Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

We haven’t had such a fine film for a long time. This fantasy popcorn flick, playing to the rhythm of Guardians of the Galaxy, is set in a new, unfamiliar world full of new characters, and yet is somewhat pleasantly familiar. It starts with a scene that quotes Jurassic Park, but then goes its own way, and it does it very well. The plot is pleasantly straightforward and keeps to the ground, it doesn't even matter that it's not particularly surprising, because originality is all around. The characters have real believable relationships with each other, the humour is not hammy at all costs and when the script wants to, it can even slow the film down a bit and give room for other emotions, like in one scene with a cameo by a very famous actor who isn't even listed in the cast yet, and I hope it stays that way for a long time. The actors and actresses are great, apart from Chris Pine I was especially pleased with Michelle Rodriguez (she really nailed it) and Sophia Lillis, and I feel Hugh Grant had as much fun during the shooting as I did in the cinema. The production design is appropriately fantastic and uncluttered, the action scenes are often imaginative, and Lorne Balfe composed the first ever soundtrack I'm happy to listen to in its entirety. I really hope we’ll get a sequel, because this is a world I would love to go back to. (31/03/2023)

I didn't really expect to like this, so it was an even more pleasant surprise. The plot formula is clichéd, but it’s dressed up with a lot of imaginative and likably playful details, including dialogue devices showing that the movie’s creators are more clever than is usually the case with such farces. This will turn out to be a successful franchise if it keeps the quality at this level. (23/06/2023)

Excellent stuff! The jokes, the visual effects, the twists, everything works to perfection. The smart script and the pinpoint direction of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein are supported by great performances. The perfect chemistry of the protagonists, comparable to Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, pulls the whole film forward. Chris Pine is great, he truly enjoys his role as a Harper, and in the strongly dramatic sequences he doesn’t leave a single eye dry. Michelle Rodriguez as the female version Conan the Barbarian is having an incredible career comeback. The heists, the exploration, the rescues and the fights are executed with incredible wit and inventiveness. Balfe's music is top-notch. This is something you can count with almost any time, and I am already looking forward to watching it again. (01/04/2023)

An old-school adventure blockbuster that hasn't been done for at least the last ten years. From every dialogue and skit, you can feel that the authors mainly want the viewer, both knowledgeable and unfamiliar with the lore, to enjoy watching it. The characters are very cleverly written to implement all the necessary ills of a modern Hollywood production but at the same time fit perfectly into any D&D campaign. Although the quality bar was not set too high compared to previous attempts at adaptation, I was still pleasantly surprised and left the cinema satisfied while discussing with friends an innumerable number of easter-eggs in the movie. 85% (24/03/2023)

Fantasy with a heart. Here you can clearly see that this is not part of the mass production line of Disney executives, with bored filmmakers counting the days until the end of the shooting; you can see the love that was put into it. Where there's supposed to be a situational joke, it's there at the right time and it cheers you up, where there's supposed to be a bit of a song, it's there and it warms you up. It's chock full of ideas you've always wanted to see on the silver screen, but filmmakers never had the imagination to materialize them. Simply put, an awesome feel-good thing that hasn't been done here ... well, maybe since Matthew Vaughn's Stardust. And Chris Pine, the older and grayer he gets, the more charismatic he becomes, I wish he was in a really big movie. I can even imagine him as the new Bond. (19/05/2023)