've failed

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2023

#12 : Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

While D&D’s big screen legacy has traditionally been nothing for bards to write songs about, that all changed when John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein signed up for this immensely enjoyable and altogether less serious dungeon crawl (fun-geon crawl?). With their Game Night faces on, the pair successfully equipped this irreverent high fantasy heist caper with a screenplay of +2 charisma and a cloak of greater chuckling. From Hugh Grant’s scheming villain (think Phoenix Buchanan if he had a Red Wizard of Thay at his beck and call) to Regé-Jean Page’s absurdly literal paladin, and Sophia Lillis’ shape-shifting druid (the focus of a an exhilarating, form-flipping chase sequence), Honor Among Thieves is populated by an almost obscenely likeable clutch of cut-throats and rogues and boasts a gag-rate that hits more times than a level nine magic missile.

This is one that, under normal circumstances, there would have been no chance of me watching - but it got a surprising number of decent reviews (even The Guardian were nice about it, if not impressed enough to put it on their list) so I'm quite interested to see what we've got here.

You know what? It's very, very silly. Sorry - as Empire says, it's irreverent. No, scrap that - it's silly. I could attempt to explain the plot to you but I pretty certain it wouldn't look any better in print than it looks in my head. But whilst it certainly doesn't take itself too seriously, it also doesn't dismiss its roots and I assume it shows enough reverence to the game to have kept the fans onside. It certainly rams home the message about different characters working and growing as a team to face a variety of obstacles. Oh yes - subtle this is not.

But, it's also perfectly enjoyable provided you're in the mood for such a thing - I can imagine it was greeted with much relief by parents who were dragged to see it with very low expectations. It does, as Empire also point out, have very likeable characters (along with some enjoyable baddies) who enjoy some (but not too much, and not too complex) growth, decent amounts of action (yes, there are plenty of swords) and there are also jokes (if maybe not quite as many as Empire suggests). There are also no pauses for breath - there's no danger of getting bored during this film.

Our team of plucky heroes is played by Chris Pine (the bard), Michelle Rodriguez (the barbarian), Justice Smith (the sorceror) and Sophia Lillis (the druid) - and they gel well together as a team. There are also some pretty serious actors in side roles, some of which are surprisingly minor with Hugh Grant continuing his hammy streak as a baddy, Daisy Head (Anthony's daughter) being nicely sinister and Regé-Jean Page twinkling nicely for the mums (or maybe the dads). And then there's Bradley Cooper who's in it for about two minutes playing a dwarf who adds nothing to the plot other than, quite obviously, a stick - I've absolutely no idea what's going on there.

The film is well done - the VFX has been made to look more cartoonish than realistic, but it works well within the overall context of the film because they're not trying to pretend it's real. And the breakneck pace works really well - it really doesn't need to be 134 minutes long, but there are plenty of shorter films that have felt considerably longer for me.

I liked this way more than I was expecting to - it's certainly not a "great" film and I doubt it would feature in my top 20 of the year, but it's very watchable fun and delivers some positive messages in a family-friendly package, which isn't recognised enough as a valuable skill. If you need such a film, then I thoroughly recommend this and it's available to stream on Paramount+ and Curzon or to rent in all the usual places.

#13 - A surprising amount of depth
#11 - Impressive action, but way too long