Honor Among Thieves Premieres at SXSW

The latest installment of the D&D franchise premiered at SXSW this weekend, with Deadline calling Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves a dramatic improvement over the 2000 Dungeons and Dragons film. Building upon the everlasting 1974 table-top role-playing game where fantastical species and human beings live in a shared world, it seems this latest venture into the franchise finally does it justice–and then some. Whereas the 2000 D&D installment was seen as an overblown box office flop, the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves premiere at SXSW saw it overall praised as “one of the better game adaptations” made for film. A boon to that, the 2023 sequel is seen as a game adaptation that also “get[s] it right” in the fantasy genre amongst well-known competitors.

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A heist film incorporating themes of personal rebirth and “chosen family,” the film reportedly offers a successful “hodgepodge of genres” of fantasy combined with action, comedy, and PG-13 suspense. A character by the name of Edgin, “The Bard,” played by Chris Pine, must work with his best friend Holga, “The Barbarian” (played by Michelle Rodriguez), to spring themselves from a “medieval supermax prison.”

Amongst their objectives, The Bard seeks to be reunited with his daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman)and concoct a plan in which he and Holga can undo the evils of a heist job that benefitted the wrong person. Along the journey, single father Edgin discovers that Kira’s caretaker–an old partner named Forge (played by Hugh Grant)–is under the counsel of a dark character named Sofina (Daisy Head) and likely up to no good. As Edgin and Holga conspire to stop evil and recover Kira from Forge, they band together a unique, multigenerational crew of talents, including Simon “The Sorcerer”(Justice Smith), Doric “The Druid” (Sophia Lillis) and Xenk “The Paladin” (Regé-Jean Page).

Related: Chris Pine’s Best Action Movies, Ranked

A Talented Multi-Genre Cast

At a 2-hour and 14-minute runtime, the film did come criticized for some drag in the pacing despite overall praise. This was due to the excessive explanation that perhaps the film felt necessary to serve up between the just-initiated viewing “general public” and long-time D&D fans. As a result, it’s slightly boggy for a “long” film for the reviewer but perhaps not as much for fans who are used to movies across the fantasy genre that regularly run well over 2 hours, sometimes three.

In addition to building satisfying relationships between characters, the Deadline review offered praise for a film that could do this so well between diverse characters, developing Edgin and Holga’s close friendship without pursuing a typical romantic interest. In general, the film offered “well-choreographed” action scenes, quality camera work, and expansive VFX worldbuilding. Add to the success of the film a talented multi-genre cast composed of Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, and Daisy Head, and the film by directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein “pays off.”

Fans will get to see for themselves when Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hits theaters on Mar. 31.

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