Dungeons & Dragons Subverted My Expectations

Most of the time I'm left bitterly disappointed by the state of modern movies. But sometimes, just sometimes, along comes a film like Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, to prove that fun movies are still getting made.

[@paule4566]

The marketing team hurt themselves when they (falsely) announced that they emasculated the men. I saw the movie on Saturday. Chris Pine's character is not a front line fighter, but he is clearly the leader of the group and excels at creating effective plans, and adjusting when conditions change. His story arc also very much depicts a loving father who above all wants to protect his child.

[@ChrisRey3156]

This. And his relationship with Holga is surprisingly wholesome and well played.

[@doughbafett]

@@ChrisRey3156 It's refreshing that it's a platonic relationship and they're more like brother and sister.

[@calmbbaer]

The ironic thing is that "emasculating the men" really meant, "Giving them stronger character development than the women." But they didn't make the women perfect to start with, so they had room for development too, even if both were kind of, "Oh, I'm kind of less bitter now."

[@CremeDeLaNut]

@@ChrisRey3156 i could kiss you.....try it...

[@Grey_Wulfe]

Its hard to emasculate Chris Pine hes a likable actor with a decent skillset when hes given decent writing to work with. Were all so desparate for good storytelling to come back. Why the hell do they think we want woke narratives in our movies. We want life as it actually exists in the fucking real world.

[@lordcinderwell]

The adventurers screwing up the mcguffin and then going off the rails with another random artifact is the most D&D thing we may ever see on the big screen.

[@theatheistbear3117]

Unironically something more heist films should aim for. It subverted expectations without it trivializing the events that preceded it.

[@richardjacobson1158]

I wanted to hate this movie but couldn't. It was so obviously made by people who know.

[@qwart22]

@@richardjacobson1158 it probably helps that the actors actually played a campaign before the film lol

[@cbrreezzyy69]

So many situations I thought “he rolled a shitty roll there”

[@robertagren9360]

They end up scraping a stone floor for an hour and in the end it didn't paid off.

[@Klaevin]

I loved the "magic doesn't solve every problem" early on in the film, only to be subverted later with "actually, this is a problem magic CAN solve"

[@pendragon0905]

Certain problems can only be solved by certain types of magic; at least to me, it's obvious.

[@pierluigidipietro5597]

well, magic can solve this kind of problem (revive a dead person), but only ONE of the two you would like to revive.

[@Agamotto57]

The only problem magic truly can’t solve is an unsettled bar tab

[@maximillion322]

That setup and payoff happened within 5 minutes of each other.

[@greensmurf221]

'Can't you just magic us across??'

[@Demonsith12345]

I loved all the ways this movie evoked actual D&D. When the characters started discussing the maximum range of a spell, I felt like I was sitting at the table myself. And the Paladin character felt just like a stereotypical DMPC: a mysterious badass with a tragic backstory that bails out the PCs before departing to parts unknown. It was all very charming.

[@doihavetobeg]

Departs, in a perfectly straight line, never wavering from his path...

[@pierluigidipietro5597]

@@doihavetobeg climbing boulders in his path...

[@Powermad-bu4em]

@@pierluigidipietro5597 That actually cracked me up. This movie was pretty damn good.

[@millersatthefarm8]

This was a good movie, my family enjoyed it.

[@marylandwehr1666]

I cracked up at the walking in a straight line over the rock bit. Just like a character moving across a game board lol.

[@robinfox4440]

One interesting aspect of this movie that a number of D&D fans have noticed is how much the characters actually feel like they're people *playing a character* in an actual roleplaying game, and the way each failure manages to be sidestepped through the cunning of the party or gentle pushes from the plot like a DM would while playing a campaign. Definitely a nice touch.

[@rcglinski]

Me and my DnD group went to see it and afterwards I said my only complaint was the dual-wielding Paladin, c'mon, that's not a real spec. Our running DM pointed out that the Paladin was just a DMPC, he was put in place by the DM to get the party from point A to point B and could be overpowered because he was only going to be around for those specific fights. But overall yeah the really great thing as a longtime DnD player was how each character exemplified the class they were playing. Helga was a barbarian, Chris Pine was a bard, whatsherface was a druid, I excuse myself for not remembering their names too well simply because I could watch the movie and just see ok the high level barbarian is making toys out of a bunch of CR 1 town's guardsmen, oh the sorcerer is using his magic to pickpocket the audience, the druid is shapeshifting way more than you're actually allowed but whatever it's a movie, oh come on the paladin can't be both a paladin and a ninja who wrote this!

[@PrebleStreetRecords]

Agreed. This was definitely written by folks who've at least sat at the table a couple times. "What if I tie a rope to my axe and throw it"- the standard approach to crossing a gap.

[@ultraninja5783]

Im half convinced they played a real dnd game for a quad shot or something and then turned that into a movie lol

[@thedomoking]

​@@rcglinski he wasn't really a bard though because he never used magic. He was more of a musically inclined rogue

[@Syndicate_01]

@@rcglinski Dual wielding paladins only *aren't* a spec if you're purely looking at D&D thru the lens of 5e. You could totally be one in 3rd / 3.5 edition, for example with the right selection of feats. Hell, a level 1Paladin could start the game with Two-Weapon Fighting in those editions, you got feats every 3rd level IN ADDITION to stat boosts (+1 to one ability score) every 4th level. Humans, fighters and other classes provided additional bonus feats too. Level 1 human fighter for example starts the game with 3 feats, and by level 4 has 6 feats. And the druid wildshaping additional times could also be a thing in that edition too, "Extra Wild Shape" is a feat you can take to shift more times per day. So yeah, actually everything you're describing can be explained using in-game mechanics, just not from the version you're presumably playing.

[@Freakyguy666]

You know cinema is in dire shape when you get excited to see a movie described as “you could do a lot worse”…

[@redninja3056]

It's more like you make it seem worse then it is just because it's woke and you guys bitch about anything these days

[@321lionheart8]

EXACTLY!!!!! 👍

[@nuyabuisness7526]

Yeah it's a sad state when "It's not bad." is considered high praise. At least there's some improvement over recent years, I've had reason to actually go to the theaters multiple times in the last month after not going for most of a year.

[@markjackson-ec2hk]

​@@nuyabuisness7526 this movie wasn't "not bad". It was good.

[@Chadius_Thundercock]

@@nuyabuisness7526 tbh in like the last year, I’ve gone to the movies like 5 times, and 2 of those times were because I just really missed the food they served so I just watched a random movie for some food

[@aduckwithayoutubechannel]

I’m so glad they didn’t try to reach for making Forge a sHoCkInG tWiSt ViLlAiN. They recognized that, yes, the audience is not idiotic, and threw us a bone by just presenting him as the villain right out of the gates.

[@curtisbme]

@@mezzb Yes, but they have a con man played by Hugh Grant so automatically they told us he was the villain without needing to say the words.

[@rebeccahicks2392]

@@mezzb yeah, but his betrayal and villainry is discovered so early on---different than a twist villain revealed at the end.

[@aduckwithayoutubechannel]

@@LTNetjak yeah, that’s what I said.

[@Jebu911]

@@curtisbme ok but i dont know who hugh grant is but they made it obvious he was the badguy in first act.

[@BrokerLower]

Underrated observation 👏

[@dxlta]

Despite the fact that they had a feminine brawler, not a single crotch shot was in this movie. The absence of such a throwaway takedown added so much to the fact that she was a seasoned fighter who happened to be a woman, not some "I'm better than you because I'm a woman" narrative. Good job

[@danieldickson8591]

Even that one guard Holga picked by her arm between his legs was just getting leverage to body-slam him. And that Orc, or whatever, in the prison cell at the start of the film, left her a perfect opening for a ball-busting kick, but she broke his knees instead.

[@tiktokasylum5186]

She’s convincing also

[@Mandred85]

Don't forget that Rodrigez has the actual build of a brawler. She's not a tender 100lbs barbie. She's buff!

[@Ciscohm]

Nah but the men don't do anything masculine, wouldn't that mean this is a feminist movie?

[@user-fl3oc1bw3u]

@@Ciscohmthe lack of likes answers your question

[@TheAlphaLegionnaire]

Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves feels like what one of the older Marvel movies were like. It’s jovial and fun without undercutting every serious moment with yet another joke. I hope Mario doesn’t crush it too hard because I’d love some D&D sequels.

[@johnsmith-px3xj]

The problem is the trailer makes it look like late period Marvel, with quips destroying the whole film.

[@dusancakic]

@@johnsmith-px3xj True, I saw the trailer on TV and I lost the interest, I was like: "Oh God, more Multiverse-styled shit..."

[@Arsene-cj1tq]

​@@johnsmith-px3xj right but the movie itself did feel like like an old avengers movie, marketing just made it look like that

[@utisti4976]

Producers should contact Larian for a Baldur's Gate 3 movie.

[@jimjiminy5836]

Does it? That’s not good.

[@fulld-scription]

I find it both hilarious and sad that an okay movie can subvert my expectations. Edit: What is happening in the comments bruh?

[@axelhopfinger533]

No, an ok D&D movie. Which until now, didn't exist.

[@redrackham6812]

Can we please stop using the expression "subvert my expectations" and go back to saying 'surprise me" instead?

[@wanderingrandomer]

@@redrackham6812 Have you read the title to this video?

[@asraiSOA]

@@redrackham6812 If it weren't for all of the b/s leading up to this film, being D&D focused, and the crap trailers, then 'surprise' would fit... all things considered, most expectations were rock bottom, so the expression fits with this one.

[@ChildishGambeaner]

​@@asraiSOA what? The trailers all looked fun. It's just the cynical weirdos on this channel in their pessimistic echo chamber

[@aduckwithayoutubechannel]

I absolutely adore this movie, not as a cinematic masterpiece, but as a D&D movie. Having played the game for a number of years now, I can say that, above all else, it feels like a D&D game. I don’t mind the excessive humor because that’s *exactly* what happens in a D&D game. It actually feels like a bunch of friends sitting around a table just looking to have a good time.

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

I agree! It really *feels* like a gaming session with your buddies.

[@voldren]

also at least for me it was a really good humor, i laughed at some of the jokes way more than i would've expected from this type of movie, so the amount of jokes wasn't tiresome at all usually they put some cheesy generic one-liners and expect people to laugh or think this is so badass, while here i was genuinely surprised how well they blended comedy into this movie

[@davehart9972]

no it played like Critical role trash. You've never played real D&D

[@kasegiyabu5030]

@@davehart9972 It's a film based on a game and you're complaining the rolls are all crits? Try being drunk when you next play.

[@jfjlegge]

@@davehart9972 and here I thought gatekeeping was supposed to be the CR fan thing. After five versions (more really, when you count the in-version reworks), there's no such thing as "real D&D". Revised/OSR style simplicity and high lethality is great, but given 5e's massive popularity, the old curmudgeons can take their pretentious gatekeeping nonsense and stuff it. There's more of them than there are of there are old timers grumbling over crumbly AD&D sheets, and they've got just as much claim on the hobby as anyone. The point's to have fun, not police other people having a good time.

[@Thao-nathos]

Something i loved about this movie is how much funnier it gets if you have some basic knowledge of the game The roll jokes are infinitely funnier if you know how dice works in this game Or by simply watching how they fight you can tell its still respecting the 6 seconds action rule etc Overall its very faithfull to the source and i enjoyed it a lot Also Xenk is 100% the helping character made by the dubgeon master out of pity for the protagonists lmao

[@robertagren9360]

Xenk is made as an easter egg that paladins are helpful but they're known to be picked by people who start arguments and complicating since alignment is interpretation paladins end up to be Jesus possessed by the devil as they can not accept making deals or work with neutral and evil groups that the whole party is locked into a good path or the paladin will turn against them.

[@jaketerpening3284]

To me it felt like they had a buddy come in town who was only able to join for one session.

[@Checklist_STT]

"I'll tie the rope to my axe and throw it across." "You know the wall is made of stone, right?" Classic DnD shenanigans.

[@MemoristCed]

@@jaketerpening3284 Agreed. People like to point at the puzzle-fail thing to say "Obvious DMPC", but that's completely wrong. "OH WOW, I have seen this puzzle before! Okay guys, listen up, we have to do this, this other thing, that, not this..." "Yeah, bored now. I touch the bridge." "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF--" "Oops, teehee."

[@Moonlight.Howlings.666]

Being sandwiched between John Wick 4 and the Mario Bros movie, the misinterperted marketing articles on making men dumb, and also the controversy on Dungeons and Dragons board game corperation as a whole has hurt this movies chance for a box office. Let see how damaging it is.

[@jonathanwells223]

I’m willing to wait for either someone to buy me a ticket or for it to appear on a streaming service.

[@moldyshishkabob]

Frankly, that "emasculating" idiocy already made me stay away. Only ticket coming out of my wallet is for John Wick 4, as one of the three or four movies I'll even bother seeing this year. I'll be sad that I'm missing a movie that didn't suck... but I already decided to not watch. I'll see it in a few years when it's $10 for a DVD.

[@MrKangorilla]

It's doing pretty great

[@johnconnor2572]

I know and if I don't get a sequel where that litch bitch comes back because they didn't destroy her phylactery I'll be upset

[@reggiefreeborn2143]

it got 40 million domestically, outpacing john wick 4 for this weekend. internationally, it scored a 33 million haul when it was supposed to only score 20 million. This all ignoring the money made during from pre-ordered tickets. The real hurdle is smb, but i feel that it carves its own niche to atleast get a decent haul for the next few weeks

[@ajstephen3977]

Before the movie, the cast did a short video thanking the audience for coming to see the movie in a real theater. To me this is class and shows how humble and appreciative the cast was to the audience for supporting their movie. On top of that, my family enjoyed the movie and our money was well spent. A great afternoon with the family at the movies just like it used to be.

[@brianhayes2863]

Agree with this statement 100%, both the class of the actors and the fun I had with the film.

[@chazchoo99]

The first video like that I ever saw was Tom Cruise before Top Gun: Maverick. The cynic in me immediately thought that they were copying him haha.

[@ajstephen3977]

@chazchoo99 Yes, Tom was the first but hopefully not the last. It is a good habit to follow for once out of Hollywood.

[@victormiguelmaprelian7286]

You are absolutely right!

[@hoppa_2184]

Damn. That is really nice. I am wondering why there was this "We emasculate our male characters!" statement by the...producer? Or was it the director? Writer? If something that horrible wasn't in the movie, why even advertise it? To get positive press? Really wonder about that.

[@TheDrozd111]

One thing I specifically enjoyed is the fact that they tried to cut down on the use of CGI and moved very often to practical effects and real landscapes. Even when some of the costumes looked like silly 80s movie dolls I had a pleasant feeling of nostalgia

[@silverscalederg8632]

That said i'd like to have seen some practical effect non human races. Yes some of them were elves or some shit but the fact that you can't even really tell at all is just dumb. Bring in some the awesome species people actually use like dragonborns, kobolds, or gnolls even.

[@aaronwright485]

@@silverscalederg8632 There was a dragon born

[@Bruda-zu8dz]

There were 2 dragonborn. A lot of halflibgs, gnomes and dwarves. Doric is a tiefling. There is a Tabaxi - cat person on a harbor where Xenk saves her child. CGI Yuan-Ti - snake person - was shown right at the start of the movie. The prisoner that gets domed by Holga, again at the start, is either a hobgoblin or a bugbear. The only "common" Race that I didn't see weere half-orcs. And drows.

[@h4tch3tt74]

I'm find I'm in the minority but I found the movie looked pretty bad. The CG was pretty obvious to me. And the writing just came across too cringe to me. But I seem to be in the minority

[@astronaut7796]

​@@Bruda-zu8dzIf you paid attention to Edgin's past as a Harper, you will notice in the first flashback the huy he tripped was a Githyanki. You can tell be the yellow skin and pointed ears.

[@nerddotcom5817]

My favortie touch was in the underdark where only the two humans were wielding torches as the others could see in the dark. They never mentioned it or drew attention to it, they just left it in as a detail only a fan would catch.

[@samgilley3160]

The fat dragon sequence had me laughing harder than it probably should have.

[@commandercaptain4664]

It looked like it ate a Chungus meme.

[@tobiasrietveld3819]

Coolest part of the fat dragon is that it's actually even in D&D lore. Look up Themberchaud.

[@nuyabuisness7526]

Absolute best scene in the movie, and had all of us howling with laughter. I heard multiple versions of "DAMN BOI HE THICC" and "Oh lahd he comin."

[@TheNinjaLegend]

It was the rolling around that got me

[@angelaharris53]

All I could see was my fat cat... 🤣

[@BioshadowX]

Part of it was that it was clear the creators knew how DnD is actually played and love the series instead of tearing it down. The characters rib each other but they are still being "played" by friends and that always shines through. They never totally tear each other down because that's not what real friends would do around the table

[@kyubii972]

Awesome, I can't wait to see this.

[@abcdefghij337]

It was pretty respectful of the material.

[@henrygambles3652]

Well ultimately these characters are broken people but their friendship and camaraderie helps them win in the end which I quite liked!

[@coda821]

Made by corpo shit holes, who just tried to destroy most of the publishers of D&D. Whether it's good or not, doesn't matter.

[@docsavage8640]

Why would anyone be respectful of the Nerfed SJW 5th edition? 😆 🤣 😂

[@hammfield1473]

The sword fight between Xenk and the Thay assassins was fantastic. It's given me hope that someday we might get an onscreen duel between Drizzt and Entreri that actually does them justice.

[@TheHalogen131]

That would have been amazing. By the way I still hope against hope that at some point Death Battle will consider making a battle between Drizzt and Geralt.

[@SkoomaGodDovahkiin666]

I hope it’s an Arkhan the Cruel vs Drizzt but Arkhan donuts the pretentious Drow Geralt.

[@carcas3d]

The DM really flex his character there jezuz it feels like Xenk is the DM's character ahaha

[@Lord_Numpty]

No. Screw that Gary Stu of a Drow and everything he has ever stood for. Most certainly agreed on the fight in the Underdark though, it was really bloody good.

[@soakedbearrd]

Man that would be badass. I was a huge fan of RA Salvatore as a teen and young adult, and he was easily my favorite character.

[@bogiberson2558]

The Druid spy scene was really inventive. Loved this film, despite all its flaws.

[@joekrafft7125]

that scene was the definition of the rule of cool and i’m all for it

[@rezkalla]

What flaws?

[@Golmov_the_Wretched]

@@rezkalla Wild shape is a limited resource in the game. You can do it twice at most before needing a rest to recharge it, so that epic escape scene wouldn't be possible on the tabletop. I'm fairly certain that druids can't turn into owlbears either (although regular bears are doable). But it did make for really enjoyable scene and didn't break anything else in the movie, so I'll give it a pass :P

[@YouWillBeHappyOrElse]

@@Golmov_the_Wretched DMs can let anything slide if they want to.

[@XNinjaMushroomX]

Man I really appreciate that you had an opinion going in to the theater, and you didn't let it color your opinion walking out of the theater. With how movies have been these last few years, it's really difficult to be that open minded- and I respect that.

[@Trollificusv2]

Just reinforces my conviction that Drinker's got some integrity. A little of that goes a long way nowadays.

[@chipperdrewski]

Yeah, I 100% agree with this. Drinker is actually intellectually honest with his reviews. Also, it really was a pretty fun movie.

[@PoperoniNews]

Hallmark of why I enjoy him as a reviewer so much.

[@jasonotto9126]

I like he doesn't just follow and whinge like nerdrotic and his little bitches

[@ricardocardoso9734]

Same here. I just might go see this movie after all, just because of this review!

[@janhavi1977]

I'm glad you were able to enjoy this movie. I appreciate that even though you were expecting the movie to be bad, you still have the integrity to admit it was pretty decent. Not a lot of movie critics will do that, because they think they have to stick to their original opinion. But I trust your reviews precisely because you're honest.

[@joshuarupert4579]

I second that 💯 going to see tonight hopefully

[@ComicGladiator]

@@MrLethalShots His tolerance for grey pap does seems to rise with every video.

[@Ilyak1986]

@@MrLethalShots that *is* the character he plays, yes.

[@Aspectt1991]

@@MrLethalShots can you explain what you mean by " He is becoming more of a caricature of himself with each video." and he is not honest?

[@alexbernard6220]

​@@MrLethalShotshow do you mean? Genuine question not trying to bait. My take real quick, I think he's trying to avoid pigeon holing himself as purely critical in a negative way. There's a difference between breaking down movies with a critical lens and just dumping on something because it's perceived as "woke". Or forming an opinion he knows will just cater to his established audience. I've seen him come around to a more positive spin on things recently and I think it's due to what I've previously said. Genuinely wondering your thoughts on it

[@merrymachiavelli2041]

I thought the bad guys were gone very well. The scene where all those all those people were zombified was legit pretty disturbing, as were the visuals of tendrils descending from the sky. They were much more effective, menacing antagonists than you'd usually get in a film like this.

[@danieldickson8591]

Forge is clearly a joke antagonist from the start, but Sofina is creepy and scary as all get-out. I would have liked a little more buildup for her henchman Dralas, but he came across as formidable the brief amount of time he was on screen.

[@yuujin2490]

​@@danieldickson8591so we agree there should be a series for this, right? RIGHT?!

[@KaspersDomain]

@@yuujin2490 I've heard that they really want to make a sequel with the same characters, but unfortunately, this movie bombed.

[@cryangallegos]

Dude, I actually found myself liking Michelle Rodriguez's character. The casting actually worked on that one. Also, the fight scene in the castle blacksmith shop was really good, and I was thinking the whole time 'this is a barbarian character's dream '

[@porlorlorl]

Simp

[@dcbanacek2]

Having played D&D for years, what impressed me the most wasn't the lore shown or the interactions between the "players" or even the combat scenes, although I enjoyed all of that too... it was that except for the halflings, they used practical effects for all the people. The aarakocra, tabaxi, yuan-ti and the dragonborn looked *real* because they were *there* for the actors to actually interact with.

[@Sirdeathvids]

I agree! I loved the fact that the Dragonborn had realistic texture (because it was a physical material that caught light in a specific way). The baby tabaxi was obviously a puppet, but it’s probably infinitely better than cgi

[@Ozgarthefighter]

Good God, is that what Bradley Cooper is supposed to be?

[@mrmccranky]

@@Sirdeathvids I knew that baby Tabaxi was a puppet, but I fell in love with it. It was the cutest 😅

[@syrienangel4137]

I love how it looks like they went all in for the other races. Man imagine if they had a dragonborn or a Kenku in another movie.

[@droidattackonthewookies2277]

​@@syrienangel4137 imagine all the hilarious hijinks they could do with a kenku

[@UmJammaLamma]

The glitched out illusion scene had me in tears, movie's definitely worth a watch

[@PrebleStreetRecords]

That is DEFINITELY how I'll flavor failing Minor Illusions in future games I DM.

[@SythonToTheZ]

like drinker I thought the movie was a pleasant but average surprise, but that scene will live rent-free in my head for a while.

[@wayneshobbygallery]

​@@SythonToTheZMe too. There's no single movie scene that made me laugh so hard while bursting into tears than this one here. In fact, it's the only one. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@FureyinHD]

Yeah that was one of the funniest things I've ever seen on the screen

[@g.d.graham2446]

absolutely

[@drfye]

I was genuinely pleasantly surprised. Went in with low expectations and it ended up being a decent and solid movie. I actually liked holga's Character, she wasn't some forced love interest or some "strong independent ( I don't need no man) character. She was a barbarian so it made sense she was fighting in the front. As the movie progressed I was surprised that she was just an actual friend/sibling to the people around her.

[@nedgirl1361]

I also liked that rather than it being 'I've suddenly after all these years realised I love you more than I love my dead wife!' its a case of 'I really want my wife back, but my daughter really needs her instead, and I'm going to do whats best for my daughter even if it hurts'.

[@drfye]

@@nedgirl1361 Ya, I mean it wouldn't make sense. dude misses his wife, feels guilt about her death, see's a chance to see her again and bring her back into his daughter's life at great personal expense, goes on this journey then suddenly realizes he loves another woman? Holga his close friend/sister who is going through her own relationship perils? It wouldn't make sense for him to suddenly confess romantic feelings towards her.

[@pierluigidipietro5597]

holga was the deputy mother of her daughter, and a dear friend, like a sister in law. He then made a selfless choice for the sake of the two

[@danieldickson8591]

Fixating on his guilt over causing his wife's death was the biggest thing holding Edgin back and dragging him down. He finally accepted that he had to let her go, to embrace the family he has now.

[@danieldickson8591]

@@pierluigidipietro5597 Practically speaking, Holga was the only mother Kira ever knew.

[@nanomario]

As dnd player (or ttrpg player in general), the fact that they improvised a new effective plan after the old one got screwed by some unknown complication is so realistic that is actually scary. A light movie with solid plot and characters and some really good messages about fatherhood and friendship. Also paladin best character.

[@robbartley5760]

It's a reflection of the times that I was actually impressed with this just because it seemed like the creators said, "Let's just make it fun." Seeing movies that are "fun?" What a revolutionary idea...

[@pyropulseIXXI]

Stop consooming stuff. It says a lot how people just consoom

[@johnwolf2829]

Even the Fandom Menace seems to have been taken by surprise..... as if even they are stuck in a rut and thinking in narrow terms these days.

[@CoercedJab]

Lmao y’all still investing the time and money to go to the movies like that?? And y’all wonder why “the times” are what they are when y’all continúe consuming popcorn 😂

[@cietai9843]

A "reflection of the times" is being gay, don't you know 🤷‍♀

[@dividedstatesofamerica2520]

@@pyropulseIXXI Sounds like you do it on a daily basis.

[@airplane4242]

My friend Brian who had a heart transplant and you autographed the book to “Brain” at Atlanta Comic Con unfortunately passed last week. He loved the autographed book from you. Our last conversation was about how this movie would be better than I expected. Glad to hear he was right and and looking forward to seeing the movie.

[@michaelsegriff3362]

Nice comment. RIP, Brian.

[@SirAwesomeVille]

RIP brian❤

[@lavosdream5809]

Rip Brian 🪽😇

[@TEQNEEK]

RIP Brain

[@gringoguapo]

​@@TEQNEEK 🧠 😊

[@thorleif8872]

The movie was waaay better than I expected, i cried with laughter at so many scenes....the dragon on the bridge, the undead barbarians, how the druid girl treated the red mage in the end... 🤣

[@arcguardian]

Low expectations will do that.

[@Schmunzelfee]

I went to the movie theater twice to see that movie. I never did that before. I loved it and I was impressed by how funny, exciting but also how honest and serious it was at the same time.

[@halsoy]

That one dragon scene made the whole theater laugh when I watched. I hadn't seen any marketing material, so had no expectations. Ended up being thoroughly entertained.

[@earlleeruhf3130]

I assume you are talking about the fat,clumsey one that had no room to fly. I loved it too.

[@halsoy]

@@earlleeruhf3130 lol yeah. That scene had the entire theater laughing 🤣

[@ozpin8329]

Someone in my theatre shouted in the back "OH LAWD, HE COMIN'"

[@halsoy]

@@ozpin8329 lmao 🤣

[@free2beme123]

My family were cracking up then too. I've never seen a fat dragon. It was hilarious

[@thedancehackersguidetoarge4301]

I must admit, that last boss fight was quite stunning. They flipped the one good guy against many around and made it believable while keeping that D&D flavor. You could even tell who won initiative!

[@khallrik]

that's really a good point... most Hollywood action is a single superhero/superspy/super-whatever taking on massive hordes of goons... kinda like the Diablo game series. But they've gone the more TTRPG/MMORPG route where the single BBEG is so powerful, it requires the entire party/guild to take down; they went with a proper D&D setup rather than the typical Hollywood solo hero vs. the world.

[@jacobstevens7046]

I know. That easily made the movie for me. It was so satisfying, and I had just seen John Wick, so my expectations for an action scene were pretty high.

[@thedancehackersguidetoarge4301]

I actually like the completely ineffectual punch to the (I assume Rock Skin) face by the Barbarian. You know what, this movie doesn't WOW you on the first sitting, but it has a pleasant aftertaste, which is something I've never felt going to the movies before.

[@khallrik]

@@thedancehackersguidetoarge4301 10 DR for the win...

[@dardalion3199]

I liked Sofina's scenes especially the first time-stop spell during the failed heist before you know who she is and also the joke from Forge about how she should keep her cap on due to her intimidating tattoos.

[@jeremylandry858]

I took my nephew to see it because he really wanted to. I went in expecting it to be terrible for the same reasons Drinker did. But I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. As a player, I loved just how D&D it really was.

[@gaelofariandel6747]

I was close to having the complaint that they were constantly crapping on guys & had flawless females BUT: --The Sorcerer manned up by the end of it, so his crisis was actual character development rather than JUST bashing --The Barbarian & Druid were fun, badass & had emotion so it didn't narrow down to "women are tough" but rather "these tough characters are also women" which is how it should be --The actress for the Wizard did a GOOD job nailing the creepy as all hell undead cultist

[@YouWillBeHappyOrElse]

Also, Doric agrees to start dating Simon--not because he's powerful, but because he's confident now. Easier to love someone if you don't have to love them enough for both of you.

[@powerpointpaladin6911]

I only went because my kids took me. Was pleasantly surprised how much fun it was. While the plot and dialogue are light, the easter eggs and system references were hard core. All the spells, classes and monsters seemed to work according to the rules. They also seemed to place references to all the editions in the film, as well as bygone D&D lore like the Saturday morning cartoon (pay attention to things in the background). One trope they missed: there was no wheel of hard cheese.

[@Hoi4o]

There were a few contradictions to the rules, but it was in favor of the rule of cool.

[@vivalaglavii6736]

@@Hoi4o So like real Dnd then?

[@orrorsaness5942]

@@Hoi4o Indeed! In the meantime… m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6jMhJRta9-pqNE

[@thenarrator9000]

I’m surprised fireball was never cast in an importune moment

[@PeteZam]

it broke tons of rules, wtf are you talking about. it also combined numerous editions. a druid cannont wildshape into an owl bear, unless you are playing 3.5 and they take a singlular prestige class, which she wasnt. but then magic items need to be attuned, which only exists in 5th edition. so which edition are they using? they completely nerfed timestop. you dont get to react to timestop, it just happens and the caster gets additional rounds to act in. but to add dramatic effect, they made it look like some slow moving thing that moved radially outward and people could run from it. the epic spell at the end did not use any sort of material components, even though they had an entire ship full of gold and treasure that could have been used for the material components. i could keep going, but you get the point. there was a ton of crap that wasnt even remotely close to following the rules in this movie. have you ever actually played DnD, because it sure doesnt seem like you have ever played it, or have any idea how the rules work. dont get me wrong, i liked the movie and they did a decent job incorporating DnD elements into the movie that people will recognize from the game, but to say everything worked according to the rules and how its written is completely untrue.

[@AlexTTzer0]

The transformation-chase scene was one of the most pleasing and innovative scenes I have seen as of late.

[@unknownwarrior5672]

I second that

[@tempusftw3177]

The scene that really won me over was when Olga came out from confronting her ex and Edgin pulled out his lute and started to sing. I half expected for Olga to completely shut that down and belittle his character as a lot of feminist film would do. Instead, she cracked a smile and joined in the song. It became an incredible wholesome scene that not only showed the audience the bond of friendship between the two characters but didn't diminish the fact Edgin is a bard and that's something they would totally do in D&D.

[@YouWillBeHappyOrElse]

"The unspoken" is criminally underused in film these days.

[@naiknaik8812]

i still cant believe how good the animation in this movie looks. It feels like everything is interacting with everything properly but with less of the debris to distract you from it its so good

[@danielrose7052]

I agree. The writers and director paid homage to D&D without needing to MAKE fun of it. Instead, they HAD fun with it, and it showed on-screen. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the movie because I wasn't denigrated for two hours for being a man in 2023 and the characters were incredibly nuanced considering the movie's genre. Definitely recommended!

[@shogunofharlem8240]

You were only denigrated by them in the media.

[@geroutathat]

But they openly said "this movie denigrates the content and the people who go to see it, its a trick we used before, they dont get it, they laugh along and enjoy it".

[@delix8869]

Congrats on giving money to people who hate you. The director came out and said, before the movie came out, that they enjoy emasculating men. So congrats. Hope you feel smart. I’m sure your money will be put to good use by people who hate you :)

[@draconianemanations2785]

@@geroutathat 🎯 it's woke trash, just because they turned the dial down on how obviously woke it is, doesn't make it any less trash.

[@sillyking1991]

​@@geroutathati mean...if your 'insults' are so subtle that their target doesnt understand them...then theyre not good insults. Point being that even if the makers of the movie dislike the target audience, that didnt come through in the movie itself.

[@fredthepeacelily]

My expectations were subverted by rings of power too. Every time i told myself that there would be no way the writers would do something that dumb my expectations would be subverted and I'd see something even dumber. So I'm glad that expectations can still be subverted in the right direction these days.

[@chrisdin4109]

Oh, I went into thinking that I was being too pessimistic. It would be a good show. They dumped all the money in the world into it. Boy was I wrong. I honestly didn't make it past 15 minutes. Watched clips. Doesn't get me excited at all or seem like it gets better. Sauron actor felt like he did the best with what he had though.

[@pt6238]

Cringe of power

[@johnwolf2829]

@@pt6238 The wRongs of Power

[@chadwendt8702]

​@Chris Din they took otherworldly ethereal beings (Elves) and made them mundane. When they had Galadriel being bullied in essentially elf heaven, that's when I reached my limit.

[@jimh472]

We are all genuinely sorry this happened to you. You will never get those 8+ hours back. Thoughts and prayers.

[@dollarsaurus01]

This movie was a blast. Hilarious, visually imaginative and full of warmth, heart, and great characters you instantly come to like and root for. I wish more modern big-budget movies were like this one

[@OkamiToge]

I watched it last night at about 9:50PM ish and I was the only person in the whole theater room, felt like my own private viewing. I really enjoyed it, and I really hope it makes enough to have a sequel.

[@davidbraccini4770]

Glad that finally a modern Hollywood film can subvert expectations in a good way!

[@danielpaul1875]

The bar is pretty low though

[@DTAmaine]

africans in High Fantasy? Yeaahhh, very dofferent to what they usually do. Drinker is no longer our guy. Check the last few videos closely.

[@c3bhm]

Great title by Drinker for this episode.

[@blurb9319]

@@DTAmaine Have you ever seen a DnD module? This isn't Tolkein, all manners of humans exist in the Forgotten Realms.

[@DTAmaine]

@@blurb9319 D&D is European folklore. Find me an African folk tale with either a dungeon or a dragon in it! You utter midwit. Image search: "1980 D&D module". Open your damn eyes, see what is happening. Drinker is now in on it.

[@Thespokenone]

I'm not even a D&D fan, but it's refreshing to see an adaptation that's done right. You can tell when a joke about the material is done out of love and not hate.

[@TimoRutanen]

Man, how much would it cost to hire an actual expert to set all the errors straight before shooting the film. And how amazing it would be if that happened one time.

[@RodrigoMera]

You just described American humor

[@Heathy87]

​@@Jaceareeno Have you watched Legends of Vox Machina? I didn't mind the movie as you said it was OK, I think if you want to watch something that is closer to the quintessential D&D campaign then go try that animated show. if vox machina is a A then this movie is a C+. perhaps its just that you don't get to spend enough time with the characters for them to truly grow on you like they would over a long campaign. the movie managed to hit a bunch of references, the ending part felt a tiny bit rushed. I didn't dislike the characters, I just don't think I got time to have them grow on me.

[@ainashazlan8007]

Ure so right...u n other who know nothing of dnd enjoys it..but not the dnd fans...we know there r lots o dnd story from the rpg campaign that we're looking forward to(see stranger things) but they decided to dump that.. thankfully it flop

[@trorisk]

Some times it really made me feel of a D&D game. The GM who pops stuff out of nowhere, a player who goes into a solo RP, NPC and so on.

[@spamme1138]

Dude! you forgot about the villain. She was amazing. I genuinely felt frightened at various points of the movie because of how scary this lady was. I can't think of any movie outside of one in a horror/thriller genre that could do this to me.

[@Ready-ForTheEnd]

Like the scene where she pointed at Doric who was spying as a fly 😂 scared me

[@arcguardian]

Good point, the movie should have had more of her against the party, instead of her baby sitting the con man.

[@kidd32888]

Everyone is really good in this movie

[@YouWillBeHappyOrElse]

@@arcguardian The party wasn't ready to be a threat to her until the end.

[@MegaJetty1]

What sold me about the movie was the cameo of the kids from the 80s D&D cartoon. Definitely getting this movie.

[@tiduswhiteblade8535]

I found the ridiculousness endearing. It reminded me of an actual D&D campaign. A silly adventure full of ridiculous situations in-between fun action scenes. It didn’t blow me away, but I definitely had fun with it.

[@fostxswire1600]

Sounds like a DnD campaign. That makes me want to watch it.

[@GodwynDi]

​@@fostxswire1600 I did not regret it. Movie was fun.

[@EmphaticNod]

Exactly. That's all this movie was trying to be, and it succeeded. I walked away completely satisfied. 😁

[@KingOfAlsgravia]

The whole plan of how to get into the treasure cart was so hilariously complicated, she could wild shaped straight into the cart, but the plan they did do was exactly the thing a group of players would come up with. Like instead of picking the lock on the door, they deconstruct the wall around it instead.

[@nuyabuisness7526]

There were more than a few moments that felt pulled straight out of a game of D&D. I went to see it with my brother and his GF and all of us are frequent players and/or DMs and we were all laughing our asses off.

[@Liveforfilms]

It really felt like a tabletop campaign brought to life and was a lot of fun at the cinema.

[@tobiasrietveld3819]

Definitely! The whole graveyard scenario felt like a DM smart-assing his group. And the heist was typical of the ones a bunch of overly ingenous players would come up with (and then get yanked back into what the DM had planned out for them originally). I think the Paladin fight scene was the only thing that really bothered me in feeling more like a Hollywood showdown rather than a D&D inspired fight (the other fights were all pretty good in that regard though).

[@PrinceOfChange]

Is it just me or is a lot of these games are getting movies and stuff, D&D got this movie, and WH40k is getting a show.

[@GoldenOne2422]

​@@PrinceOfChange And none of us want any of it. It blows my mind why people are asking for such things from modern Hollywood

[@Optics21]

What happened with original 80s cartoon characters,was it just a cameo?

[@TheSergio1021]

Especially the final fight with the red mage. Everyone just throwing everything they have while the mage just shrugs off everything is VERY realistic to how a D&D bossfight tends to go down

[@Jarod-te2bi]

The cast did a short video before the beginning of the film, they called us hero’s for seeing this in theatres & we are! Felt so happy & honoured.

[@donaldneill4419]

As someone who started playing D&D Blackmoor in 1978, I had a blast. The film was a hoot with tons of references for fans of the game, and was well-written to boot. A lot of it felt like "Yup, that's game night". Totally worth it. Some really great performances. And yeah, that marketing team needs to be fed to hogs.

[@DaDitka]

I wouldn't ever hate hogs so much that I would feed these people to them. But yeah, I share your sentiments. I've been a player since 1985 and I got a lot of the same vibes you did. It was very enjoyable.

[@Sir_I.I_William]

This movie is set in the 'Forgotten Realms' setting, this is the same setting that I played D&D in my younger days. That's what made this movie even better as it had so many proper references and easter eggs in it. I hope they make more ...

[@hittkid6312]

I love the forgotten Realms too but most of the campaign modules in 5e and majority of the books are set in the Forgotten Realms. not enough love for Eberron or Dragonlance

[@austincarlson9270]

I think this movie will kill in the streaming charts, as sad as the box office situation is right. But I think this will gain some traction once it gets to homes so people don't feel they need to spend $10-$15 on seeing this movie.

[@kalxek1462]

I would love a proper Dragonlance series.

[@yattacake3297]

Doric not brimming with charisma is definitely a purposeful choice. Her character is supposed to have a low charisma stat. It’s another nice addition for fans of dnd but i can see how it could be seen as a weird choice for those who dont play. I would love to see an edit where someone adds the outcome of the “rolls” in each situation, just in the corner, not huge. For every spell cast and every punch, but also every RP situation, when they try to talk them selves out of situations or interact with NPCs. That would be such a fun edit!

[@dehydratedninja4166]

I wonder how many natural 20s it would depict during the Jarnathan scene, and how many natural 1s during the 2nd Jarnathan scene

[@erikho6936]

​@@dehydratedninja4166 The entire fight against the red wizard near the end is going to be all 10s or lower

[@Talcor]

@@dehydratedninja4166 that scene was perfect for capturing dnd

[@_elifilen]

The funny part he was a bard and not a rogue

[@heroesoftomorrow3488]

​​​​​@@_elifilen I personally headcanon that Edgin is a Rogue that plays an instrument and pretends to be a Bard rather than a true Bard, simply because he has zero magical abilities and it makes sense for a Rogue to be the main protagonist in a movie called "Honour among *Thieves* "

[@foxspike]

Glad to have finally caught it. There’s so many touches in it which throwback to good filmmaking and, fundamentally, it trusts its audience - something a lot of films no longer do. Sure the opening is pretty heavy handed and we don’t have time to always build a strong bond with the characters, but I’ll be damned if we didn’t have a good time and felt a bit of that old school blockbuster magic again. Kudos to them using callbacks with the dragonfly, I was worried they were going to have him say the line out loud near the end, but they don’t, because they know we get it. More like this please!

[@justmystuff628]

Really captured my experience of watching this movie. It wasn't a mindblowing experience but I was indeed entertained throughout the entire duration. Also Michelle Rodriguez did it really great. She was likeable, dimwitted but honest, masculine but emotional. And they gave her a balanced backstory, which felt deeper than the the protagonist Edgin's. Her exboyfriend, her clan, her decent into thievery, her fondness of potatoes. Edgin's backstory were laid out in the beginning, "dangerous job, lost wife, single dad raising kid, needs money, steals, gets caught", which is a fine but cliche. Really hope we get a sequel which isn't made for "modern audience" but which shows the emotional and personal growth the characters have gone through from this movie.

[@troybaxter]

Michelle really executed the role of a Barbarian. Everything she did lined up perfectly with her class, and she didn't overstep her bounds.

[@tomtombinks1830]

I just saw this movie today. I watched it with my two friends from my dnd group. Having the two of them next too me laughing and thirsting over the paladin and barbarian definitely made the experience that much better. I genuinely enjoyed this movie and we all got a solid kick out of the jokes. The way they all carried themselves really did feel like people sitting around a table having fun in dnd. Plus the chonky dragon was amazing

[@tjongdavid1921]

That paladin armor is *chefskiss. Lol

[@kellenvadmattings4042]

Yup, it was fun

[@masterexploder9668]

I think the review and your observations sum up this movie pretty nicely. It's not anything groundbreaking, but it all works and flows pretty well. Cast is likeable and actually work like a team to overcome their obstacles. There is a lot of fun, some irony and it's all around a nice experience which explains why tabletop games and LARPing are so fun. Compared to original D&D movie and most video game adaptations, it's nearly Oscar worthy.

[@delonehayes7070]

Chunky dragon for the win😂

[@johndo9165]

I actually enjoyed the heck out of this little movie. It was simple and fun, and it makes me miss the late 2000s cinema.

[@max__pain]

Agreed, it was surprisingly fun, but what films of the late 2000s are you thinking of?

[@johndo9165]

@@max__pain narnia, mummy 3, journey to the center of earth, sorcerer's apprentice, ... I know, none of them were actually good, but they were fun and part of my kiddo years

[@SomeYouTubeTraveler]

It definitely had the same vibe as the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie to me. The characters' personal stakes were treated with much more importance than any world-ending ones, but the action and adventure and just plain feel-good vibes were shared all around the cast. Everyone had that Princess Bride smile behind their eyes.

[@saintblankie]

The exact vibe I felt from watching this movie, late 2000s movies! Hits me in the feel.

[@ryanscottnix]

I saw it 2 days ago, and I really enjoyed it as well!

[@jakestefano4118]

I finally got around to watching this and was surprised with how fun it was. Was much better than I expected and actually wouldn’t mind a sequel. The magic duels, comedic quips and deus ex machina were well done imho

[@jamescarr1265]

If it had released in August it would’ve made enough money to get a sequel

[@KailinaerO1]

I just saw this and yes. Its actually quite good. The scene where the Paladin "walks in a straight line" had me almost in tears laughing. It really was if DnD PLAYERS were the actual characters. It felt like a represntation of a group of actual players personalities and not the stoic or heroic characters as seen in books.

[@CheshireFeline]

My husband and I planned to go see it for my birthday. I heard some disappointing things about it before hand, but we're in a small town and the local cinema is struggling to bring things back after the pandemic. I figured I'd enjoy it in the moment, hate on it afterwards and have a nice afternoon. So I was delighted to see that whoever made it liked the source, liked the audience (they even straight up thank you, if you see it in theaters) and was more invested in telling a fun story than fixing all their potential viewers' wrongthink. I'll probably buy a copy when it comes out, let paramount know I want more movies like that.

[@johnwolf2829]

Yeah.... isn't it amazing to see a movie made by people that DON'T despise the material or the audience? That's the key with this one, I think, and I hope it does well enough to start a new franchise. Disney and DC will never get a dime from me, not ever again, but what else is there besides the occasional fluke like this one?

[@lunarvision]

Yeah! That was a nice touch at the beginning when the cast thanks the audience. Sort of like what Tom Cruise did before Maverick. Let’s see Marvel/Lucasfilm/etc show some humility!!

[@friedmandesigns]

Sooo refreshing to hear of a modern flick that doesn't berate its audience for wrongthink (e.g. not renting free head-space to the Divide-and-Conquer narratives and perceptual-engine shaping of the current Cognition-Control-Cartels). Nice overview, Feline! Keep on and good stuff to you and yours.

[@Lysvsyl]

Reading this warmed my cold dead heart.

[@Zeruyu]

You mean "after the mostly pointless, misguided and unnecessary pandemic restrictions forced upon us by leftist shithole humans", right?

[@thedomoking]

Somehow the movie made me feel like I was watching a campaign rather than a fantasy movie, which was what I wanted. There were points that in a normal movie I wouldn't like but here I would just think "ah yes, I've seen that happen in my own games"

[@masamune2984]

1,000%. A campaign I once ran had one of my friend’s characters somehow defeat a secondary endgame boss by throwing a potato at them, and somehow rolled lucky. So when I saw that scene in the film, I thought exactly as you just said 😆😄

[@amyrudy8036]

Exactly. That’s why I didn’t mind the random bits of convenience- like the hither-thither staff- or some of those clunky background descriptions- like Doric with her very flat, “I don’t like humans” and whatever. Stuff like that in any other movie would make me roll my eyes… here? It’s endearing, because it’s exactly how D&D is, and I love that about it.

[@MaryDunford]

Same. That's why I enjoyed it.

[@nosh4303]

A family friend was one of the writers and directors for this movie and he's a huge nerd from what my mom and his sister told me about him when they were younger (I've never met him personally). So I think the movie not being completely shit may have been a result of some of the people making the movie actually having an appreciation of the genre.

[@alexgodwin356]

I saw this movie at my university's theater during finals week a few months back. And as someone who never once played D&D in their entire twenty-something-year-old life, it was a great escape from the stress of my mundane life.

[@snapdragoon1236]

Honestly When I saw Simon and Dorrick on screen being so un-charismatic I just thought "charisma was their dump stat I'll allow it" and that got me over it quickly lol

[@about37ninjas]

Low Charisma probably also explains why Simon was such a trash Sorcerer. Works out pretty well.

[@commandercaptain4664]

When I saw Xenk's fight, I thought: now THERE'S a DMPC. Total showoff upstaging the players.

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

I dunno man, i used to make up rubbish D&D campaigns when I was 14 for a laugh and then play my friends through the story while we were bunking off school. Its a creative thing roleplaying. You use the rules and make your own stuff up. Thats what attracted me to it in the first place. I might watch this

[@Fighterpilot555]

​@@commandercaptain4664 did you really see *that party* getting through The Underdark unscathed? Of course a DMPC joins them.

[@defs8073]

I'm glad you declared your honesty

[@randyjones3050]

"The cold blackened ashes of my dead heart." That perfectly sums up my feelings about the entertainment industry after nearly a decade of all the different fandoms getting ritually abused by Hollywood and then acting suprised when we stop giving them our money.

[@sneeringimperialist6667]

THAT is what's going on! They are ritually sacrifing epic hero stories to their demonic masters to gain their immortality! They should have read the fine print. Their immortality in film history will be a cursed existence...

[@DarkMegaPlague]

Abused,,,,, more like high depraved torture

[@rustyhowe3907]

@@DarkMegaPlague With no lube.

[@rydz656]

Yet he still bitched for months about the movie, like prey.

[@dewolf123]

​@@confusciouspuff5701 Cute cat 🐈 😻 🐈‍⬛️

[@ostravaofboletaria1027]

The sheer ammount of practical effects alone sold me on going to the cinema for this.

[@wither5673]

watched it with my mother who is a HUGE DnD nerd and we both loved it, it had heart, comedy and a decent plot. not to mention the good acting. Helga in particular cracked me up lol.

[@DanMasucci]

As a D&D Dungeon Master and player of many years, this hit all the sweet spots for me. It feels like a campaign arc that is action-packed with just enough story to hook the players and let them be heroes as well as include all the foolery gamers bring to the table. Glad it wasn’t awful for you, Drinker! And I’m super thankful it wasn’t as bad as RoP and Willow!

[@gabrielhersey5546]

Same. Highly entertaining. I’m a 20 year Dm veteran and tis movie felt like a DnD campaign one shot story

[@CannonRaw]

From what I saw in the trailer. The questioning the dead with a 5 limit to the questions was very true to the tabletop to the big screen.

[@abcdefghij337]

I really enjoyed the overpowered NPC joining them for a particular section that’s clearly high-level for them. And on several occasions I could see the rolls of the dice.

[@lfrers]

Dude your games must have been seriously pretty lame. Our games were always dark, gritty, clever, and funny. With lots of die Rollin. I've been dm-ing and gaming since 79. And I know enough to know that you can run a game anyway you want and your players and you will determine the environment in more ways than one. That movie was full of beta males and the role reversals and inclusivity being jammed down our throats. There should be few black characters unless they're Drow or characters like Grace Jones in Conan the Barbarian. The forced role reversal between the Bard and Barbarian were ridiculous. He's knitting acting like a woman and she's eating potatoes and beating the hell out of people acting like a man which is not a problem in and of itself but they purposely emasculate men in this film and lots of films recently for that matter. So just because you say you were running games doesn't mean that you're a good judge of what a good DND film should look like. It should look a little more like Lord of the Rings and a little less like if you took a heroic dose of acid and reenacted with Wayans brothers Dungeons & dragons crossed with the Wizard of Oz. There were a few good scenes but they just use Dungeons & Dragons as gift wrap over their social justice garbage

[@quor2243]

I never got into the table top game but I do love RPG games of all types, and it's clear this movie made sure to pay respect to those that play in one way or another, loved it.

[@capt.ghillie206]

As a long time Dungeon Master, it was fun being able to see the game mechanics and player ingenuity in everything that happened. It felt like you were watching a campaign play out, including all the of the interesting player decisions that adjust how the story goes. All in all, the nuance worked for the overall story and kept you rooted while you were enjoying the fun of the players.

[@teo2157]

Hey. This game makes no sense to me haha, I don’t understand how it’s prescripted and still functions like an actual game. How do battles work? Does someone just say what spell they want their character to use and they use it? What about fistfights? Is the outcome just random? How does it end?

[@joelrobinson5457]

​@@teo2157 I would love to explain but it's 4 in the morning for me

[@neurotic3015]

@@teo2157 It's not "pre-scripted" - there's just a vague plan and story around it, and the DM will usually modify that plan around what the players do, maybe even develop new parts of the story to fit better with the players characters and their actions. Then for battles, it's not random and it's not pre-set, it's like an actual game- you use dice, attacks, spells and etc to win. The basic jist is you can throw an attack with your weapon and you'll have to roll a D20 to see if you hit, if you hit you'd then roll a dice or a combination of dice for your damage depending on what type of weapon you have and what buffs or skills you may have. One could argue the rolling of dice makes it somewhat randomized, but if you're smart about how you're playing than you definitely have a fair amount of control over what's going on. I'd just suggest watching some videos about the game, like some sort of intro for beginners type video- I'm sure there are some good ones out there that explain the game well.

[@capt.ghillie206]

@@teo2157 There are specific rules for combat, and for the weapons and spells used in it. On your turn, you have the ability to use a main action that is utilized for attacking or actions that take a good amount of effort/time to commit. You also get a bonus action to do small things like sheathing or rolling. There's a lot more to it, but you use your main action to use your attack and then roll dice to see if your attack hits, and then you roll to see how much damage that hit deals. Combat is usually complete when all of the enemies are defeated, or the players find a way to escape. Outside of combat, you can roll to use aspects of your scores to influence events with your character like: intimidation, stealth, perception, and so on. In the movie, there are clear moments where the outcomes of rolls can be seen. For example, when the Druid is trying to pull the painting into the cart, she probably had to roll stealth/sleight of hand, which she fails, causing the painting to fall on the road. The Sorcerer then goes through to painting as a help action, or maybe he succeeded a dexterity saving throw to leap through the portal and grab hold of the Druid. Also, Barbarian succeeds a deception/charisma check when the guards notice her on the side of the road. There are plenty more examples that you can find in the movie and it makes watching it all the more immersive.

[@teo2157]

@@capt.ghillie206 Thanks, so something like the hologram spell disappearing would be basically a dice roll to see if it successfully distracted an enemy? Or is it like; You used hologram spell, You fall into a hole. But the way you describe it, that’s a stealth check, or deception. And the axe throw idea would be against a specific rule? I just want to ask, is the DM a player as well? i’m wondering where the fun is derived from that role, i understand it as sort of an all seeing God type thing, who can bless you or curse you, but these games are apparently very, very fleshed out, can’t imagine doing that for months on end. Thanks for explaining anyways

[@lordnul1708]

The funny part oart about Bradley Cooper's character is that he and Holga clearly both have a type. Marlamin's rebound is an even bigger and burlier shieldmaiden, and we all saw the flirty look Holga gave the halfling that was dealing out their medals. Also Pokemon has a little meme that makes this look tame by comparison. I will not go into detail so as to preserve your sanity. Also in my opinion, the most emasculating thing about the movie was Edgin struggling to cut the ropes with the stairs and getting some bad rolls. Simon's confidence issues make sense in my book, mainly because wild mages are known to have the risk of accidentally turning themselves into a potted plant instead of the spell they wanted. If you play one that isn't a nervous wreck, that character is probably going to instead be what TV Tropes calls "Miles Gloriosus". I agree with you on Xenk. But unfortunately "paladins must be LAWFUL good" is an argument older fans have been screaming for literal decades... And this is a heist movie. The worst part about Dorric is that her development does exist, it just got relegated to a novel that thakes place before the film and expands on her stated backstory (and also how she got the Owlbear transformation). And worse still, it's apparently decent enough that it comes across as something that was straight up *salvaged from the movie's cutting room floor.* If it did come from the cutting room floor though, I hope it wasn't cut for some stupid reason. Edit: typos and autocorrect fixed

[@quillmaurer6563]

What I found so good about this movie in comparison to others - especially in the fantasy realm but even in other genres - is that the magic had clearly defined rules and limitations of what it could and couldn't do, and that was leveraged by the characters, rather than just whatever the plot needs at any given moment leading to vague or inconsistent abilities. And everything the characters did made sense, they used the tools they had at their disposal, rather than sometimes doing illogical things or not thinking of an obvious solution as the plot required. In other words, very little plot holes compared with most other movies. Which makes sense of a movie based on gameplay that falls under clearly defined rules that make the game playable, and players who would do the logical things with their characters.

[@tntradernox3654]

Not every movie has to be a absolute masterpiece. A good story is what used to bring me to the theater and Hollywood has really seemed to come around from years of mass produced stagnation.

[@damianolanzoni9583]

I think that's the problem with a lot of modern movies: they try too hard to be "meaningful" and "authorial".

[@Christoff070]

Hollywood has really come around? Ah, ahahahahahahaaaaa 😂😂😂. Hahahahahaaaaaaaa. Oh good one, you had me believing u there for a moment 😅😅😅😅

[@Relixification]

@@Christoff070 have you even watched the damn movie?

[@phyzyc6765]

Thank you for saying this. This movie knew what it was, fun, silly and simple. The characters also learned lessons throughout the film

[@Christoff070]

@@Relixification yup

[@SafetyBriefer]

I loved the Bradley Cooper/Rodriguez plot point. It's played dead serious while the audience is going "wait a minute" the entire time.

[@davemurphy7575]

I loved that scene. It worked because we all were literally like, wait, is that effin' Bradley Cooper?!

[@MrAbeAllen]

And at the end of the movie she eyed that other little dude. lol

[@franciscodanconia4324]

Now you’re making me think of that weird sex scene in season 3 of The Boys where the shrinking guys dives into, well, you know……

[@GreenSabre187]

@@franciscodanconia4324 dont go there

[@commandercaptain4664]

After that scene, I'm gonna need details about how they nabbed him for this. Is he a player?

[@sneakydeekie5472]

This movie is exactly what a D&D movie SHOULD be. Lighthearted fun with bits of melodrama and action.

[@arcguardian]

Should have been 100% more action. Half of D&D is about encounters.

[@sneakydeekie5472]

@@arcguardian In some campaigns, sure. But it depends on the players whether the DM makes it more story or action driven. Mine for example tend to have one or two fights per session at most.

[@patrickschmitz4586]

I just love how the Paladin was clearly an NPC the DM put in there because the players fucked up the previous stuff and he had to get them back on track and baby them through a massive part of the quest. I sat there in the theater laughing out loud at that, just thinking of all of the times the DM in my campaigns had to do that cuz we wouldn't stop dicking around

[@TheEarlofBronze1]

Solid characters Solid plot Solid humour Solid respect for the source material. Solid film. This is the standard we should expect from cinema.

[@michele3900]

I mean, you're overselling it a bit there lol. But wasn't bad I'll give you that much.

[@TheEarlofBronze1]

@@michele3900 by solid I mean, "what flaws there were are minor and don't particularly detract from the whole." Not "perfect". Basically I'd like this quality of film to be the normal, not fast X, transformers, or the other shite they're mostly making. Even the girl power stuff in this film was done much more decently. Holga and the druid lass were badass, but still needed the help and support of the party, even the men. Just goes to show that decent quality is not that hard to achieve, and the fact this film is standing out in current cinema is less a praise of the film and more a severe criticism of modern cinema.

[@w92viking64]

If by solid you mean like constipated then yeah

[@TheEarlofBronze1]

@@w92viking64 sounds like you haven't played much DND to me! xD those characters felt very much like most PC's I've roleplayed with. Not particularly 3 dimensional, with a primary emphasis one one or two tropes or jokes 🤣 still, they were likeable enough.

[@w92viking64]

@@TheEarlofBronze1 or maybe I’ve spent years playing DND with people that enjoy playing a character for many years and evolving your character into fully fledged 3d characters with deep and meaningful relationships, friendships, past, struggles and emotional highs and lows. Yeah I don’t play so much the cheap and easy roll dice and drink beers and kill a few monsters for shits and giggles. It’s called a RPG ffs. Regardless a film will be better having more flesh out characters regardless what type of game of dnd one prefers

[@fulcrum1575]

I saw it on Friday at a Drive Thru. Sat on a blanket in the grass while it was dark with a radio speaker playing the audio, watching the film with some of my DnD party members in the New Jersey outdoors. It's no Lord of the Rings, but I felt that whoever made it fully understood the essence of Tabletop Gaming, up to the clever uses of things like tile maps as the arena. Things that still are fun for people who don't play DnD, but make DnD players smile. Really good stuff, despite what the stupid press had to say.

[@suakeli]

You have "blanket on grass" weather already? We still have 8 inches of snow and +8F mornings. "blanket on grass" is that magical one month of proper summer in July.

[@anon-yw4wd]

The press did not say the writers hate men. The writers said it. You now support anti-male material. Congrats. 👏👏👏

[@HectorLopez0217]

Yeah it felt like one of the sessions I’d run where we stayed at the tavern the whole time because we were having such a good time trading stories in character

[@AsusanXT]

@@suakeli in my area, it's gonna hit the high 90's with loads of humidity.

[@jbonkerz]

Did a bard at least try to sleep with a dragon and everything else in existence?

[@Featinwe]

What I like about this movie is that main characters behave like actual D&D players (improvising, changing plans, asking about the rules all the time), while the rest behave like actual.. well... NPCs. They absolutely nailed the feel of a D&D campaign. And I loved the fat dragon, it was hilarious! and a choice of female barbarian was great (Michele Rodrigues was fantastic in that role), fighting scenes with her were amazing (you could feel the punches and throws, there were even sparks when a steel met the armor).

[@robertagren9360]

Second half the Dungeon Master was pulling things out of his butt like an underground dungeon underneath the labyrinth.

[@jonathanwilliams1974]

Just watched this last night with the fam. All of us thoroughly enjoyed it and I found myself laughing with it (not at it) way more than I expected. And dang the soundtrack was stellar. Great subwoofer workout. You felt every explosion.

[@patrickseaman]

I read a reddit post about the film explaining that the marketing campaign was way off. So, I took a chance, sucked in a deep breath and went to see it last week. My reaction? I was completely shocked. It actually made me laugh several times. Out loud -- and that's a very very high bar, especially for the last few years of muck coming out of Hollywood. Overall, I liked the film and enjoyed it. I left the theater .... happy? I agree it wasn't perfect, but wow. It was so nice to go see a move, enjoy some laughs and leave the theater with a smile.

[@jacobhollback2879]

The bit where Chris Pine's projection starts to morph in front of the guards actually had me laughing out loud. Pretty rare for cinema these days

[@MooseMeese101]

This is actually one of my favorite movies now. It’s not a masterpiece in any way, but I do like a lot. It also matches my kind of humor so even if someone thinks some of the jokes or gags are cringe, they’re my kind of cringe so it’s ok for me. And also, it literally represents all my fantasies I had as a kid of traveling through a fantasy world with a party of adventurers, so for me this movie has obtained a special spot, don’t care what anyone says.

[@dardalion3199]

Agreed. Who were your favorite characters and scenes from this movie?

[@dslims1]

I love how that he is a bard and just about useless, bards always are. One of my favorite parts is when the paladin a Major Hero and stronger than anyone leaves them right in the middle of the quest, just like what happens in most video games.

[@Metaden]

I watched it yesterday in a cinema. For me it's a movie of the year. Humour on level of Guardians of the Galaxy, but with much better plot and action. And Hugh Grant as Forge was amazing!

[@XDWX]

I really liked how the plans always had something get messed up. It's just like when you actually play DD and roll the dice and see what happens and go to plan b,c,d etc.

[@Peterski]

Not just that, the movie literally has ability checks in a few places. Like with the intellect devourers, or later when Holga is kicking everybody's ass and Pine can't free himself from his restraints - clearly failing the relevant check :)

[@ToneSherpa]

@@Peterski I really liked that about it. You had Chris Pine rolling a nat 20 with his maxed out charisma right at the beginning of the movie. That had me rolling when they dive out the window with that bird and they were like "but we approved your pardon!"..

[@mrmccranky]

@@ToneSherpa and it’s just like the party to do something stupid like jump out the window when the DM had planned for them to get pardoned. 😅

[@ToneSherpa]

@@mrmccranky I mean, of COURSE the DM was going to pardon them. The campaign has to start!

[@TheLanceUppercut]

@@Peterski God, I almost felt personally attacked in that moment. Something so similar happened once in a campaign I was in, where the rest of the party were able to muscle out of their restraints and kick all the ass, while I spent the entire encounter as a wizard with 8 strength failing my athletics check over and over. And over and over and over.

[@CaramelSauce24]

I love Michelle Rodriguez here. The role gave her personality a new dimension, I think she should use it more. And I always admired how great Chris Pine is at singing so this is a winner for me despite never having played DnD. The story and the tricks were good too.

[@Swindle1984]

Michelle always plays very one-note characters with no depth; she's sadly been typecast as the tough, butch woman. This movie actually gave her some subtle nuance to her character and let her show she really can act. Yeah, superficially she's the exact same character she always plays, but then you see scenes like her meeting her ex-husband and suddenly the tough, no-nonsense warrior woman is merely pretending to be tough and stoic and you can see real emotion hidden under the surface... that worked surprisingly well. Her outward appearance was her usual emotionless tough girl, but she actually put on a subtle performance showing her roiling emotions and heartbreak underneath the tough act. Clearly the woman needs better writers and directors who can let her show her range as an actor, rather than the cookie cutter ripoff of Vasquez from Aliens that she usually plays.

[@Thalarian]

Building on your point, I think the fact that the fact her "burly" character has a soft-spot for halflings was an interesting spin on it that allowed her to play up those subtle nuances you mentioned. Here is her typical one-dimensional characters (Tough as nails, no-nonsense, etc) but then it gets hit with a curveball that she's emotionally invested in men who are 1/3 her size. Additionally, I think her relationship with Edgin's daughter was another highlight that let Rodriguez break free of the stereotype she plays. Through her interactions and flashbacks, she's able to showcase a motherly, loving figure who has a special bond with a child that, while not her own, she raised since the time she was a baby.

[@aronnemcsik]

they said in an interview that they actually played a oneshot I believe

[@CaramelSauce24]

@@Thalarian thank you for adding your ideas as I’m not that good in expressing my thoughts. You expressed them well

[@JadeRunner]

Her stock with me went up when she defended Liam Neeson against all that "racist" nonsense.

[@Ghostly_One1]

I dunno which was my favorite bit of it all, so I'll just drop a few 1) them doing the northern region so good that even somebody who went in largely blind like me could recognize it had to be Icewind Dale. And then you get treated to the panning map shot from spine of the world to sword coast👌chef's kiss 2) the portal stick wasn't just a one-off gag item, but actually became crucial yet still not overpowered item for rest of the film. I could bet my ass there's many a DM out there who's had the exact same experience, granting their players some item without all that much thought behind it, then they run absolutely wild with it. 3) THE OWLBEAR TURNS ITS HEAD LIKE A REAL OWL TO SEE BETTER...I just like owls okay. They absolutely did not have to do that, but I love that they did My only minor gripe is we didn't get more of Xenk or see him properly smite something. And yet even that you can't really fault them for cause he was just acting as a pally actually would; sticks to his vow.

[@elolawynladriel]

5:38 Of course the druid had no charisma. It is her dump stat. She is a munchkin.

[@DaDitka]

That's a good point you raise. The writers basically statted the characters in the movie, and then wrote them according to their stats and character abilities. She acted and spoke the way she did not because the writers did so on a whim, but because the druid had a Charisma score of 8.

[@ridergilwin1494]

Honestly, my favorite bit was the undead warriors segment, which was, in all honesty, just an extended “Are you really the head of the Kwik-E-Mart?” But my God I was laughing my ass off

[@rushthezeppelin]

They really did nail that scene lol, especially at the end with the last one saying "you only asked me four questions"

[@troybaxter]

@@rushthezeppelin I like how it is kind of homebrewed too in a sense. The spell lasts up to 10 minutes, so he is supposed to go back to being dead after 10 minutes, but they decided to ditch that part of the spell.

[@DaDitka]

That is a GREAT Simpsons reference, and it's true.

[@redrox3312]

I like how the movie is basically what the inside of DND players’ imaginations look like as they’re doing a campaign

[@marylandwehr1666]

I finally watched this and damn... was definitely surprisingly invested by the end, even teared up a bit when he's thinking back on their lives together and decides to use the tablet.

[@Naktsmeita]

Just returned from cinema and finally I can watch this video . I have no knowledge of dnd , my colleague knew exactly what is pictured on map , and we both enjoyed it. Great movie ❤

[@linzers8894]

I play D&D with my kids and we all went to see this movie... and we loved it. Watching the paladin play the DM role was amazing and very relatable.

[@abcdefghij337]

My husband is our DM and I could see this being a self-insert character and enjoyed it.

[@Great_Wall_of_Text]

"I do not traffic in colloquialisms" is absolutely DM line : )

[@Crotalus206]

Glad I wasn’t the only one that saw the paladin was also a DM character

[@rebeccaconlon9743]

Currently have player 4 in development... player 3 is still learning how to read dice and words... player 2 is usually at work and player 1 is exhausted and tired due to creating and carrying player 4... Will likely have a full party in around 6 to 7 years lol😅

[@miclowgunman1987]

There were so many little things like that in the movie. They didn't throw them in your face, just subtle little things. Like that the sorcerer player was the one tracking loot, so they kept giving him all the items. More like easter eggs them full blown references. Thumberchad is my new favorite dragon, and was pleasantly surprised to find out he has over 25 years of lore behind him.

[@spot138]

I was very surprised at how much better it was than I was expecting, Good characters, lot's of great looking creature-feature, good pace, This is just plain fun to watch!

[@PolishNomad95]

Like several other comments have said, there are parts of this movie's writing that you appreciate more if you have some experience with playing DnD. The way that the plot keeps getting tossed about through sometimes completely random mistakes and accidents by the characters like they're failing a skill check, the banter during planning/problem solving, and the most epicaly filmed throwing of a potato in cinematic history feel like this was an actual DnD campaign brought to life.

[@duphasdan]

The part I like about this movie is how they added a variety of races, including the beast ones, and not be cheap about the quality. There is a tendency in modern movies to mess up beast races or characters to such a degree that it is like Hollywood hates them, giving poor quality and even giving human looking faces for some reason on a number of them. Take the bird guy in the beginning for example. Most other movies would barely animate such a character or give expressions. Yet this movie not only gave wide variety of expressions, but even had him walking. They even got the look down to how such a bird race would look in the books.

[@nicholastotoro7721]

Basically, it sounds like the marketing was intentionally misrepresented to attract more... modern audiences and it wound up shooting itself in the foot. I'm glad to see Michelle Rodriguez playing Michelle Rodriguez for the 47th time. It's like she was born to play that part.

[@AsusanXT]

They toned her character down, just a tad from being tooo OP. I mean, most movies she is in, she's never died, but this one she did, even if it was for a little while.

[@ramjet94]

@@AsusanXT Michelle Rodriguez dies in most of the movies she shows up in tho xD. She's like the female Sean Bean.

[@AsusanXT]

@@ramjet94 I've only seen much of her in the MCU movies, so that's the main reason I only heard of her. Still funny though, lol

[@L4zyC4t]

@@ramjet94 Michelle Rodriguez dies in movies but she always comes back, example Resident Evil

[@athannyx6815]

@@AsusanXT She has pretty good humor about it. Basically she doesn't want to be the pretty, fragile lead girl since she's a bit of a tomboy, though not anti being pretty. So she usually ends up being the expendable female of the bunch. Since her type has become more popular in modern times she's actually been able to not die a few times! lol

[@jimmaybee6323]

I liked it. And I suffered through the original, as a teenager, and again as a young father, and again as a Grandfather, so it was a real joy to take my Grand daughter to see this film and watch her become very invested. She was enthralled with it all and had tears in her eyes at the end. And my friends, that is the audience this movie wants to grab, the young. Us old, jaded duffers have seen it all, but her young heart loved all of the characters, she got all of the jokes, laughed at all of the right spots, and shed some tears for the appropriate moments. A thrill ride for her, a trip down nostalgia lane for me. :)

[@jasonfischer8946]

How were you a teenager in 2000 and a grandfather now? I'm practically the same age as you and my kid is 6.

[@Bonesawisready926]

@@jasonfischer8946 He did say young father. teen might mean 13 and young father might mean 16, and then if his kid had a kid at 16, he could be a 35 year old grandfather. Though his granddaughter would only be 3, and she sounds very astute for a 3 year old in this story.

[@coda821]

Made by corpo shit holes, who just tried to destroy most of the publishers of D&D. Whether it's good or not, doesn't matter.

[@samblack5313]

Holdup… if you saw the original as a teenager and are now a grandfather, you guys must really be getting after it…

[@shawnm1902]

​@@samblack5313 and they say only virgin geeky necbeards played video games and roleplaying games back then

[@yellowfellow7246]

I gotta say, the chubby dragon was one of the highlights of my week.

[@anifowosehabeeb4716]

The last scene where forge tried to escape with jarnathan absolutely floored me 😂😂😂😂