Dungeons And Dragons Film Review: Honor Among Thieves, A Mixed Adventure Of Magics

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Aidan Monaghan)

Paramount Pictures and e-One officially released their latest fantasy adventure action film, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The film features a fantasy-themed story backdrop of action with each other's attacking magic swings here and there, frightening dragon bursts, living bodies that can speak, as well as a thick comedy dress that colores the whole story.

The storyline of the film with the nuances of humor and sarcastically launched charmingly thanks to the main figure of Edgin Darvis (played by Chris Pine) who often puts himself forward as an accomplished planner with a myriad of plans that, of course, none of them went as they should have been.

As a character who bridges the core story of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Edgin is a poet who has past pent up trauma.

Initially, Edgin was a member of the Harpers aristocrat, a group that devoted itself to fighting tyranny and defending the helpless. But after having a dispute with the evil Red Magician Thay, without realizing it, Edgin actually invited tragedy into his life which resulted in the killing of his wife.

He then decided to ignore the oath as Harpers and then tried to raise the daughter of Kira Darvis (played by Chloe Coleman) himself. On his way to raise Kira, Edgin became friends with fierce potato enthusiasts from the barbarian Holga Kilgore (played by Michelle Rodriguez).

Quoted from ANTARA, Edgin and Holga were later involved in a number of small thefts and crimes that were not too serious, and even tended to be ridiculous. The two friends then formed a pencileng team with a witch with minimal abilities, namely Simon Aumar (played by Justice Smith) and the great manipulator Forge FitzWilliam (played by Hugh Grant).

Tablet of life

One by one the theft of Edgin and his compatriots was quite successful, until one day he heard of the existence of an ancient relic tablet that was thought to revive the dead.

Trying to revive his late wife, Edgin then asked his partner for help to steal the tablet. But they faced the wrong side. As a result, Edgin and Holga had to languish in a gloomy Revel End cliff prison.

After successfully escaping from Revel End - which shouldn't be too much of a need for them, Edgin and Holga tried to return to meet Kira who was abandoned while they were in exile in Revel End.

But Kira apparently denied his father's presence even though he still received Holga's return. According to Kira, his father Edgin deliberately left him just to hunt for wealth through the tablet of life he was looking for.

Edgin and Holga's efforts to convince Kira were fruitless. Moreover, the more painful thing is that it turns out that their friend Forge has committed betrayal and allied himself with one of the strongest magicians from the Red Magician group, Sofina (played by Daisy Head).

In order to fight against the allied Forge and Sofina, Edgin and Holga are trying to find the witch again with the ability, namely Simon Aumar. Also, through Simon, this herd gets a new member, a liquid tier named Doric (played by Sophia Lillis) with the ability to turn themselves into any kind of animal he wants.

Fighting the tyranny of these four friends immediately united to find ways to fight the evil influence of Forge FitzWilliam who has recently held the power of the city of Lord Neverwinter. But their plans are often colored by failures due to Edgin's meaningless ideas, Simon Aumar's magic carelessness, or Doric's ability to change who is unable to match Sofina's magic.

Fortunately, Edgin and his friends are destined to meet paladin Xenk Yendar (played by Regé Jean Page) who is known as the idol hero of a charismatic society. Uniquely, with deep mathematical knowledge of everything, Xenk is sometimes unable to distinguish sentences that have a real meaning with making fun of sentences. Of course, the paradox that Xenk puts on is the perfect figure of depiction of imperfections.

"Let's see how he faces the stone in front of him," said Edgin to his friends when Xenk walked away.

Long story short, Edgin and his friends managed to infiltrate the Forge castle to free Kira. But Forge has prepared a number of evil cunning tactics to paralyze the herd of thieves.

Realizing that he didn't have much choice, Edgin begged Forge that he and his colleagues be given the last chance to take part in thebutine game in the celebration of the High Sun - hoping that the plan for the time would go according to what he thought. Realized or not, Edgin and his friends had to face a more dangerous and deadly game.

Crowded humor

The film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves shows a simple storyline full of humor dialogues and original jokes that have the potential to stir the audience's stomach almost throughout the adventures of Edgin and his friends.

Almost all of the characters, including some of the life frames of the grave, have their own portion of humor in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Even the figure of a giant creature such as a volcano that does not get the dialogue, could have its own comedy part.

It is not surprising that when following the storyline of this film, the audience seems to forget the number of central figures who are compacted in such a way as to bring their respective characters. The humor that flows straightforwardly, urgently, and as necessary makes Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves very exciting to enjoy.

The strong humor combines with elements of a surprise that are tucked away not excessively and the frightening feel of horror from magic sent by the Red Magician group, especially through the very mysterious figure of Sofina.

A thumbs up deserves to be posted for the dynamic duo of directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley who have also acted as scriptwriters in the film produced since May 4, 2021. Both Goldstein and Daley grew up together as big fans of the Dungeons & Dragons game.

So it's no wonder that their emotional ties are built so nicely that they are not only familiar with the character of the game, Goldstein and Daley have also worked several times to build heroic comedy sketches in writing the Horror Bosses script (2011) and sequels in 2014, then Spiderman: Homecoming (2017), as well as Game Night (2018). This time in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the duets Goldstein and Daley developed a preliminary story written by Chris McKay and Michael Gilio. They packaged fantasy works of monumental action that are synonymous with fear of magic and dragons with original comedy that were placed properly.

They also don't forget to enrich the story with the best visualization of effects that are mandatory in fantasy films. The ability to change the shape of the liquid Doric, the mechanical magic belt of the witch Simon Aumar, and therium configuration of the High Sun are a few examples of pampering the audience through very interesting visuals.

On the other hand, the concept of eccentric films directed by the Goldstein and Daley duo might even surprise those fans of the Dungeons & Dragons game or those who had watched the previous adaptation film trilogy.

The film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves also offers a series of thefts that -- although not as dramatic as Ocean Eleven, are equally entertaining thanks to a plot that is not too serious but still has good weight. As a result, the film, produced by Jeremy Latcham, Brian Goldner, and Nick Meyer, will bring the audience late on Edgin Darvis' 130-minute adventure with his friends excitingly, thrillingly, and capitalized imaginationless, and never forget to be spiced up with classy humorous dialogues.

The film, which took the main location of shooting in the Belfast area, Northern Ireland, also adds an exciting story as well as a strong message that ultimately tied Edgin and his adventurers to a true friendship without strings attached.

There will be an emotional side that knocks and brings up a little sungging of a smile --or if it can be said to be the simplest attempt to hold back the tears.

"We can only use this object once," said Edgin. "I know," replied Kira.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is intended for spectators aged at least 13 years with Parental Guidance and starting to hit Indonesian cinemas on March 29.