REVIEW: DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES

I’m relatively new to the world of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). I’ve only been playing for about a year, but I’m completely in love with the game. It’s such a complex, rich world of fantasy, filled with fantastical beasts and monsters, flamboyant spells, magical weapons, and so much more. Most importantly, it’s a great way to meet new friends and grow confidence in yourself as both a RPG player as well as a person.  D&D has grown so much in the last decade and I was so excited to see the trailer for Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. After watching it in theaters with my D&D friend group, I can happily say that it didn’t disappoint.

Firstly, the film is packed with D&D staples as far as magical items and creatures are concerned. If you’ve watched the trailer, you’ve already seen one of the most popular monsters included in the world of D&D: the Owlbear. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see this creature brought to life on screen. There were also staples such as the Hither Dither staff (a staff of teleportation), Bigby’s Hand (a famous spell that materializes a giant hand that the caster can punch and grapple an enemy with, among other things), and the best staple of them all, the loveable dragon known as Themberchaud.

Themberchaud has a deep history in the realm of D&D and I won’t get into that history for the sake of whoever is reading this, because this review would get rather long. However, the inclusion of this particular chunky dragon is a testament to how much research, thought, and love was put into this film. It’s clear that the directors weren’t just piling in popular D&D material, they were picking and choosing the best elements throughout the world of D&D that made sense with the story they were trying to tell.

Another aspect I loved about the film was how they took the rules of D&D and sprinkled them into the film, poking fun at the game itself at times. For example, there’s a certain scene where the spell Speak With Dead is cast. This spell allows the caster to ask a corpse up to five questions. The film takes full advantage of the limits of this spell, and a character even questions the reasoning of only being allowed to ask five questions.

It’s a wonderful film overall, and I’d recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in the world of D&D. Who knows! You might just buy a set of dice and start playing!