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andrasteYesterday I finally took myself to see the D&D movie, and am pleased to report that it was a delight! If a fantasy heist film starring Chris Pine and Michelle Rodríguez sounds like a good time to you, I definitely recommend it, whether you're into Dungeons & Dragons in its various incarnations or not. I think it's much to the film's benefit that it never slows down to explain the wider lore - it doesn't actually matter if the audience knows the difference between a sorcerer and a wizard or what a Tiefling is. We're always given just enough context to understand what impact it has on the lives of the characters, and that's all that's necessary.
However, there is also a lot going on here to delight D&D fans specifically. My hopes for this film went up a lot when the trailer came out and there was not only an owlbear but a black dragon breathing acid - that suggested a promising level of attention to detail. But more than the joy of pointing to locations in Neverwinter while saying 'hey, a gelatinous cube!' or 'oh, Evard's Black Tentacles! My sorcerer can cast that!' the film really gets the vibe of a D&D game. Everything from the characters finding one cool magic item that is thereafter the lynch-pin of all their plans to the wildly over-levelled guest star introduced just to help them survive a single quest feels familiar. And the 'five questions' bit may be a lift from The Simpsons but it's also absolutely a thing that a DM has done to their players. My only strong criticism is that it's much more heterosexual than any tabletop game I have ever been in. (Which is partly the people I play with, I know, but also it's 2023! Holga could absolutely have had an ex-wife instead of an ex-husband.) Edgin's dead wife backstory was certainly a tired cliché, but there are plenty of well-rounded female characters in the film so it didn't bother me over-much.
The cast are all very charming and seem to be having a good time, but in particular I'm just continuously delighted that Hugh Grant has found his true calling as an actor. I mean, he was fine in Four Weddings and a Funeral and its ilk, but that man was destined to play charming villains and he's absolutely terrific in this.
Sequel requests (if there even is one; sadly it has not done great at the box office and I bet the Mario movie is not helping its staying power): really I just want more of this type of thing. But also, more Xenk! Characters that cover the classes they didn't get to include this time around - cleric and ranger and ESPECIALLY a warlock. A broader variety of Forgotten Realms races among the cast. In particular, moar dwarf!!! One briefly-glimpsed dwarf adventurer did not fulfil my need for dwarf characters!
However, there is also a lot going on here to delight D&D fans specifically. My hopes for this film went up a lot when the trailer came out and there was not only an owlbear but a black dragon breathing acid - that suggested a promising level of attention to detail. But more than the joy of pointing to locations in Neverwinter while saying 'hey, a gelatinous cube!' or 'oh, Evard's Black Tentacles! My sorcerer can cast that!' the film really gets the vibe of a D&D game. Everything from the characters finding one cool magic item that is thereafter the lynch-pin of all their plans to the wildly over-levelled guest star introduced just to help them survive a single quest feels familiar. And the 'five questions' bit may be a lift from The Simpsons but it's also absolutely a thing that a DM has done to their players. My only strong criticism is that it's much more heterosexual than any tabletop game I have ever been in. (Which is partly the people I play with, I know, but also it's 2023! Holga could absolutely have had an ex-wife instead of an ex-husband.) Edgin's dead wife backstory was certainly a tired cliché, but there are plenty of well-rounded female characters in the film so it didn't bother me over-much.
The cast are all very charming and seem to be having a good time, but in particular I'm just continuously delighted that Hugh Grant has found his true calling as an actor. I mean, he was fine in Four Weddings and a Funeral and its ilk, but that man was destined to play charming villains and he's absolutely terrific in this.
Sequel requests (if there even is one; sadly it has not done great at the box office and I bet the Mario movie is not helping its staying power): really I just want more of this type of thing. But also, more Xenk! Characters that cover the classes they didn't get to include this time around - cleric and ranger and ESPECIALLY a warlock. A broader variety of Forgotten Realms races among the cast. In particular, moar dwarf!!! One briefly-glimpsed dwarf adventurer did not fulfil my need for dwarf characters!
(no subject)
Date: 2023-04-21 11:30 am (UTC)I loved Xenk too! And shipped him with Edgin something fierce.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-04-23 06:07 am (UTC)I think they struck a really good balance there - there are loads of references if you're looking for them but nothing that's too confusing for the viewers who weren't expecting a Mimic attack the second they saw the chests in the labyrinth.
I loved Xenk too! And shipped him with Edgin something fierce.
They were so cute <3. The minute Edgin said 'I am not taking his hand' I saw where that was going.