by Josh Sewell
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
(Rated PG-13 for fantasy action/violence and some language. Opens in theaters on March 31.)
I have zero experience with role playing games, so I had no idea what to expect as I walked into the press screening for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. All I knew was I enjoyed the trailer and I’m a big fan of filmmakers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley’s previous work, including Game Night, Spider-Man: Homecoming and the underrated Vacation reboot. Turns out I had nothing to worry about; I’m sure there are plenty of Easter eggs for die-hard D&D enthusiasts, but regular folks like me can appreciate it as a just-plain-fun adventure flick.
Honor Among Thieves tells the bittersweet tale of Edgin (Chris Pine), a musician who turns to burglary to support his wife and daughter (Chloe Coleman). However, after he’s betrayed by a conman (Hugh Grant), Edgin and his best friend (Michelle Rodriguez) must team up with a magician (Justice Smith), a shapeshifter (Sophia Lillis) and a mysterious warrior (Regé-Jean Page) to rescue his kid and stop an evil sorceress (Daisy Head) from destroying the kingdom.
Admittedly, with a running time of 134 minutes, the movie gets bogged down in a few too many subplots and comes close to wearing out its welcome. However, Honor Among Thieves is ultimately a winner thanks to an unapologetic emotional streak, the oddball sense of humor found in most of Goldstein and Daley’s writing, and – because of that – a cast that is clearly having a great time.
Pine is a terrific actor with matinee idol looks, but he’s at his best when playing weirdos and scumbags. As Edgin, he’s able to utilize those strengths while still maintaining the character’s intrinsic decency. Rodriguez is also fantastic, getting the well-deserved opportunity to build a far more compelling character than anything doled out to her across nine Fast and Furious movies.
Although Head is creepy as the big bad, the movie doesn’t do enough to establish her villain’s motivation. As such, everything builds to an anticlimactic finale that (like dozens of other blockbusters over the last decade or so) comes down to a battle over a glowing doodad with indeterminate powers.
But those are small gripes. Honor Among Thieves mostly cruises along via the actors’ charm and a few fun surprises along the way (watch out for spoilers over the next few days). Goldstein and Daley understand audiences don’t mind just hanging out with such fun characters and the movie succeeds because of it.
Grade: B+
Tetris
(Rated R for language. Streaming on Apple TV+ starting March 31.)
When it comes to big-screen video game adaptations, Tetris seems like a ridiculous concept. Do the blocks become aliens? Is it up to a group of ragtag soldiers to get them in a straight line so they disappear? That would be the dumbest movie ever.
Instead, writer Noah Pink and director Jon S. Baird focus on how the addictive game originally got into players’ hands. The espionage thriller isn’t always successful due to some instances of overly repetitive exposition and other pacing issues, but an exciting third act helps to patch over some of the film’s weaker spots.
Based on a true story, Tetris depicts the harrowing journey of how the deceptively simple puzzle game emerged from the Soviet Union’s repressive regime and became a worldwide smash. Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) learns about Tetris at an electronics trade show in 1998, while attempting to push his own, far less successful title.
Rogers immediately realizes the game’s potential, so he decides to risk his business, his marriage and possibly his life by traveling to Russia to negotiate distribution rights. He joins forces with Tetris inventor Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) to outwit his duplicitous competitors (Roger Allam, Anthony Boyle and Toby Jones) and evade corrupt KGB agents who have their own motivation for his mission to fail.
I think it’s impossible for the charismatic Egerton to deliver a truly bad performance, which serves as a massive benefit to the movie around him. He elevates a lot of the weaker material and uneven tonal shifts through pure force of will. Unfortunately, his co-stars don’t fare as well due to their underwritten, clichéd roles.
Efremov is engaging, but Pink’s screenplay sidelines him for large stretches of the story. It’s a strange choice considering his character is the guy who created the game everybody’s fighting over. Boyle totally commits to his character’s sneering, nepotistic villainy and the result is an entertaining, cartoonishly evil performance. However, it makes him feel like he’s beaming in from a different, more comedic movie.
The same goes for Allam, doing his best to fight against the fat suit and prosthetics he’s buried under. But they’re so unconvincing – and so pointless – that the movie screeches to a halt whenever his character appears. Because of these muddled narrative choices, as well as surprisingly flat production design, Tetris feels like a two-hour television pilot rather than a film.
In that respect, going straight to Apple TV+ rather than theaters makes sense. I don’t know how much overall traction it will achieve playing to such a relatively small audience, but at least we get another entertaining Egerton performance out of it.
Grade: B-
(Rated PG-13 for fantasy action/violence and some language. Opens in theaters on March 31.)
I have zero experience with role playing games, so I had no idea what to expect as I walked into the press screening for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. All I knew was I enjoyed the trailer and I’m a big fan of filmmakers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley’s previous work, including Game Night, Spider-Man: Homecoming and the underrated Vacation reboot. Turns out I had nothing to worry about; I’m sure there are plenty of Easter eggs for die-hard D&D enthusiasts, but regular folks like me can appreciate it as a just-plain-fun adventure flick.
Honor Among Thieves tells the bittersweet tale of Edgin (Chris Pine), a musician who turns to burglary to support his wife and daughter (Chloe Coleman). However, after he’s betrayed by a conman (Hugh Grant), Edgin and his best friend (Michelle Rodriguez) must team up with a magician (Justice Smith), a shapeshifter (Sophia Lillis) and a mysterious warrior (Regé-Jean Page) to rescue his kid and stop an evil sorceress (Daisy Head) from destroying the kingdom.
Admittedly, with a running time of 134 minutes, the movie gets bogged down in a few too many subplots and comes close to wearing out its welcome. However, Honor Among Thieves is ultimately a winner thanks to an unapologetic emotional streak, the oddball sense of humor found in most of Goldstein and Daley’s writing, and – because of that – a cast that is clearly having a great time.
Pine is a terrific actor with matinee idol looks, but he’s at his best when playing weirdos and scumbags. As Edgin, he’s able to utilize those strengths while still maintaining the character’s intrinsic decency. Rodriguez is also fantastic, getting the well-deserved opportunity to build a far more compelling character than anything doled out to her across nine Fast and Furious movies.
Although Head is creepy as the big bad, the movie doesn’t do enough to establish her villain’s motivation. As such, everything builds to an anticlimactic finale that (like dozens of other blockbusters over the last decade or so) comes down to a battle over a glowing doodad with indeterminate powers.
But those are small gripes. Honor Among Thieves mostly cruises along via the actors’ charm and a few fun surprises along the way (watch out for spoilers over the next few days). Goldstein and Daley understand audiences don’t mind just hanging out with such fun characters and the movie succeeds because of it.
Grade: B+
(Rated R for language. Streaming on Apple TV+ starting March 31.)
When it comes to big-screen video game adaptations, Tetris seems like a ridiculous concept. Do the blocks become aliens? Is it up to a group of ragtag soldiers to get them in a straight line so they disappear? That would be the dumbest movie ever.
Instead, writer Noah Pink and director Jon S. Baird focus on how the addictive game originally got into players’ hands. The espionage thriller isn’t always successful due to some instances of overly repetitive exposition and other pacing issues, but an exciting third act helps to patch over some of the film’s weaker spots.
Based on a true story, Tetris depicts the harrowing journey of how the deceptively simple puzzle game emerged from the Soviet Union’s repressive regime and became a worldwide smash. Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) learns about Tetris at an electronics trade show in 1998, while attempting to push his own, far less successful title.
Rogers immediately realizes the game’s potential, so he decides to risk his business, his marriage and possibly his life by traveling to Russia to negotiate distribution rights. He joins forces with Tetris inventor Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) to outwit his duplicitous competitors (Roger Allam, Anthony Boyle and Toby Jones) and evade corrupt KGB agents who have their own motivation for his mission to fail.
I think it’s impossible for the charismatic Egerton to deliver a truly bad performance, which serves as a massive benefit to the movie around him. He elevates a lot of the weaker material and uneven tonal shifts through pure force of will. Unfortunately, his co-stars don’t fare as well due to their underwritten, clichéd roles.
Efremov is engaging, but Pink’s screenplay sidelines him for large stretches of the story. It’s a strange choice considering his character is the guy who created the game everybody’s fighting over. Boyle totally commits to his character’s sneering, nepotistic villainy and the result is an entertaining, cartoonishly evil performance. However, it makes him feel like he’s beaming in from a different, more comedic movie.
The same goes for Allam, doing his best to fight against the fat suit and prosthetics he’s buried under. But they’re so unconvincing – and so pointless – that the movie screeches to a halt whenever his character appears. Because of these muddled narrative choices, as well as surprisingly flat production design, Tetris feels like a two-hour television pilot rather than a film.
In that respect, going straight to Apple TV+ rather than theaters makes sense. I don’t know how much overall traction it will achieve playing to such a relatively small audience, but at least we get another entertaining Egerton performance out of it.
Grade: B-
Reach out to Josh Sewell on Twitter @IAmJoshSewell
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