Fans of the game might have a +5 resistance to charm spells,
but are they charmed by "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves"? Here's what they have to say.
What a good time it is to be a Dungeons & Dragons fan. 23 years after Courtney Solomon's critically
panned D&D movie relegated the RPG classic's live-action adaptations to direct-to-DVD status,
"Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" has captured the best things about D&D. It's
arrived on the big screen with the kind of joy and adventure that bodes well for future
sequels. Critics and audiences rate Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley's movie highly,
and the likable cast makes for a magnificent party of adventurers.
All of this is extremely good publicity for the game, and it doesn't exactly hurt that
Pine thinks everyone should play D&D. But what do actual players think of the movie?
"Sounds lovely."
"Quite the opposite."
"I know. I was being ironic."
"I find irony is a blade that cuts he who wields it and most especially."
Turns out, many of them really enjoy it, and they've taken to the game's subreddit
to express their joy. In a post that proclaimed their love for "Honor Among
Thieves," one redditor described their experience in the theater, writing,
"The audience tonight were all geeks (surprise!) and so the energy of the
theater was really up-beat. There were even tear-jerker moments,
which I must give them props for since that's hard to do in a 'high fantasy' film!"
Another subreddit member found the communal viewing experience similarly comfortable.
"It was a pretty full theater which I was shocked about and I
didn't hear a single person complaining about it."
Apart from the positive experience of seeing the film with fellow enthusiasts,
several D&D aficionados have excitedly pointed out specific details and references in the movie.
"What is that again?"
"It's an owlbear."
They were particularly impressed by its emotional impact, but the experience
of simply being able to see the movie as a longtime D&D fan is also important to many.
Another point of discussion in the subreddit were about the way "Dungeons & Dragons:
Honor Among Thieves" manages to marry its comedic moments with its more heartfelt ones. One Redditor
compared the movie's vibe to James Gunn's work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which
has been known to balance a similar line between laughter and emotional gut punches. They wrote,
"It's a D&D fantasy Guardians of the Galaxy film, feel it's the best way to
summarize it. It's not a comedy but there's definitely some good comedy and character
writing with the jokes. There is also some genuine heart in it that makes you care."
Another Redditor agreed, complimenting the movie's successful balance between the serious
and humorous moments, and compared "Honor Among Thieves" favorably to recent superhero movies.
"Better than the last 4 or 5 Marvel and DC outings. Comedy was done well,
it managed to take itself seriously when it needed to and joked when appropriate
without marvel level 'he's right behind me isn't he' detracting from serious moments."
"Follow me to the orifice."
"The orifice?"
Though it's clear that fans appreciate the movie's comedy-drama balance,
it seems that the best part of watching the film was still being able to share the
experience with their fellow players — to the point that even the movie's
occasional lower moments couldn't rain on the parade. One fan wrote,
"It wasn't perfect, but the fact that everyone I went with to see it, which included 4 out of
6 of my players and most of our children (a total of 9 of us), were standing around and
talking about it and it took us all about 15-20 minutes to leave the theater, is quite telling."
They continued to say,
"Plus we were talking with other random people in the theater that loved it as
well. I haven't felt that excited post movie since like the first Matrix."
Another user chimed in to say,
"If you are a fan of the game you will love this movie. Will everyone love this movie? No. I can
see certain demos not wanting to rush out to see this. But if you like D&D it's a slam dunk."
This emotional experience alone is clearly enough to score "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor
Among Thieves" some serious appreciation points from the fandom. The fact that it also happens
to be a genuinely good, fun adventure movie probably doesn't hurt, either.
"Anything you want to add?"
"I'm good."