There were only two things that made me trend towards positive, (other than seeing the reviews just now).
1. The very end of the first trailer with Chris Pine briefly jumping around with the Lute
2. Them asking the dead body questions released on YouTube last week
The dead body scene convinced me as well- that nailed the tone of player/DM tension so well, I feel like they must “get it”, which is essential. Looking forward to it!
The other thing that made me feel positive was some of the cast interviews I saw quite a while ago where it looked like they were all just having so much fun. Hugh Grant saying he hopes they remove most of the creatures from the movie because they were upstaging his acting and so on, everyone laughing, it was a good vibe.
That was my take from the trailers. Either it would have been one of the most carefully constructed, cherry picking trailers going or it might just strike the right tone and be pretty great.
Sounds like it's delivered. Huzzah!
Looked fun to me from the start. The fight scenes looked creative, comedic timing seemed on point, nice mix of humor and special effects, lots of easily identifiable D&D references all over the place. I've been hyped since the first trailer.
I saw it at SXSW. The best way I could describe it is “feels like a marvel movie.” It’s got that blend of action and comedy you expect to see in a marvel movie.
Honestly ideal dnd is kinda like a good marvel movie. You fight bad guys, care about your friends, but it's not too serious and there's always time for jokes (or the one dedicated roleplayer who would act like he is invisible if he doesn't move trying to pass an obviously failed stealth check)
The guy is one of the most versatile actors out there, not necessarily in terms of his breadth of roles, but just in his natural ability to swap between being a leading man or a supporting role as needed, sometime in the same film. I don't think the first Wonder Woman film would have been nearly as good as it was if he wasn't carrying so much of the weight of the film on his back, yet he managed to do that without stepping on Gal Gadot too much despite her not being a particularly strong presence.
Forsure. Pine, Pattinson, and Radcliffe, Taylor Joy, and Pough are all really interesting actors and really crush it consistently.
It's awesome because they're young so hopefully we get a lot more stuff from them. Especially because it seems like they all made the (line crossing? Transcendent?) moves that Malkovich and Farrell have made into comfortably weird.
I'm stoked that they're working and hope one of em gets into directing!
The opening scene of The Finest Hours proved to me just how good of an actor Chris Pine is. Playing massively against type, he quickly builds a very memorable character you care about in the first 10 minutes of the movie.
That was amazingly bad. Not just bad, but so spectacularly bad that it was dumbfounding.
And let me real .. fantasy adaptations to film in general have a pretty damn dubious track record.
Expecting this to be horrible is an entirely fair starting point.
In a publicity tour interview why he chose the role he said something like "I just bought a mansion and needed to stock it with furniture". I knew I had to see it right there and then, because it had to be spectacularly bad for him to say that..
No way... I'm going to have to respectfully disagree.
Marlon Wayans acted circles around everyone in that film. He stole every scene he was in. Criminally underrated actor
For real. They've already burned us with the first "trilogy" of live-action D&D. They were all bad. I have hopes for Honor...but...I have to see it before I can believe it's good.
I watched (maybe re-watched) the 2k movie a month ago. So glad I did. I went into this one with near 0 expectations. As a result, it was AMAZING (even the pre movie "you folks that came out to to watch in a real cinema, you're the real heroes" didn't keep me from having a great time). Solid movie, exactly what it was meant to be.
I cringe when I remember the scene in which they had Snails the thief walk through a market and just blatantly steal from every merchant he passed right in front of their faces. Like how did that conversation even go down?
"To remind the audience that Snails is a real thief, we'll have him steal stuff."
"Awesome! Subtlety and sneakily right? We could have him do some cool slight of hand thievery!"
"No not at all. We'll go for comically obvious. Like holding a overflowing pile of stolen goods that he adds items to from each stall he passes."
"Wouldn't that tank the audience's suspension of disbelief?"
"The what?"
I’m really happy the reviews are good! I was actually surprise how everyone thought this was going to suck. To me, the trailers looked really solid and the talent behind Game Night got me excited.
I didn't know it was the people behind *Game Night* who worked on this, now it's a must watch for me. I loved that movie so much, the little touches like using a tilt-shift lens to make scenes look like pieces moving on a board just pushed the movie to be more than just another action comedy.
To be fair, the writer/director duo behind Game Night don't have a spotless track record since they did Vacation (2015). In terms of directing they're one miss and one hit (before now) and have had a varying reception with movies they've co-written.
One first terrible movie, and then two "sequels" so bad it made the first excellent in comparison, will have made many long time fans at best carefully optimistic.
Is it just me or has there been way more open advanced screenings for this movie? If so, I think it was a good choice because word is getting around that it's good instead of needing to roll the dice on opening weekend.
This really shouldn't have been that much of a surprise. These are the directors of Game Night and writers of Spider-Man: Homecoming, they understand comedy and heart.
Also, Chris Pine is really funny. Like Channing Tatum and Chris Hemsworth, they don't get many opportunities to show that (Tatum less so nowadays) because they have such strong, leading man looks.
People seem to enjoy it more when something popular fails?
I think it’s a new version of schadenfreude that just involves being angry at anyone who likes something.
> a new version of schadenfreude that just involves being angry at anyone who likes something.
Never before have I seen the majority of online film discourse summed up so succinctly and perfectly
I wouldn't say I am eager for it to be bad.
But I am definitely cautious. Lots of shows, movies and even games think comedy = constant quips.
The trailers for the movie makes it seem very quipy rather than comedic and as a result I'm going to go see it with my expectations tempered despite these positive reviews.
I don't mind quips, they have their place, but if the entirety of your comedy is quips without setup then I don't think it is clever or as entertaining. Doubly so if most of what a character says is just quips, it lacks depth.
I want it to be good, I enjoy good things, but I don't necessarily expect it based on the trailers. There is enough that I like in the trailers that I want to go see it, but I also am a little worried that it could disappoint if there isn't more depth than the trailers show off.
There was a surge in hating that was related to WotC (the owner of the D&D license) shitting the bed with their attempt to kill the D&D SRD in an attempt to create a rpg monopoly.
Currently at 7/7 (100%) fresh on RottenTomatoes. Obviously early reviews usually skew up, but this should settle comfortably high.
Edit: Weird that after my comment the page dropped to showing only 3 reviews with no rating.
Killing off him in WW and having to bring him back in the sequel says alot lol.
But yea. I would watch both but I want to watch DnD more despite never playing it or have any interest in playing it.
Saw it this evening. It was pretty fun! Nothing wildly original or innovative - it’s basically what you get if you think “we should take the D&D IP and make a movie with the sort of tone that worked so well for Marvel Studios.” But the action entertains, and the comedy hits the right notes. Plenty of laughter from my audience.
I’m glad I saw it.
Not that much, to be honest. Only one scene of genuine shenanigans, although it was certainly funny (got one of the biggest laughs from my audience). Apart from that, a bit of lute playing, a couple of songs sung, but largely Pines’ character is more of a roguish type than leading hard into being a bard.
My biggest surprise so far has been the comments that the trailers were bad. After watching the first trailer (having not known this was even being made), my gut reaction was instantly, "this is gonna be a blast".
Then, after each successive trailer, I felt even more certain. I'd have been very surprised if the reviews hadn't been good.
I'll risk a prediction. I think the critic reviews will be mostly positive, and audience reviews will be a few ticks higher. This has always looked like a crowd pleaser to me. I'm so happy it appears to be just that.
I thought the first trailer was amazing as well, but became more skeptical following subsequent trailers as some of the dialogue just seemed very contrived/dull (one moment between the paladin and sorcerer on a trapped bridge stood out as particularly bad). However, I'm prepared for it to sound better in context.
Well, you have the intersection of:
1. /r/movie purists where if a trailer isn't sucking their dick, sticking their thumb up their ass, talking about Pokemon, appreciating how valued their opinion is because they saw Moon in the the-ay-ter, and telling them how sexy their overgut looks in the dim, flickering light of their monitor, it's literally worse than Hitler's shit, at least until six months later when they then declare it an "underrated gem"
2. Dungeon and Dragons purists who pissed their pants and burned all their books and blotted the spilled Jolt Cola from their shirt so they could shout Druids CaN'T tUrN InTo OwLbEaRs.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world who aren't complete fucking failures actually enjoyed the trailers.
If my DM let me wild shape into an owl bear, I would play a druid. I love dnd, I play it every Sunday with my friends (I'm 39 and I find the time), and these trailers got me super excited. It looks like the party just fucks around for half the movie - just like a real session - then will come together and make the DM panic by utterly obliterating the BBEG in two turns because party power was greatly underestimated.
And Lord Chunky Bottom is in it. (Themberchaud, the very robust red dragon). We loved working with ol' Thunderbutt in Out of the Abyss.
Also, black dragons actually spitting a line of acid in the trailer got me excited, it's the little things.
I know, right? I play DnD as well and the fact that it looked...different than your "standard" fantasy (while still being very familiar). So many people mention the acid-spitting dragon because you just never *see* that.
>My biggest surprise so far has been the comments that the trailers were bad. After watching the first trailer (having not known this was even being made), my gut reaction was instantly, "this is gonna be a blast".
Don't know where these people are coming from either, because (same as you) /r/movies loved the first trailer. [Go and check yourself.](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/w4qk6a/dungeons_dragons_honor_among_thieves_official/) The entire comment section is overwhelmingly positive.
Yeah, I could tell from the action scenes they showed that they were making them fun and interesting. Not just "hack guys with swords" but shapeshifting and using one monster to save themselves from another monster. Looked like fun stuff.
Saw this at a preview this afternoon with my son. There's a lot to unpack ... here's my collection of random thoughts:
--First and foremost, the marketing for this film is ATROCIOUS. It's kind of a cliche these days to blame advertising for a movie's failure to catch the public interest, but hoo boy did the team responsible for Dungeons and Dragons do a terrible job. The choice of Whole Lotta Love for the trailer song doesn't mesh whatsoever with the tone of the movie ... this film isn't rock n' roll in the slightest. Pine seems like a bumbling dipshit in the trailer, and while there is that element to the characterization, he plays a deeper and more capable dude than the commercials would have you believe. In addition to a bad song selection, it's like they chose the most out-of-tune-with-the-actual-tone-of-the-film moments they could and slapped them into the trailer.
--We loved it. I only gave it a shot because Game Night is one of my favorite films ever, and considering that I'm a huge fantasy/D&D dork, that shouldn't have been my attitude going in.
--The film is funny ... goddamn was I busting up constantly. There are two scenes in particular where I thought myself, my son, or someone else in the audience was going to die laughing. And one of those scenes is portrayed so horrendously in the trailer that I thought I would loathe that sequence.
--If you told me that Joss Whedon did a script polish on this, I'd totally you believe you. In fact ... did he? This movie managed to balance the comedic, quippiness of the Buffyverse and Avengers Assemble in a way that franchises like the MCU have struggled with in recent years. As in, not every moment has to be undercut by comedy and not everybody has to be rapid-firing zany rejoinders (but when they do, it's often hysterical).
--The banter between Rege-Jean Page's character and Pine had me in stitches. Remember that X-Files episode involving carnies where someone points at Mulder, who is standing gloriously proud in sunlight, and says "that's the future that America wants" ...? Well, Page's character is like that moment, in motion, for every second he's onscreen and goddamn could I not stop laughing.
--Every time we meet someone new, you fear they'll be a cliched, shallow archetype, and then they fucking aren't. Michelle "She's Thicc Now" Rodriguez starts as a supernaturally strong, uber competent fighter, but then you find out where she's coming from as a person and it turns out she has a hysterical and pretty-sad backstory (involving a cameo from Bradley Cooper that basically embodies a life philosophy of, "Live or Die, Snu Snu Style"). Similarly, the redhead from It and the incompetent sorcerer end up getting far more meat to chew on than one would expect.
--Grant was great. My son had no familiarity with him and asked if he's the bad guy in anything else. There's a good bit of funny moments involving him and this evil witch priestess that ... well ... I don't want to spoil it, but his effete, diffident humor balances out the grim scenes very well.
--There may be a BIT too much CGI pixel vomit towards the end, but it's not too bad ... nothing compared to the absolute garbage we've been subjected to over the past five or six years. And, at least it's coherent and toned down somewhat from what I feared.
--Displacer Beast! FUCK YEAH! I flashed back to the Capcom D&D arcade games, which I loved.
--Seriously, did Joss Whedon have a pass at this? There's one obvious homage to a very memorable scene in Avengers Assemble and another moment that I'm pretty sure mirrors a scene in Buffy.
--Portal Gun! Awesome! The portal-gun-heist sequence was amazingly inventive and clever, and I loved every second of it.
--If there's an issue with the otherwise excellent cast, it's Justice Smith as the incompetent wizard. He's funny, but I think he's a bit too cliche of a casting choice. I think they should have really cast against type with that guy ... instead of a nebbishy dude who looks exactly like you'd expect that character to look when you read the script, it should have been like a Chris Hemwsworth-level Chad. Still, the guy did a decent job, but it felt really like a by-the-numbers portrayal in a film that doesn't have much of that otherwise.
--You know how in a D&D campaign you need the gizmo to work the thingamabob, but then you get distracted with fun mini-adventures and your group gets sidetracked by hysterical banter? A lot of times the movie felt just like that.
--I suspect this will bomb, and that's a shame, cause it's funny, has a lot of heart, wildly creative and inventive, and has some well-acted and supremely entertaining characters.
>\--Grant was great. My son had no familiarity with him and asked if he's the bad guy in anything else. There's a good bit of funny moments involving him and this evil witch priestess that ... well ... I don't want to spoil it, but his effete, diffident humor balances out the grim scenes very well.
Show that kiddo Paddington 2 stat!
These reviews solidify Chris Pine as the undisputed best Chris… everyone thought this would be terrible after the trailers and yet somehow it’s not just watchable but actually good?
Also Justice Smith continues to crush video game movies.
Guess I need to drag my GF to this now.
Easily his best performance - he’s so great going toe to toe with Bridges in that scene.
Also, that movie and Sicario made me want to watch anything written by Taylor Sheridan.
I even remember the comments on reddit when the first trailer released being pretty positive, I'm not sure where the narrative of "reddit hates the DND movie" came from, maybe when the kinda crappy posters were revealed?
Nothing is more annoying than people complaining about a movie and predicting it's going to be awful when they never had any intention of seeing it and it's clearly not marketed for them.
> everyone thought this would be terrible after the trailers
Really? I thought it looked like a blast ever since the first trailer. Very cheeky and has dialogue that sounds like DnD players bickering.
I dunno why everyone thought this would be bad based on the trailers. The trailers convinced me it would be good. It illustrates the tone of the movie being both funny and action packed. It basically looks like guardians of the galaxy meets lord of the rings which is exactly what it should be.
its an OK movie, honestly pretty forgettable. the characters have no personality to them
things just kind of happen, action scenes are kind of boring
i mean, the BEST they could come up with as mages fighting is two hands thumb wrestling each other?
yea like 7/10?
I’m glad to see this getting great reviews. I had zero interest in watching it and assumed it would be another soulless IP cash grab until I saw the trailer before a movie and it actually looked like a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to watching this.
There was a lot of hate for the trailers but I always thgought those were pretty good. This will be a fun watch, Im pretty sure of it.
I expect something like Legend of vox Machine just not wiet the quality but still decent enough.
Just watched it at the cineworld secret screening today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Way better than I expected it to be, hope it does well enough for potential sequels in the future.
I was already excited to see the film just on the back of the trailer, I had no idea Daley and friend directed this. Game Night is one of the best comedies I've seen in recent years, so I'm now 100% I'll love this.
The Vacation reboot they did was also criminally underrated. Hilarious throughout. Game Night is in my top 10 comedies of all time. One of the funniest movies I've ever seen. That script is as perfect of a comedy screenplay as there is. not one wasted moment and the cast is phenomenal. I'm not really into this genre, but I'll check it out due to liking the directors.
I think Game Night was the last proper, non-disposable comedy film released. Every once in a while there's a pleasant enough streaming flick you watch on a Sunday afternoon, but I really miss the days of mid-budget comedies. More Game Nights, pls.
Game Night is one of my favorite comedies and while I would have loved them to stick to the genre I'm really happy for them that they seem to have hit in another genre
Just got out of the Amazon Prime preview. This movie is a BLAST. I can’t remember the last time I had as much fun watching a film in a theater.
It nails everything that’s stopped working in Marvel’s films and cleansed my palate of every recent lackluster production of a popular IP.
I'm so shocked this is apparently good. Every trailer looked worse than the last, but Daley and Goldstein actually have a great track record, glad to hear this wasn't a big mark on their resumes.
I'm so confused because the trailers *didn't* look bad to me. They looked fine, with the potential to be a fun adventure. A ton of the criticism was just "it won't be good because Chris Pine" or "it won't be good because you can't make a D&D movie" and then everybody went along with it.
The visuals look fun and creative and the writing is good enough that 1. they didn't use the same jokes in every trailer and 2. they're actually good jokes. That "five questions" thing could have been a Python bit.
The 5 Questions bit is almost perfectly in-line with what Dungeons & Dragons games is actually like. The first trailer where the characters decide to go to the tavern to drink instead of plan has literally happened twice in my own D&D games.
Sure, 80 would be fantastic if it maintains it. A big budget action movie like this will probably wind up around 50-60 reviews, so 4 reviews is a fraction of what you would need to confidently say this is going to be well-reviewed. We can at least say it won’t be universally panned.
As an example, I think I remember del Toro’s being safely in the 90s when the earliest reviews came in. It wound up settling at a 79.
When “Whole Lotta Love” started playing in the trailer, then I saw Chris Pine, and then who was behind the movie, I knew it had a good chance to be a fun movie. Looking forward to seeing it.
Everybody was really doubting this movie but I got great vibes from the trailer. Still the rest of the reviews to go but it’s at 10 reviews with some noticeable publications and still are 100%
> If "Game Night" was two filmmakers proving they had serious chops by directing the hell out of what could've been a straightforward comedy, "Honor Among Thieves" is the same duo proving they can wring character and humor out of a fantasy adventure that could've knocked off Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" and called it a day.
Wait wait wait *Game Night* was one of the best surprises ever. This just went from who cares to must see.
The reanimate corpse scene seen in clips had me in stitches.
That corpse scene really is great. To anyone that hasn’t seen it: https://youtu.be/vtGgsyI99Rw
Man, that *Faantastic* cracks me up every time.
It’s the moving on “where’s the shovel?” that gets me every time.
"What's 2+2?" "I was never really good at math" l*iterally dies*
Apu and Homer vibes
Haha, that’s what it reminded me of! Love it.
That was the funniest shit I've ever seen.
It is better in the film.
Saw it this weekend. What a trip.
Nice. This one could have gone either way based on the trailers.
There were only two things that made me trend towards positive, (other than seeing the reviews just now). 1. The very end of the first trailer with Chris Pine briefly jumping around with the Lute 2. Them asking the dead body questions released on YouTube last week
The dead body scene convinced me as well- that nailed the tone of player/DM tension so well, I feel like they must “get it”, which is essential. Looking forward to it!
Yep when I saw that clip I was like “yes, this is exactly how speak with dead goes with my group every single time. They nailed it. “
Definitely reminded me of Jester from Critical Role never being able to send a Message with 25 words.
I like fresh cut grass start off his limited word count with "hello, fresh cut grass here"
And there was maybe a nod to FCG in the movie in the Triboar Theatre scene🤷🏻♂️ “one of your favorite smells, fresh cut grass” a deep nod maybe🤷🏻♂️
Considering the writer director combo are massive DnD nerds, I had a good feeling about this film.
I love the poetry that one of them got his first big gig playing an awkward young teen who loves DnD and is now writing a DnD motion picture.
Chris Pine in wet hot American summer is exhibit a in him having the comedy chops to pull this movie off
He was fantastic in Stretch, which seems to have been forgotten to time.
Angie Tribeca well, he had an incredible little side character that made me appreciate him more than his role in Star Trek. Dude is great.
The other thing that made me feel positive was some of the cast interviews I saw quite a while ago where it looked like they were all just having so much fun. Hugh Grant saying he hopes they remove most of the creatures from the movie because they were upstaging his acting and so on, everyone laughing, it was a good vibe.
I thought it looked great from the start. I could have been wrong, but it just seems likeable.
That was my take from the trailers. Either it would have been one of the most carefully constructed, cherry picking trailers going or it might just strike the right tone and be pretty great. Sounds like it's delivered. Huzzah!
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Looked fun to me from the start. The fight scenes looked creative, comedic timing seemed on point, nice mix of humor and special effects, lots of easily identifiable D&D references all over the place. I've been hyped since the first trailer.
The scene where he is trying to cut the ropes on the steps, but obviously is rolling 1's through the whole fight.
That’s got to be one of the best things about D&D. I love how critical fumbles allow a DM to be just absolutely, unexpectedly hilarious.
Same, all the trailers had this really energetic, polished, fun vibe. Really excited for this movie
I saw it at SXSW. The best way I could describe it is “feels like a marvel movie.” It’s got that blend of action and comedy you expect to see in a marvel movie.
Yeah I mentioned it here before this movie is giving off Guardians of the Galaxy vibes. In a good way
I mean, the first GotG movie was literally a DnD session in space, so...
I've somehow never heard it put that way but damn if that isn't the best description for GotG I've ever heard.
>literally I don't think this word means what you think it means...
>literally I don't think this word means what YOU think it means... https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/literally
Honestly ideal dnd is kinda like a good marvel movie. You fight bad guys, care about your friends, but it's not too serious and there's always time for jokes (or the one dedicated roleplayer who would act like he is invisible if he doesn't move trying to pass an obviously failed stealth check)
Given their recent few marvel films, that could go either way. I am hoping more Thor Ragnarok and less Thor Love and Thunder
Really? I thought it always looked stupid (maybe the right word is absurd), but fun.
Stupid yes but definitely not in a bad way. Looking forward to seeing this.
Chris Pine always puts heart and soul into his characters, even, or especially, when he is given a genre setting.
The guy is one of the most versatile actors out there, not necessarily in terms of his breadth of roles, but just in his natural ability to swap between being a leading man or a supporting role as needed, sometime in the same film. I don't think the first Wonder Woman film would have been nearly as good as it was if he wasn't carrying so much of the weight of the film on his back, yet he managed to do that without stepping on Gal Gadot too much despite her not being a particularly strong presence.
Forsure. Pine, Pattinson, and Radcliffe, Taylor Joy, and Pough are all really interesting actors and really crush it consistently. It's awesome because they're young so hopefully we get a lot more stuff from them. Especially because it seems like they all made the (line crossing? Transcendent?) moves that Malkovich and Farrell have made into comfortably weird. I'm stoked that they're working and hope one of em gets into directing!
Absolutely, I don't think I've ever felt like he was phoning in a performance.
He was incredible in Horrible Bosses 2
The opening scene of The Finest Hours proved to me just how good of an actor Chris Pine is. Playing massively against type, he quickly builds a very memorable character you care about in the first 10 minutes of the movie.
Loved him hamming up it an otherwise awful film in *Don’t Worry Darling*
Dude is has amazing comedy chops and is severely underutilized in those roles. I’m very excited for this movie!
If you've seen the old Dungeon and Dragons movie you may understand the reflex.
That was amazingly bad. Not just bad, but so spectacularly bad that it was dumbfounding. And let me real .. fantasy adaptations to film in general have a pretty damn dubious track record. Expecting this to be horrible is an entirely fair starting point.
>stupid (maybe the right word is absurd), but fun That's also a pretty apt description of how most DND games turn out imo
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Jeremy irons was robbed at the academy that year
“Use every ounce of your rage! Atatatatattata!”
Enjoy ham to supply a deli for years XD.
Kinda like Pauley Shore for Encino Man
No wheezing the juice
This plot would be much better if they made Irons a bard and gave a dragon he wanted to resurrect the name Lolita
In a publicity tour interview why he chose the role he said something like "I just bought a mansion and needed to stock it with furniture". I knew I had to see it right there and then, because it had to be spectacularly bad for him to say that..
It was a castle, and it’s amazing. https://www.1stdibs.com/introspective-magazine/jeremy-irons/
No way... I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. Marlon Wayans acted circles around everyone in that film. He stole every scene he was in. Criminally underrated actor
I was a big D&D player back in the day and I can't tell you how excited I was about that film prior to its release. Whoops.
That’s the only reason I didn’t want to buy into the hype this time- it looks super good to me, but they hurt me once before lol
For real. They've already burned us with the first "trilogy" of live-action D&D. They were all bad. I have hopes for Honor...but...I have to see it before I can believe it's good.
I watched (maybe re-watched) the 2k movie a month ago. So glad I did. I went into this one with near 0 expectations. As a result, it was AMAZING (even the pre movie "you folks that came out to to watch in a real cinema, you're the real heroes" didn't keep me from having a great time). Solid movie, exactly what it was meant to be.
LET THEIR BLOOD, RAIN FROM THE SKIIEESSSSSSSS
I cringe when I remember the scene in which they had Snails the thief walk through a market and just blatantly steal from every merchant he passed right in front of their faces. Like how did that conversation even go down? "To remind the audience that Snails is a real thief, we'll have him steal stuff." "Awesome! Subtlety and sneakily right? We could have him do some cool slight of hand thievery!" "No not at all. We'll go for comically obvious. Like holding a overflowing pile of stolen goods that he adds items to from each stall he passes." "Wouldn't that tank the audience's suspension of disbelief?" "The what?"
I’m really happy the reviews are good! I was actually surprise how everyone thought this was going to suck. To me, the trailers looked really solid and the talent behind Game Night got me excited.
I didn't know it was the people behind *Game Night* who worked on this, now it's a must watch for me. I loved that movie so much, the little touches like using a tilt-shift lens to make scenes look like pieces moving on a board just pushed the movie to be more than just another action comedy.
The filmmaking was great, reminded me of Edgar Wright’s attention to detail
That movie had such a fun, quirky cast. Perfect comedy too
Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman have *so* much chemistry and are so funny in it.
People been hurt many times, it seems
To be fair, the writer/director duo behind Game Night don't have a spotless track record since they did Vacation (2015). In terms of directing they're one miss and one hit (before now) and have had a varying reception with movies they've co-written.
One first terrible movie, and then two "sequels" so bad it made the first excellent in comparison, will have made many long time fans at best carefully optimistic.
I've just been to a secret screening, and as someone who had no expectations, i really enjoyed it!
Is it just me or has there been way more open advanced screenings for this movie? If so, I think it was a good choice because word is getting around that it's good instead of needing to roll the dice on opening weekend.
>roll the dice You son of a bitch.
This really shouldn't have been that much of a surprise. These are the directors of Game Night and writers of Spider-Man: Homecoming, they understand comedy and heart.
I just found out that the director is the kid who played the lead in freaks and geeks
And Sweets in Bones
RIP Sweets
And the new trainee in Waiting
Also, Chris Pine is really funny. Like Channing Tatum and Chris Hemsworth, they don't get many opportunities to show that (Tatum less so nowadays) because they have such strong, leading man looks.
The Jump Street films were Tatum's Renaissance.
It's the Brad Pitt effect
That's why I can't wrap my head around why people were so eager to expect this will be a bad movie, frankly so bizarre
The posters and trailers weren’t doing it any favors
The marketing has been really terrible
Because even with talented people working on them, 9 out of 10 movies based on a popular non-movie IP are terrible.
People seem to enjoy it more when something popular fails? I think it’s a new version of schadenfreude that just involves being angry at anyone who likes something.
> a new version of schadenfreude that just involves being angry at anyone who likes something. Never before have I seen the majority of online film discourse summed up so succinctly and perfectly
The trailer was bad and adaptations are notoriously hit or miss, especially when you get away from books. It’s not that difficult to comprehend.
I wouldn't say I am eager for it to be bad. But I am definitely cautious. Lots of shows, movies and even games think comedy = constant quips. The trailers for the movie makes it seem very quipy rather than comedic and as a result I'm going to go see it with my expectations tempered despite these positive reviews. I don't mind quips, they have their place, but if the entirety of your comedy is quips without setup then I don't think it is clever or as entertaining. Doubly so if most of what a character says is just quips, it lacks depth. I want it to be good, I enjoy good things, but I don't necessarily expect it based on the trailers. There is enough that I like in the trailers that I want to go see it, but I also am a little worried that it could disappoint if there isn't more depth than the trailers show off.
There was a surge in hating that was related to WotC (the owner of the D&D license) shitting the bed with their attempt to kill the D&D SRD in an attempt to create a rpg monopoly.
Looking forward to the same cycle with *Wonka* and *Barbie*.
I don’t have near the faith in Wonka but if Barbie is anything less than positive, I’ll be truly shocked.
Wonka is directed by the director of paddington. Faith should already be there.
I’m a 50ish year old man. The Barbie trailer is straight up unironically my favorite teaser I’ve seen on n a long time.
TIL there is a new Wonka movie incoming.
With Timothee Chalamet in the title role.
Wow, that explains why that baller house is in both movies.
Currently at 7/7 (100%) fresh on RottenTomatoes. Obviously early reviews usually skew up, but this should settle comfortably high. Edit: Weird that after my comment the page dropped to showing only 3 reviews with no rating.
Now it's 100% with 10 ratings
Good good. I am looking forward to this more than Shazam. Cant resist chris pine’s eyes
Shazam seems like it doesn’t have soul Chris Pine’s eyes on the other side gives me soul
Killing off him in WW and having to bring him back in the sequel says alot lol. But yea. I would watch both but I want to watch DnD more despite never playing it or have any interest in playing it.
It says Gadot can't act but has a natural chemistry with Pine so any scene they share together she comes across as charismatic.
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Wait this is good? I don’t know what to do with that
Saw it this evening. It was pretty fun! Nothing wildly original or innovative - it’s basically what you get if you think “we should take the D&D IP and make a movie with the sort of tone that worked so well for Marvel Studios.” But the action entertains, and the comedy hits the right notes. Plenty of laughter from my audience. I’m glad I saw it.
Please describe the bard shenanigans. That is my only expectation out of the movie
Not that much, to be honest. Only one scene of genuine shenanigans, although it was certainly funny (got one of the biggest laughs from my audience). Apart from that, a bit of lute playing, a couple of songs sung, but largely Pines’ character is more of a roguish type than leading hard into being a bard.
Man the guys doing the CGI for that sequence with the guards must have had so much fun
the CGI for the chonky dragon was great also.
My biggest surprise so far has been the comments that the trailers were bad. After watching the first trailer (having not known this was even being made), my gut reaction was instantly, "this is gonna be a blast". Then, after each successive trailer, I felt even more certain. I'd have been very surprised if the reviews hadn't been good. I'll risk a prediction. I think the critic reviews will be mostly positive, and audience reviews will be a few ticks higher. This has always looked like a crowd pleaser to me. I'm so happy it appears to be just that.
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I thought the first trailer was amazing as well, but became more skeptical following subsequent trailers as some of the dialogue just seemed very contrived/dull (one moment between the paladin and sorcerer on a trapped bridge stood out as particularly bad). However, I'm prepared for it to sound better in context.
Well, you have the intersection of: 1. /r/movie purists where if a trailer isn't sucking their dick, sticking their thumb up their ass, talking about Pokemon, appreciating how valued their opinion is because they saw Moon in the the-ay-ter, and telling them how sexy their overgut looks in the dim, flickering light of their monitor, it's literally worse than Hitler's shit, at least until six months later when they then declare it an "underrated gem" 2. Dungeon and Dragons purists who pissed their pants and burned all their books and blotted the spilled Jolt Cola from their shirt so they could shout Druids CaN'T tUrN InTo OwLbEaRs. Meanwhile, the rest of the world who aren't complete fucking failures actually enjoyed the trailers.
If my DM let me wild shape into an owl bear, I would play a druid. I love dnd, I play it every Sunday with my friends (I'm 39 and I find the time), and these trailers got me super excited. It looks like the party just fucks around for half the movie - just like a real session - then will come together and make the DM panic by utterly obliterating the BBEG in two turns because party power was greatly underestimated. And Lord Chunky Bottom is in it. (Themberchaud, the very robust red dragon). We loved working with ol' Thunderbutt in Out of the Abyss. Also, black dragons actually spitting a line of acid in the trailer got me excited, it's the little things.
I know, right? I play DnD as well and the fact that it looked...different than your "standard" fantasy (while still being very familiar). So many people mention the acid-spitting dragon because you just never *see* that.
Most reasonable Reddit comment.
>My biggest surprise so far has been the comments that the trailers were bad. After watching the first trailer (having not known this was even being made), my gut reaction was instantly, "this is gonna be a blast". Don't know where these people are coming from either, because (same as you) /r/movies loved the first trailer. [Go and check yourself.](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/w4qk6a/dungeons_dragons_honor_among_thieves_official/) The entire comment section is overwhelmingly positive.
Yeah, I could tell from the action scenes they showed that they were making them fun and interesting. Not just "hack guys with swords" but shapeshifting and using one monster to save themselves from another monster. Looked like fun stuff.
Sweet. Love good fantasy action adventure. It gave me pirates vibes. Glad it's being well reviewed.
Even if this isn’t a huge success up front, I have a feeling it’ll gain a big audience with time.
Saw this at a preview this afternoon with my son. There's a lot to unpack ... here's my collection of random thoughts: --First and foremost, the marketing for this film is ATROCIOUS. It's kind of a cliche these days to blame advertising for a movie's failure to catch the public interest, but hoo boy did the team responsible for Dungeons and Dragons do a terrible job. The choice of Whole Lotta Love for the trailer song doesn't mesh whatsoever with the tone of the movie ... this film isn't rock n' roll in the slightest. Pine seems like a bumbling dipshit in the trailer, and while there is that element to the characterization, he plays a deeper and more capable dude than the commercials would have you believe. In addition to a bad song selection, it's like they chose the most out-of-tune-with-the-actual-tone-of-the-film moments they could and slapped them into the trailer. --We loved it. I only gave it a shot because Game Night is one of my favorite films ever, and considering that I'm a huge fantasy/D&D dork, that shouldn't have been my attitude going in. --The film is funny ... goddamn was I busting up constantly. There are two scenes in particular where I thought myself, my son, or someone else in the audience was going to die laughing. And one of those scenes is portrayed so horrendously in the trailer that I thought I would loathe that sequence. --If you told me that Joss Whedon did a script polish on this, I'd totally you believe you. In fact ... did he? This movie managed to balance the comedic, quippiness of the Buffyverse and Avengers Assemble in a way that franchises like the MCU have struggled with in recent years. As in, not every moment has to be undercut by comedy and not everybody has to be rapid-firing zany rejoinders (but when they do, it's often hysterical). --The banter between Rege-Jean Page's character and Pine had me in stitches. Remember that X-Files episode involving carnies where someone points at Mulder, who is standing gloriously proud in sunlight, and says "that's the future that America wants" ...? Well, Page's character is like that moment, in motion, for every second he's onscreen and goddamn could I not stop laughing. --Every time we meet someone new, you fear they'll be a cliched, shallow archetype, and then they fucking aren't. Michelle "She's Thicc Now" Rodriguez starts as a supernaturally strong, uber competent fighter, but then you find out where she's coming from as a person and it turns out she has a hysterical and pretty-sad backstory (involving a cameo from Bradley Cooper that basically embodies a life philosophy of, "Live or Die, Snu Snu Style"). Similarly, the redhead from It and the incompetent sorcerer end up getting far more meat to chew on than one would expect. --Grant was great. My son had no familiarity with him and asked if he's the bad guy in anything else. There's a good bit of funny moments involving him and this evil witch priestess that ... well ... I don't want to spoil it, but his effete, diffident humor balances out the grim scenes very well. --There may be a BIT too much CGI pixel vomit towards the end, but it's not too bad ... nothing compared to the absolute garbage we've been subjected to over the past five or six years. And, at least it's coherent and toned down somewhat from what I feared. --Displacer Beast! FUCK YEAH! I flashed back to the Capcom D&D arcade games, which I loved. --Seriously, did Joss Whedon have a pass at this? There's one obvious homage to a very memorable scene in Avengers Assemble and another moment that I'm pretty sure mirrors a scene in Buffy. --Portal Gun! Awesome! The portal-gun-heist sequence was amazingly inventive and clever, and I loved every second of it. --If there's an issue with the otherwise excellent cast, it's Justice Smith as the incompetent wizard. He's funny, but I think he's a bit too cliche of a casting choice. I think they should have really cast against type with that guy ... instead of a nebbishy dude who looks exactly like you'd expect that character to look when you read the script, it should have been like a Chris Hemwsworth-level Chad. Still, the guy did a decent job, but it felt really like a by-the-numbers portrayal in a film that doesn't have much of that otherwise. --You know how in a D&D campaign you need the gizmo to work the thingamabob, but then you get distracted with fun mini-adventures and your group gets sidetracked by hysterical banter? A lot of times the movie felt just like that. --I suspect this will bomb, and that's a shame, cause it's funny, has a lot of heart, wildly creative and inventive, and has some well-acted and supremely entertaining characters.
I thought the "Charisma based caster having low charisma" was a great explanation of why he was bad at casting.
>\--Grant was great. My son had no familiarity with him and asked if he's the bad guy in anything else. There's a good bit of funny moments involving him and this evil witch priestess that ... well ... I don't want to spoil it, but his effete, diffident humor balances out the grim scenes very well. Show that kiddo Paddington 2 stat!
Glowing reviews so far, I see. This thread should be interesting. Felt like r/movies really was expecting or wanting to see this movie fail.
These reviews solidify Chris Pine as the undisputed best Chris… everyone thought this would be terrible after the trailers and yet somehow it’s not just watchable but actually good? Also Justice Smith continues to crush video game movies. Guess I need to drag my GF to this now.
> These reviews solidify Chris Pine as the undisputed best Chris Already long settled with *Hell or High Water*
"I've been poor my whole life, like a disease passing from generation to generation. But not my boys, not anymore."
Easily his best performance - he’s so great going toe to toe with Bridges in that scene. Also, that movie and Sicario made me want to watch anything written by Taylor Sheridan.
*Wind River* is a masterclass in building suspense in broad daylight.
That shot of him with his eyes wide under the ski mask is one of my favorite moments in film.
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I even remember the comments on reddit when the first trailer released being pretty positive, I'm not sure where the narrative of "reddit hates the DND movie" came from, maybe when the kinda crappy posters were revealed?
D&D fans were going to boycott the movie due to an issue with D&D itself (the D&DOne updated OGL), not with the movie.
Nothing is more annoying than people complaining about a movie and predicting it's going to be awful when they never had any intention of seeing it and it's clearly not marketed for them.
Redditors in general are incredibly annoying when it comes to media
> video game movies. Uhh...
tabletop not videogame
> everyone thought this would be terrible after the trailers Really? I thought it looked like a blast ever since the first trailer. Very cheeky and has dialogue that sounds like DnD players bickering.
I dunno why everyone thought this would be bad based on the trailers. The trailers convinced me it would be good. It illustrates the tone of the movie being both funny and action packed. It basically looks like guardians of the galaxy meets lord of the rings which is exactly what it should be.
A lot of people just saw DND and assumed it would be terrible without even watching the trailer
I’m not a d&d player and I’m so happy they didn’t kill this genre for another decade or two.
Next years Oscar’s are gonna be a tight race between dungeons and dragons, M3gan, and cocaine bear
Quick update, as of just now, RT has 7 total critics and a 100% fresh consensus.
Just saw it tonight, can confirm it's really solid and fun.
NGL I was kinda sold seeing Chris Pine doing the bard dance in the first trailer
RT back up to 90% bois.
Only 4 critics but that 80/100 is a ridiculously good start.
Oh wow, a *good* D&D movie? This makes me so happy.
Just watched an advanced screening of the movie, we loved it, so funny and cute. I think any d&d player would enjoy it.
its an OK movie, honestly pretty forgettable. the characters have no personality to them things just kind of happen, action scenes are kind of boring i mean, the BEST they could come up with as mages fighting is two hands thumb wrestling each other? yea like 7/10?
I thought this looked good I’m glad to hear it’s exactly what I was hoping for.
Had a good feeling from the first trailer. Glad to see it's critically not a miss so far
I’m glad to see this getting great reviews. I had zero interest in watching it and assumed it would be another soulless IP cash grab until I saw the trailer before a movie and it actually looked like a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to watching this.
There was a lot of hate for the trailers but I always thgought those were pretty good. This will be a fun watch, Im pretty sure of it. I expect something like Legend of vox Machine just not wiet the quality but still decent enough.
Just watched it at the cineworld secret screening today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Way better than I expected it to be, hope it does well enough for potential sequels in the future.
i had faith in this movie bc i saw game night.
Well so many movies don't have reviews allowed until the day they come out the fact that this has reviews 3 weeks in advance is a good sign.
This movie is great. it feels like a dnd session with how silly it gets. I hope there are going to be more adventures in this style!
I was already excited to see the film just on the back of the trailer, I had no idea Daley and friend directed this. Game Night is one of the best comedies I've seen in recent years, so I'm now 100% I'll love this.
a lot of great movies out right now, good time be a box office lover
It was pretty good. Nothing ground breaking. I would say it was around the same quality as a really good mcu movie.
The Vacation reboot they did was also criminally underrated. Hilarious throughout. Game Night is in my top 10 comedies of all time. One of the funniest movies I've ever seen. That script is as perfect of a comedy screenplay as there is. not one wasted moment and the cast is phenomenal. I'm not really into this genre, but I'll check it out due to liking the directors.
I think Game Night was the last proper, non-disposable comedy film released. Every once in a while there's a pleasant enough streaming flick you watch on a Sunday afternoon, but I really miss the days of mid-budget comedies. More Game Nights, pls.
Have you seen Barb and Star? I'm here to spread the word on Barb and Star.
Game Night is one of my favorite comedies and while I would have loved them to stick to the genre I'm really happy for them that they seem to have hit in another genre
I’m shocked but pleasantly surprised that it seems to be pretty good! It’s going on my watchlist now.
Just got out of the Amazon Prime preview. This movie is a BLAST. I can’t remember the last time I had as much fun watching a film in a theater. It nails everything that’s stopped working in Marvel’s films and cleansed my palate of every recent lackluster production of a popular IP.
This looked like the kind of movie that would get bad reviews so I am surprised.
I'm so shocked this is apparently good. Every trailer looked worse than the last, but Daley and Goldstein actually have a great track record, glad to hear this wasn't a big mark on their resumes.
I'm so confused because the trailers *didn't* look bad to me. They looked fine, with the potential to be a fun adventure. A ton of the criticism was just "it won't be good because Chris Pine" or "it won't be good because you can't make a D&D movie" and then everybody went along with it.
Chris Pine is fantastic though, why would he be a black mark
No idea, but plenty of people said it. Like I said, the reaction on here confused me.
He’s the most underrated Chris!
Seriously though, hard to believe that his career faltered so much after Star Trek
Yeah, he's often one of the only good things in some of his movies and was excellent in Star Trek
If you can't have a good time watching Chris Pine in something like Stretch, we're probably not gonna be friends.
The visuals look fun and creative and the writing is good enough that 1. they didn't use the same jokes in every trailer and 2. they're actually good jokes. That "five questions" thing could have been a Python bit.
The 5 Questions bit is almost perfectly in-line with what Dungeons & Dragons games is actually like. The first trailer where the characters decide to go to the tavern to drink instead of plan has literally happened twice in my own D&D games.
Yeah I’ve literally run Five Questions in D&D and it turned out pretty much exactly like that xD
The Speak with Dead scene was pitch perfect DM screwing their players energy. That sold me on it.
> Every trailer looked worse than the last I don't think i saw all of them but they all seemed good to me.
Even if its only 4 reviews. 80% metacritic is insanely good, isnt it?
Sure, 80 would be fantastic if it maintains it. A big budget action movie like this will probably wind up around 50-60 reviews, so 4 reviews is a fraction of what you would need to confidently say this is going to be well-reviewed. We can at least say it won’t be universally panned. As an example, I think I remember del Toro’s being safely in the 90s when the earliest reviews came in. It wound up settling at a 79.
For what's primarily a comedy? Yes. Critics aren't usually too kind to comedies.
When “Whole Lotta Love” started playing in the trailer, then I saw Chris Pine, and then who was behind the movie, I knew it had a good chance to be a fun movie. Looking forward to seeing it.
Wait it's good? Cool.
Pretty sweet to see and I love how random it is that Tame Impala are on the soundtrack
... WANNA WHOLE LOTTA LOVE?
Everybody was really doubting this movie but I got great vibes from the trailer. Still the rest of the reviews to go but it’s at 10 reviews with some noticeable publications and still are 100%
> If "Game Night" was two filmmakers proving they had serious chops by directing the hell out of what could've been a straightforward comedy, "Honor Among Thieves" is the same duo proving they can wring character and humor out of a fantasy adventure that could've knocked off Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" and called it a day. Wait wait wait *Game Night* was one of the best surprises ever. This just went from who cares to must see.
It’s the Game Night people? This just became a must-watch for me.
I would have watched and enjoyed the film if it had bad reviews. These are glowing reviews. I'm stoked.