Starring: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Rege-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head
Distributor: Paramount
Runtime: 130 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2023
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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In a fantasy world, a group of thieves go on a quest for a magic helmet and the means to bring people back to life, do battle with dragons and monsters, and a villain who is ruling the city.
The Hasbro company created the game Dungeons & Dragons in 1974. So, it has had a long life in various incarnations – games, video games, television series, feature films, and now the 2023 version.
We are carried into a fantasy land, looking at times like the Middle Ages with its streets and markets, cathedrals and knights in armour. But, we also lowered into dark underground locations, the realms of dragons and monsters (and we see quite a number of them), caverns, rock depths, stone bridges… There are also recreations of old Braveheart-style battles and battlefields. And, perhaps a nod to Gladiator, a huge amphitheatre filled with thousands of spectators.
We live in a media era where vast audiences have watched Game of Thrones, recognise references to the Hunger Games, remember the Harry Potter books and films (a villain here looking remarkably like Voldemort). We are at home in this kind of fantasy world.
The subtitle of this adventure is, ‘Honour Among Thieves’. So, we meet Edgin (Pine), a charming thief who has lost his wife and wants to find his daughter. He also finds the means to bring his wife back to life – but, this is a bit difficult, because he and his fellow-thief, Holga (Rodriguez whose first film was Girlfight and, through the Fast and Furious series and other films, has not lost her capacity for battle engagement) are in prison. They do get out, rather spectacularly, and set out on a quest.
There are extraordinary snowy landscapes, a medieval town where the ruler is Forge – played, of all people, by Hugh Grant, self-mockingly of himself and his career as always, very very British. (And, speaking of British, American actor Smith outdoes the British in elocution, while Page, from Bridgerton, is an exemplar of accent and extensive vocabulary. He plays the leader of a family and enemy of Edgin, but reconciles and leads the group in their quest, doing battle with some undead warriors.
The quest includes Simon (Smith) something of a failed magician who does have a number of spells which save the day but has to learn how to assert himself and become heroic. There is also Doric, a warrior fairy creature who can transform into a gigantic cat/bear creature (Lillis).
Along the way, a lot of the dialogue is tongue-in-cheek, ironic, interlaced with some humorous sequences, one of the best being a visit to a cemetery, the ability to raise some of the dead warriors from their graves and interrogate them as to what happened to the magic helmet they are trying to find, each skeleton being asked five questions but most of them failing to supply the right information, but the one who does, left stranded, still needing several more questions so that he can go back to being dead. [The skeleton appears in the final credits making his appeal!]
There is the big climax in the amphitheatre, a labyrinth, magic, confrontation with Forge and Edgin. But, all’s well that ends well, especially as the film ends back in the prison, this time Forge pleading for parole.
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