This is truly a Dungeons and Dragons movie. It is not just a medieval-Europe fantasy movie with the D&D name on it. It doesn't merely use lore from an official D&D setting (Forgotten Realms in this case). This really is the experience of D&D as a movie.
You can see it in the way the plot is set-up and executed. You can see it in the way the main cast members interact. You can see it in the way battles play-out, especially with the magic. Yes, the magic system in the movie obeys similar rules as the game. It's a lot of fun to watch this play out. Fun. To describe the movie in a word, that is what it is. This is a fun movie.
Fitting for a movie sub-titled "honor among thieves", this movie can be called The Heist at a very high level. Edgin Darvis is a bard and he is putting a team together so they can steal from a dangerous and powerful individual. As this mission develops, you can see the Game Master setting up the goals and challenges for the player party. Each set-piece is a challenge for the players to overcome through the use of their skills and their creativity and their teamwork.
Travel scenes are boring, so the Game Master typically skips over them.
This is a team that works together, but its members also bicker. There is a scene where they argue about the plan is going to be. That is precisely what it is like to be in a D&D party about to go on a mission; they argue about what to do and who is going to do what. The scene in the battlefield graveyard, where they use the Speak with Dead spell, is quintessentially a party trying to find the information they need.
Everyone gets their character moments; moments to shine and moments to roleplay are shared by all of the main cast, and no one interrupts. When Edgin is expositing on his backstory, he gets to do this bard thing (story-telling and persuasion) and he also dispenses Bardic Inspiration. Holga, a barbarian, gets to be a total badass in a fight scene with guards and also a personal roleplay scene with her ex-husband. Doric, a druid, has this amazing wild-shape chase scene. Yendar shows gets moments to be paragon of both mighty stoic warriors and compassionate holy warriors. Everyone gets their moment to be important and contribute to the success of the mission, because D&D is a communal experience; it is people coming together to tell a story together.
Magic! There is legit D&D magic in this movie. I noticed Meteor Swarm, Polymorph, Misty Step, Gravity Reverse, Prestidigitation, and even Bigsby's Hand! Atunning to a magical item is a plot-point and it becomes an awesome moment, too. Blink and you'll miss it, but there is a clutch break-the-caster's concentration moment in the climax.
Having said all this, it is not necessary to be a fan of D&D or to know anything about it to appreciate or understand the film. It works perfectly well as a generic fantasy adventure story. The "attuning to a magic item" thing I mentioned is presented as "I have to do this thing or the item won't work", which is all a viewer needs to know. Knowledge of D&D just makes for a richer experience.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Dungeons and Dragons - Honor Among Thieves" an A+
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
No comments:
Post a Comment