376: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

[00:00:00] What if you could have a career where the opportunities are as vast as our nation,

[00:00:05] where it's not about mission statements, but a shared mission?

[00:00:08] At U.S. Customs and Border Protection, we go beyond to protect more than borders,

[00:00:13] from ship to shore, air to ground, cities to local communities.

[00:00:17] CBP agents and officers are keeping people safe.

[00:00:21] Join U.S. Customs and Border Protection and go beyond for something far greater than yourself.

[00:00:26] Learn more at CBP.gov.com.

[00:00:30] Hey everybody, it's Henry with the Film Buds Podcast.

[00:00:32] Please make sure to rate, review and subscribe to the show.

[00:00:35] And if you're listening to this on YouTube, please let us know your thoughts in the comments.

[00:00:40] Thanks.

[00:00:42] 84.

[00:00:43] Let's get to Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves,

[00:00:49] which is currently available on Amazon Prime to stream.

[00:00:52] It's directed by John Francis Daly and Jonathan Goldstein,

[00:00:57] who also did Game Night with Jason Bateman.

[00:01:01] It came out in early 2023, I believe.

[00:01:05] It stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez,

[00:01:08] Régé Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lilis, Hugh Grant, Chloe Coleman, and a few others.

[00:01:17] And the synopsis is,

[00:01:19] A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic.

[00:01:27] But things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.

[00:01:33] So, first off, I have never played D&D.

[00:01:37] Never was really around that.

[00:01:39] I just got interested in other games when I was growing up.

[00:01:42] Like, I was more of a Yu-Gi-Oh! Gundam Wing sort of guy amongst a few other things.

[00:01:48] So D&D was something I was always aware of, but never played.

[00:01:52] Still haven't.

[00:01:53] But I was fairly aware of the sort of game that it was, the world itself, etc.

[00:01:59] And I'm always up having been a gamer for a lot of my life, not as much these days, but still love for them.

[00:02:05] I always look out for video game adaptations.

[00:02:09] Usually they don't go that well.

[00:02:11] But I think recently there's been a bit of a spike in better adaptations.

[00:02:16] Like even the Fallout show on Amazon is a good example.

[00:02:21] And so I was looking forward to this one.

[00:02:24] I didn't see it in theaters, but I love Chris Pine.

[00:02:28] I love Michelle Rodriguez, the whole cast.

[00:02:30] I like Sophia Lillis from It.

[00:02:32] So it has a very good cast.

[00:02:34] I didn't love Game Night as much as some people did, but it was still very creative and it left a mark in some ways.

[00:02:41] And overall, long story short, I liked it more than I thought I would

[00:02:47] because I remember when it was announced people were like, this is going to be horrible.

[00:02:51] Like this cannot go well.

[00:02:53] They're going to ruin it.

[00:02:54] It's going to be a horrible adaptation and having just had Warcraft come out maybe seven or eight years ago,

[00:03:01] which I did review on one of the first daily so you can check that out,

[00:03:05] which I actually like that movie to a certain extent.

[00:03:07] But I think people are like, oh, this is going to be bad.

[00:03:11] Somehow that didn't happen, at least for me.

[00:03:13] I think it generally got decent reviews.

[00:03:16] And the best thing I can say about it is that it indulges in the weird, high, sort of nerdy fantasy stuff,

[00:03:24] like the creatures, the wordage of the world, the lore and all that.

[00:03:30] Like I don't necessarily know what was put into the movie originally or what came from the games

[00:03:38] or what connects to what I can't say any of that.

[00:03:42] But I think that for simply being a fairly original fantasy blockbuster,

[00:03:48] I found it refreshing.

[00:03:49] It's very light on its feet.

[00:03:51] It's funny.

[00:03:52] I think the whole cast is good.

[00:03:53] The script is good.

[00:03:54] It's directed well.

[00:03:55] It looks very good, very good score.

[00:03:58] And so I think while it wouldn't be my favorite video game adaptation and let me know your favorites

[00:04:06] or at least favorites in the comments if you're listening to this on YouTube

[00:04:09] or in any other comment platform, I think it's still one that I can always go back to

[00:04:16] and hop on because it's just a nice escape into fantasy worlds.

[00:04:20] And talking about stuff briefly that didn't love or that brought it down.

[00:04:26] It is a little long, I think it not to say a two hour movie to 10 is offensive.

[00:04:33] Maybe it's more of a pacing thing, a script thing.

[00:04:36] I'm not sure, but I did find certain points to sort of drag maybe tread water a little too

[00:04:42] long in certain places.

[00:04:44] And I think the third act showdown went on a little too long.

[00:04:48] So I was kind of ready for it to wrap up at a certain point, but not a huge deal.

[00:04:52] That's just something that immediately stuck out to me.

[00:04:56] And also another thing I know it's hard to really reinvent fantasy like mythical

[00:05:02] fantasy now that we've had everything from the Lord of the Rings to the Witcher or Warcraft,

[00:05:10] Game of Thrones, you name it.

[00:05:12] Like we've had so many big fantasy high fantasy things that creating a unique look for fantasy

[00:05:18] is pretty darn difficult, especially consistently.

[00:05:21] And there are some locations, some visuals, some designs that feel as unique as they could be.

[00:05:30] But I think there were points that really did feel to Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Middle

[00:05:36] Earthy to totally look over, look past.

[00:05:41] I think that there were times where I was like, wow, this looks like the minds of Moria,

[00:05:45] you know, like really things that stuck out to me a little too much.

[00:05:50] And it's whatever.

[00:05:52] Like it's not a big deal.

[00:05:53] It's not a deal breaker, but I can't help being such a big fan of other films

[00:05:58] and shows in this world to not think of that.

[00:06:02] So maybe some people didn't feel that way.

[00:06:04] Others did, not sure.

[00:06:05] Let me know.

[00:06:06] But yeah, that was one small issue.

[00:06:08] But for the most part, the world for a two hour film, it's well built.

[00:06:12] There's good world building overall.

[00:06:15] I like the different cast of creatures and all that.

[00:06:20] I think that's well done and creative and fun.

[00:06:23] The long single take sequence with Sophia Lilas, where she's escaping from the castle

[00:06:30] and is turning into the different creatures because she's a shapeshifter.

[00:06:34] I love that.

[00:06:35] That's really well done and fun.

[00:06:37] The action is very well done.

[00:06:40] Nothing amazing, but it's entertaining.

[00:06:42] It's engaging.

[00:06:43] I think Michelle Rodriguez.

[00:06:45] I love her as I said, like she'll always be the pilot and avatar to me.

[00:06:50] For some reason, that role just sticks out and is iconic to her.

[00:06:53] Chris Pine loved him across the board.

[00:06:55] And so it's really for anyone who does not play D&D, who's not a gamer.

[00:07:01] I think really anyone could get into this.

[00:07:04] It's very accessible.

[00:07:05] It's not a lot of lore to where you're getting lost in the details of the game.

[00:07:09] Nothing like that least.

[00:07:10] That's how it was for me.

[00:07:11] So if you're skeptical, if you don't know anything about that, give it a shot.

[00:07:16] I think you could do a whole heck of a lot worse when it comes to video game adaptations,

[00:07:20] fantasy, because at least this one is trying to do something different and in a lot of

[00:07:25] ways succeeds.

[00:07:27] So that one is a heavy three and a half out of five.

[00:07:33] What if you could have a career where the opportunities are as vast as our nation,

[00:07:37] where it's not about mission statements but a shared mission?

[00:07:41] At US Customs and Border Protection, we go beyond to protect more than borders

[00:07:46] from ship to shore, air to ground, cities to local communities.

[00:07:50] CBP agents and officers are keeping people safe.

[00:07:53] Join US Customs and Border Protection and go beyond for something far greater than yourself.

[00:07:59] Learn more at CBP.gov slash careers.