The New Dungeons & Dragons Movie Looks . . . Surprisingly Great

Games The New Dungeons & Dragons Movie Looks . . .

Surprisingly Great Erik Kain Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I write about video games, entertainment and culture. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

Got it! Jul 22, 2022, 06:00am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin When I hear Dungeons & Dragons within a word or two of the word movie, my reaction is generally something like this: D&D (2000) Credit: New Line Cinema But the new trailer for Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is shockingly . . .

really great, and if we can trust the trailer’s good D&D energy, then I think we have a film that’s worth looking forward to at last. The Chris Pine-led adventure film appears to actually understand and appreciate what an actual session of Dungeons & Dragons tabletop gaming is like. This is fan-service, but it’s fan-service for actual fans and it’s genuinely funny and awesome.

Here, watch first then we’ll talk: So, in very broad strokes, this looks like the kind of campaign where the Dungeon Master (or DM) has tried pretty hard to craft a serious story only for the players to basically turn it into a running gag. All that hard work over “unleashing the great evil” turns into a series of ridiculous scenarios and lute jokes. Yep, we’ve all been there.

MORE FOR YOU ‘Demon Slayer’ Season 2 Finally Has An Actual 2021 Release Date Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Not A Sure Thing, Says Director ‘Genshin Impact’ Still Refuses To Increase Anniversary Rewards, Despite Fan Outcry The entire bit about “making plans that fail turn into new plans” is so meta D&D it’s not even funny. I mean, it is funny. It’s just so on-point D&D it’s kind of shocking.

Are the people making this movie actual . . .

gasp! . . .

D&D nerds? I thought movie adaptations of tabletop and video games were supposed to be made by people who hate these things! I mean, it could still be terrible—I’m jaded enough to not get my hopes up too high—but this trailer is definitely a pleasant surprise. I love that they’re not making this some epic quest to stop the dark lord or, rather, I love that even if that’s what the DM had in mind, the movie is actually all about these rogues and thieves screwing around and getting into tight spots and having a swashbuckling adventure. I dig it.

More like this, please. Honor Among Thieves stars Chris Pine alongside Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis, and Hugh Grant. The film’s directors are Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daly who previously made Game Night starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams—a film I somehow never heard of but now would like very much to see.

I missed this Comic-Con panel, unfortunately. I did make it to both the Severance and Dragon Prince panels Thursday and am sallying forth to many more today. Apparently Hugh Grant is a Comic-Con newbie just like me.

Ben Stiller, at the Severance panel, was revealed to also be a Comic-Con virgin. I feel that I am in good company. Follow me on Twitter .

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