David R. Walker

Archive for the ‘John Francis Daley’ Category

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Directors: John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein

Cast: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Rege-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head, Bradley Cooper

Running time: 2 hours and 14 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Thank you to UIP for the invitation for the Film Premiere held at Suncoast Cinemas on Tuesday 28^th March 2023

Spiderman: Homecoming screenwriting duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein take on the director’s chair in the big screen adaptation of the role playing game Dungeons and Dragons in a lavish fantasy adaptation entitled Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves which premiered at the South by South West Film Festival in Austin, Texas in early March 2023 https://www.sxsw.com/ .

What the directing duo perfect at the beginning is the casting in Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves which features a gorgeous but funny male lead, Chris Pine (Hell or High Water, Wonder Woman) as Edgin, the manipulative hero and as the villainous and vain enemy, Forge wonderfully played with a British panache by Hugh Grant (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Florence Foster Jenkins).

In between the villain and the hero is a host of sidekicks characters including action woman Michelle Rodriguez taking a break from the Fast and Furious franchise to star as Holga, Chloe Colman to star as Edgin’s daughter Kira, screen newcomer Rege-Jean Page as the mysterious fighter Xenk, Justice Smith (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) as the young wizard Simon and the beautiful Sophia Lillis as the changeling Doric.

Filmed mostly in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the directing duo definitely take inspiration from HBO’s Game of Thrones and created a similar slightly medieval allegorical universe complete with dragons, both fat and vicious, mazes with strange creatures in it and wizardry galore but to make this pure fantasy epic work so brilliantly is the superb on screen chemistry between all the cast and particularly between Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez and of course between Hugh Grant and the rest of the cast as he tries to fool everyone into believing that Forge is a benevolent dictator, when in fact he is just a conman.

At 2 hours and 15 minutes, viewers will get their money’s worth in a dazzling and lavish fantasy epic which will suitably satisfy fans of the D and D games and its superb reincarnation as a cinema franchise. Most definitely the scriptwriters and directing duo had to make an impressive franchise debut which will attract fans of fantasy films and they have cleverly pivoted the storyline to attract younger viewers as they also hint at a potential sequel.

By far the funniest scene in the film is when Edgin and the gang visit the graves of dead soldiers as they try and resurrect the dead to question them about a vastly powerful helmet which can protect the wearer from pervading evil sorcery.

The film’s middle section could have been edited, but overall, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves is a fantastic family action film bound to keep fans enthralled with its spectacular visual effects. For its pure fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is strictly recommended for fans of this genre.