Review: 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' steals SXSW

You didn't NEED a polyhedral die to love the opening night film of South by Southwest Film & TV Festival 2023. I imagine a little expertise earned some more points for "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" among fans of the infamous source material, but the programmers knew what they were doing in bringing this popcorn party to Austin.

Before the film made its world premiere on Friday at the Paramount Theatre, its cast and creators walked the red carpet: stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis and Daisy Head, plus writer-directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Talking to the American-Statesman, Daley and Goldstein promised a movie perfectly welcoming to newbies to this fantastical world but containing enough morsels of accuracy to keep fans of the original role-playing game happy.

Me? I've never seen a dungeon or a dragon, so I was firmly in the former camp. Here's what you need to know about "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," which hits theaters on March 31.

Don't be afraid of the lore in 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves'

The idea that fantasy fiction is the province of people in their parents' basement went out the door at least two Targaryens ago. "Dungeons & Dragons" proudly wears the colors of its genre and celebrates the same archetypes that made the game so enduring.

As we enter this world of fire-breathing beasts and dank chambers, old friends Edgin the bard (Pine) and Holga the barbarian (Rodriguez) have been imprisoned in the kind of tower that would make M.C. Escher blush. Through Edgin's, let's say, creative narration — he's a bard, after all — we learn that the duo were the unlucky among their band of thieves in the classic One Last Job Gone Wrong.

They make quick work setting about their quest, or quests: to save Edgin's daughter (Chloe Coleman), to revive his murdered wife and to break into a mysterious vault that holds a very crucial relic. Along the way, as you might expect, they gather a party to complete their campaign: old friends like the self-doubting wizard Simon (Smith) and new ones like the shapeshifting Doric (Lillis) and the dashing paladin Xenk (Page).

Oh, and they've gotta prevent a creepy red wizard named Sofina (Head) from doing some very, very bad magic that imperils the land of Neverwinter.

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If you're prejudiced against sword and sorcery tales — believe me, I understand; they've never been my favorite — "Honor Among Thieves" begs you to reconsider. It's smartly structured like a campaign in the game might be: different side quests require the specialized skills of our merry band. And there's nothing stuffy about "Honor Among Thieves." The pace is as quick as a flashing blade, and the mythology is kept basic enough to ground the plot but lived-in enough to feel transportive.

Plus, it's funny. Sure, some of the lines might be more "cheesy popcorn" than "Dorothy Parker." But Pine especially sells them, as does Hugh Grant as a rogue about whom the less said, the better.

Sometimes a family is a bard, a barbarian and a little girl with an invisibility amulet

So much of "Honor Among Thieves" works because the characters are sharply drawn into their game-play-ready types. Pine gets to play sarcastic and sticky-fingered, with a secret honor brimming to the surface. Rodriguez takes the barbarian role and brings the kind of tough vulnerability upon which she's built her action-star career; her deadpan is matched only by her battle prowess with a potato. Pleasingly, Edgin and Holga's relationship is one built upon platonic love — though the film can't resist a couple "Him? Her? Ew, never" jokes, their chemistry feels special and rare for an onscreen duo.

Page's hyperliteral swashbuckler seemed to get some of the most laughs in the premiere screening (shades of Drax in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise), and Smith brings earnestness to his wizard's crisis of confidence. But I just couldn't get enough of Grant, who secures the best lines of the whole script and shows up just enough to class up the joint.

Less well-served are Lillis, whose tiefling druid mostly plays plot device and CGI show pony (or show ... owlbear), and Head, who's all big eyes and occultish shrieks. Both performers do good work, but they just draw short straws in the emotional-arc department. And hate to say it, but Sofina kinda got beat to her scarlet-empowered floating madwoman schtick by one Elizabeth Olsen ...

Paging the fat dragon: how 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' brings fantasy to life

I'll never try to convince you that the filmmakers of "Honor Among Thieves" managed to bring photo-realism to this world of chubby fire-breathing lizards and gelatinous death cubes. But I will say that this thing looks vibrant and exciting, and I'll take a colorful gloss over whatever shoddy misfortune befell Corey Stoll in this year's "Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania." If "heavy metal" and "candy coated" ever belonged in the same sentence, it's here.

Well ... now that I mention it ... there's a notable cameo midway through that's not exactly digital magic. But it's funnier than it is distracting. I cast a spell of silence henceforth.

Also, there's some pretty delightful practical magic, including a few chatty corpses in one high-comedy scene and some nasty creature makeup. The camera work, too, feels alive, turning the viewer on their head with a few topsy-turvy shots. For a celebration of the strange, this thing had to look right, and Daley and Goldstein went above and beyond.

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'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' has more soul than you'd expect

Speaking of celebrating the strange, all good fantasy takes us out of reality only to give us something valuable to clutch to our chest upon return to the world of death, taxes and rush hour traffic. "Honor Among Thieves" turns a game of strategy once decried as satanic (LOL) and finds the humanity beyond the character sheet. It's a celebration of how very different people can find common cause, and how sometimes that common cause is to become a family. Not bad for a big-screen adaptation of a table-top game.

Also, I do apologize for any potential misuse of "Dungeons & Dragons" terminology throughout this review. I was always more of a Trivial Pursuit kid.

Grade: B+

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: SXSW review of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves with Chris Pine