At its strongest, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves feels delightfully untethered from any specific era. It avoids the brooding grit and excess that defined fantasy films of the 2000s, leaning instead into warmth and charm.
For the most part, it carries the light, crowd-pleasing energy we’ve come to expect from modern action-comedy blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, but crucially sidesteps the self-aware, self-deprecating humour that many viewers were bracing themselves for.
When the film hits this sweet spot, we’re laughing with Honor Among Thieves, not at it. Its sharpest jokes grow naturally out of the inherent silliness of a D&D campaign, never grinding the story to a halt just to land a punchline.
We’re simply along for the ride as Holga the barbarian (Michelle Rodriguez) casually flirts with a halfling because she has a thing for short guys. Or we follow the mage Simon (Justice Smith) as he attempts to pull off a heist despite barely being able to cast a functional spell. The humour is straightforward, but it’s executed brilliantly.
Despite welcoming newcomers into the vast Dungeons & Dragons universe of the Forgotten Realms, the film keeps things refreshingly accessible. We’re introduced to Chris Pine’s bard, Edgin (yes, really), while he’s imprisoned and explaining to a parole board how he ended up turning to crime.
Naturally, this tale is a ruse designed to buy time while he and Holga plan their escape, but it also works as a clever distraction for the audience.
Without realising it, we’re being smoothly briefed on all the fantasy mechanics and background we’ll need to understand the rest of the story. By the time Edgin and Holga leap out of the window and the real adventure begins, the exposition is already behind us, and it never felt like a pause.
That said, this is still a big-budget, crowd-pleasing comedy, and cracks begin to show when the film occasionally struggles to maintain a clear sense of identity. Some jokes linger a beat too long, like the running gag about the imposing warrior being attracted to smaller men, which eventually tips from playful into slightly mean-spirited.
Elsewhere, Chris Pine has moments where he all but turns to the camera, eyebrow raised, whenever things veer too far into absurdity. At times, it feels as though Honor Among Thieves is obligated to hit a certain quota of Whedon-style humour to justify its place in the blockbuster landscape.
The film takes almost no real risks, yet it still manages to come across as sincere rather than a hollow IP cash-in. Its weakest elements, particularly the more overt MCU-style jokes, feel bolted on, but the overall experience is far more earnest than most of us anticipated.
Ultimately, Honor Among Thieves succeeds because it’s a fantasy film that isn’t embarrassed by its own genre trappings. It’s also unapologetically a mid-tier movie, and unashamed of it, which is oddly refreshing.
There’s genuine comfort in seeing a film like this stick the landing. If the non-MCU blockbuster really is finding its footing again, then Honor Among Thieves is happily carrying that banner forward, even if it could stand to trust its own ability to entertain a little more.
On a side note, If watching this movie inspires you to try the tabletop game yourself, search Dungeons and Dragons group finder to find local and online groups to start your first campaign.
