History, Politics And Current Affairs

Saw it yesterday. With 37 years of P&P RPG experience under my belt, this movie hit every sweet spot I have about fun movies.
Finally, finally a movie based on a giant franchise that clearly was made by people who know, understand, love and respect the source material. And who know how to gently poke fun at it.

Every single spell, monster and artifact seen on screen is canon material.
Whenever something goes awry, the undertone is that a character just botched their stat check, resulting in frantic attempts at rectifying the situation. The dialogue is EXACTLY like the dialogue around any given gaming table, a lot of quips and off-color jokes.
Hell, the paladin actually is the DM PC, serving to point the unfocused and chaotic party in the right direction and even provides a typical DM ass pull when progress stalls thanks to the actions of an idiot party member
The move actually kicks off with the two main characters pulling off a convoluted plan of escape only players could think of that was completely unnecessary and which put paid to the DM‘s plans. As it ALWAYS happens.
The big bad‘s boss is the one and only Zulkir Szass Tam, the undead head of the Red Wizards of Thay. Yes, I had a nerdgasm when the name was dropped

I won‘t spoil the story, it is more or less generic, but presented well enough to not distract.

Don‘t fret about the creators' statement about emasculating the male roles to elevate the female roles. It simply means the male protagonists actually have character development, and no female protagonist is simply there to put every male in a ten-mile radius in his place.

Chris Pine is the quintessential bard (no spells, for whatever reason). One of the (botched) distractions he and the party‘s sorcerer provide in the latter third had me screaming with laughter.
He forms a beleievable and wholesome platonic best friends couple with Michelle Rodriguez who puts on a believable and funny barbarian/fighter. Those two carry much of the movie. Their other two party members are less fleshed out but don‘t detract from having good time.

A lot of the special effects are practical, which gives the movie a bit more depth and, well, believability.

Hugh Grant plays a rogue who is former party member and secondary big bad. The character is so slimy and smarmy and the actor obviously had so much fun playing the part that it is a joy to behold.

As you may glean from my excited, disjointed ramblings, the movie is a simply two-plus hours of great fun. No Oscar material, just fun. It works best with at least a bit of knowledge about D&D, but I have been told that it works even for non-initiates.

Five out of five Natural 20s, will definitely watch again and buy the BluRay.

PS: When the chonky dragon had his entrance, one in the auditorium actually shouted (in English, too!) "O LAWD, he comin'!" That was the other "screaming with laughter" moment for me

Good to know

Just saw it tonight. Very enjoyable, I second pretty much everything Jotun said about it

I also echo Jotun’s review. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons way back in 198…2 I think. This movie is just…man, it’s good. If at the they’d faded to black and then come back to all the actors sitting around game table with a bowl of pretzels and some empty beer cans, it would not have been out of place. This is not high cinema, but it is why you actually want to go to the movies.

Dirk Mothaar wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:28 am I also echo Jotun’s review. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons way back in 198…2 I think. This movie is just…man, it’s good. If at the they’d faded to black and then come back to all the actors sitting around game table with a bowl of pretzels and some empty beer cans, it would not have been out of place. This is not high cinema, but it is why you actually want to go to the movies.

It would have been perfect if after the fadeout to the gaming table, the GM and players would have begun a fruitless discussion about the date of the next gaming session

I just saw the picture. I’m a bit less enthusiastic about it, although there was nothing bad, wrong or offensive in it. It just came across as a 90% generic fantasy with a 10% Forgotten Realms/D&D skinsuit.

Hugh Grant was quite alright as the villain and clearly got into it, but was a bit too…Hugh Grant…to be a really effective villain. The power behind the throne element did their part well enough.

The four main heroic characters were fine, if generic. For my tastes, there was a tad too much of the modern/Marvel quippy humour, but nothing too egregious. The swearing was all very PG and felt a bit tacked on, whilst the fighting and violence was also non explicit, with a single out of focus/background decapitation.

The use of D&D monsters was all nice and worked. The FR mentions in the background were about what could be expected and again were par for the course.

The plot never really took off nor was there a great deal of mystery or complexity. It was a process of escape, set up main quest, get party together, get information, go to next bloke, fetch item and fight, then set up heist before final fight sequences. All competent without being really memorable.

In the end, that is precisely what it needed to be. It wasn’t a flop, nor infected by modern politics. Decent enough ‘popcorn film’ that will hopefully make enough to do its job. If it leads to more films that are slightly less tongue in cheek and maybe use some of the many good stories out there, so much the better.

Two cents from who may watch it cable. Hollywood seems to have forgotten movies are supposed to entertain, not lecture.

You can do both but bashing your audience over the head the "Message" doesn't work.

There wasn't a single aspect of The Message at play in this picture. Even the least enthusiastic reviewer (*waves*) didn't see that or even feel it in any way.

For me, that wasn't the problem with the picture. I don't think there was a problem with the picture; I just didn't encounter the five star rollicking entertainment others did. So it goes.

jemhouston wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 10:43 am Two cents from who may watch it cable. Hollywood seems to have forgotten movies are supposed to entertain, not lecture.

You can do both but bashing your audience over the head the "Message" doesn't work.

No "Message" at all. Even the Drinker was surprised at how much he liked the movie.

Jotun wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 12:48 pm

jemhouston wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 10:43 am Two cents from who may watch it cable. Hollywood seems to have forgotten movies are supposed to entertain, not lecture.

You can do both but bashing your audience over the head the "Message" doesn't work.

No "Message" at all. Even the Drinker was surprised at how much he liked the movie.

I concur with this. This is actually the opposite - the movie doesn’t try to do anything except entertain. Even telling a story takes a backseat - which makes sense for a D&D campaign. I’m curious about this - what gave the impression of “the message?”

In general, it seems Hollywood keeps pushing message for diversity equity and inclusion, climate change, or other liberal cause.

jemhouston wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:27 pm In general, it seems Hollywood keeps pushing message for diversity equity and inclusion, climate change, or other liberal cause.

I don’t disagree, but what does that have to do with this movie?

Dirk Mothaar wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 8:13 pm

jemhouston wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:27 pm In general, it seems Hollywood keeps pushing message for diversity equity and inclusion, climate change, or other liberal cause.

I don’t disagree, but what does that have to do with this movie?

Nothing, they left out the message and the went for making the best popcorn movie they could.

Played D&D back in the '70s when it was called Chainmail. Its amazing how it all evolved.

I finally saw this, and I have to agree, much better then I expected. I skipped it in the theatres due to the moronic comments of the shows creators, which has to go down as a idiotic unforced error on their part that had no potential upside, but I don't think that really mattered in the disappointing box office, the bottom line is real DND players are a small market. Hell I never got enough people to play Isle of Dread (Which predated AD&D, it was a basic expert level module).

The graveyard scene was probably my favorite.

The box office failure can be traced to two things. The idiotic comments by the makers and the abysmal marketing.
Pen and Paper RPGs are enjoying a resurgence thanks to shows like Stranger Things and they really should have tapped into that.