“News Review: Thieves’ Honor – A captivating fantasy adventure in Dungeons & Dragons”

But even those who have never played the game and haven’t seen the previous (rather lousy) adaptations don’t have to feel deprived watching the new Dungeons & Dragons: Thieves’ Honor movie. Perhaps they even have the advantage of being unbiased and not overly optimistic.

Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein have made a fun action-adventure fantasy blockbuster with characters that are very easy to fall in love with from the first moments each of them appear. In addition, with a pleasant humor that shows that this film is mainly for entertainment, but it is not stupid and does not throw itself down.

Of the characters, the itinerant musician or bard Edgin (a real nice guy Chris Pine) attracts the most attention, who made a decent living as a thief of artifacts that he stole and sold to others.

But since no tree grows to heaven and everyone falls, Edgin once put loot in the wrong hands that shouldn’t have. This set off a series of events, in which there is no shortage not only of the nefarious plans of the main villain in the charming performance of Hugh Grant, but also of all the creatures and monsters that create the fantasy world.

To get out of the mess he’s made and repair his tarnished reputation, Edgin needs the right party. And the creators put it together perfectly for him. From the tough warrior and friend Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) to the mage (Justice Smith), who hasn’t really honed her magic since her last meeting with Edgin, to the druid (Sophia Lillis), who has her own reasons for participating in Edgin’s plan. And finally, there is a delightfully insufferable lad played by Regé-Jean Page, whom others would have liked even better if he didn’t preach so much all the time.

The story moves at a pace that makes you feel like Daley and Goldstein will never run out of ideas and can’t get enough of them themselves. But if they had had enough of them fifteen minutes earlier, it would have been better for the film. The set is generous, the tricks combine acting well with digital technology, the camera plays with details and wholes in a clear and fun way.

But what takes Dungeons & Dragons: Thieves’ Honor up a notch from the usual grand fantasy is humor. The main cast consists of characters who are more loosers than heroes, each with their own well-crafted problem or trauma. Even the monsters are already funny with their names (mvedovýr) and depiction, and if someone wants to be afraid of them, they can, but they don’t have to.

The dialogues are brisk, funny, the points are well prepared. As the brain-eaters, who supposedly only attack the smart, pass by the party and go unnoticed, Edgin remarks with his character’s signature sarcasm, “Now I’m offended.”

The film also has serious moments. The emphasis on the importance of family is not surprising, but whenever some sequence threatens sentiment, relief comes in time, without the film becoming, even for a moment, a parody. And balancing a world of fantasy, action, adventure and humor with well-developed characters is an art that deserves to be continued. At the end of the film, it is definitely done for him.

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