Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Huolella tehty ja hauska fantasia, josta tykkäävät myös ne, jotka eivät ole koskaan näistä lohikäärmeistä kuulleetkaan. Tyypillisen tavallista tarinaa kompensoi hyvä seikkailu, hauskat hahmot ja lopun taikuutta sinkoileva taistelu. Itselleni myös kunnon flashbackit nuoruuteen. En ole jatko-osia vastaan, kunhan huumori ja tuotannollinen arvo säilyvät. (23.03.2023)

Excellent stuff! The jokes, the visual effects, the twists, everything works to perfection. The smart script and the pinpoint direction of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein are supported by great performances. The perfect chemistry of the protagonists, comparable to Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, pulls the whole film forward. Chris Pine is great, he truly enjoys his role as a Harper, and in the strongly dramatic sequences he doesn’t leave a single eye dry. Michelle Rodriguez as the female version Conan the Barbarian is having an incredible career comeback. The heists, the exploration, the rescues and the fights are executed with incredible wit and inventiveness. Balfe's music is top-notch. This is something you can count with almost any time, and I am already looking forward to watching it again. (01.04.2023)

Fantasy with a heart. Here you can clearly see that this is not part of the mass production line of Disney executives, with bored filmmakers counting the days until the end of the shooting; you can see the love that was put into it. Where there's supposed to be a situational joke, it's there at the right time and it cheers you up, where there's supposed to be a bit of a song, it's there and it warms you up. It's chock full of ideas you've always wanted to see on the silver screen, but filmmakers never had the imagination to materialize them. Simply put, an awesome feel-good thing that hasn't been done here ... well, maybe since Matthew Vaughn's Stardust. And Chris Pine, the older and grayer he gets, the more charismatic he becomes, I wish he was in a really big movie. I can even imagine him as the new Bond. (19.05.2023)

I didn't really expect to like this, so it was an even more pleasant surprise. The plot formula is clichéd, but it’s dressed up with a lot of imaginative and likably playful details, including dialogue devices showing that the movie’s creators are more clever than is usually the case with such farces. This will turn out to be a successful franchise if it keeps the quality at this level. (23.06.2023)

Nonstop epic fantasy adventure game packed with action, humour and heart! One of the biggest surprises and the funniest movie of the year. There hasn't been a better fantasy film since Warcraft and LotR! I've never played D&D, but it has the feel of any other RPG and that was plenty enough for me to enjoy on the big screen. We've got a likeable bunch of main characters. Chris Pine as lead is admittedly the most redundant as he has no special abilities, but then again he takes care of the humor and he does it well. Michelle Rodriguez has probably the most interesting role here, she is the strongest of all, so she takes care of the contact fights. Justice Smith is a proper magician, but he just needs a good work out to become a full-fledged Mage. Sophia Lillis the druid has a great shapeshifter ability and a delight as well Regé-Jean Page as Paladin was the best fighter and again brought another funny element to the film, shame he didn't get more space. I also liked the villain. Hugh Grant was ordinary, but Daisy Head as the Magus was was really good. The film impresses with a very frantic pace, where it doesn't get boring for a moment, rushes forward like a Shinkansen, has great playful visuals and very good CGI. The action scenes may be smaller, but they are well shot with decent choreography. The fat dragon and the final maze were great. (A promise of a more epic battle perhaps in the eventual sequels?). I must also praise the script, which managed to surprise a few times. Some of the plans and contrivances are very intelligently thought out and playful. The humor is a great draw, where I laughed in good taste almost the entire film – the graveyard scene had me in stitches. If that wasn’t enough, the emotions work too – the whole theater had a tear at the end and I honestly can't remember a fantasy film where the comedy, drama, action and the characters work. A full Package as it should be. I want to see it again immediately and let the second part be on its way. 9/10. (04.04.2023)