Review of Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, directed by Jonathan Goldstein

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I recently fell into a spell of unemployment probably during the worst time to be unemployed, as it was very hard to find a job. I was applying to hundreds of jobs, getting interviews, but no offer was manifesting for me in the near future. So during this time, I had a lot of free time, and spent a good chunk of it chipping away at the blog.

Back in the day, when I had a car (a kid totaled it a while back, and because I was unemployed, I didn’t want to take on a car payment while I did contract/freelance work remotely), I used to go to the movie theater two or three times a week. I had AMC A List, and because my county had quite a few AMC options, and I went to New York often, I had the chance to go and see whatever I wanted.

I ended up canceling my A List because I had no car and I thought I was moving abroad, which fell through after waiting four months and being told that it was going to happen. I missed my A List dearly during this time, especially as there were so many movies I wanted to see and no longer had the chance.

This movie actually came out before I lost my A List, but I genuinely had no interest in seeing this in theaters. I’ve never played Dungeons and Dragons in my life, nor have I really wanted to. Growing up, the games I was into often leaned into Nintendo, and I was a big anime girl.

However, when this movie was added onto Netflix, I decided to give it a chance and see what the hype was about. It had been two years at that point, and I hadn’t thought of this movie since it came out, but here it was on Netflix, begging for me to watch it. And so I did!

Let’s get into the review.

A bard and barbarian gather a team of unlikely heroes to save the kingdom from unexpected evil.

Our main character in this movie is Ed (full name: Edgin) Darvis, who worked with the Harpers, who, in this world, helped keep the peace and the order. He stayed with them until an extraordinary event happened: after arresting a Red Wizard, the wizard’s disciples come to his home and kill his wife. He saves his daughter, and with the barbarian Holga, and Simon (a sorcerer), con artist Forge, and Sofina, who we know nothing about.

Together, they pull off thefts in order to survive. One day, when going after a Harper base, Ed finds a tablet that could bring back his wife, but then Holga and he are captured by those in the stronghold. They are imprisoned for two years, and upon escaping, they learn Forge has grown to become a Lord and takes care of Kira.

There’s something Fishy about this, and the duo learn that Kira’s told that her father deserved his arrest because of his greed, and Sofina, a Red Wizard, and Forge are actually behind his arrest. Sofina wants the duo executed, but they escape from her and her minions, stealing from Forge’s vault in the process.

They also take Kira and realize they need to prove to her that they are innocent. They need the tablet to do that and get Ed’s wife back, but first, they find Simon along the way. They also get a new teammate: Doric, a druid impacted by Forge’s political decision and wants to save the forest.

Doric turns into a fly and goes into Forge’s castle, determining that they need a magical relic in order to break through the defenses. They go to the graveyard of Holga’s ancestors to ask for it, then the corpses tell them that Xenk Yandar has the Helm they need.

Xenk only agrees to help them after forcing Ed to promise anything they earn goes to the people, then he shows them the way through the Underdark. Sofina’s assassins find them when they get the relic, but Xenk helps them further before leaving the group to continue their mission.

However, Simon can’t use the helm fully, and the group deduces they need to use it to get the vault during the games. But when they do just that, Sofina shows up and captures the group. They’re put into the games themselves, and while they run from the creatures and dangers thrown at them, they figure a way out by going underneath the colosseum.

They find Forge fleeing on a boat full of riches, then they steal the boat and get Kira. Turns out Sofina is planning to turn the colosseum crowd into an undead army, and the group lures people out of the stadium by launching Forge’s gold and spoils onto the street.

This pisses Sofina off and goes after them. After a tense fight where Sofina seems to have the upper hand, Kira manages to get a bracelet that cuts off magic onto Sofina, but it’s not before Holga is critically injured. She dies, and Ed decides to bring her back to life with the tablet instead of his wife, as it would be for everyone, not just himself.

Forge is removed from his Lord position and the old lord is put back into power. The crew is called heroes, and Xenk puts forge in the same prison Ed and Holga were once held at.

Overall Thoughts

As mentioned before, I have never played Dungeons and Dragons, so I might have a different perspective about what went on in the film compared to someone who knows all of the lore. I think this is pretty accessible even if you have no idea what the game series entails, like I did.

I do think that if I knew more about the world and its people I might’ve been able to have a deeper appreciation for what went on in the movie. I did enjoy watching it, but I felt like that there was more that I missed because I didn’t know the components and mechanics that made up this world.

Regardless, I’m happy I watched it. The curiosity has been satiated for now, and while I don’t think I would watch a sequel to this movie, I’ll probably end up doing so anyways. Somehow this always ends up being the case, especially if it’s in the near future.

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