Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 3, 2023

I have never seen Dungeons & Dragons played, but I have a good friend who is obsessive about the game. He spent untold amounts of money converting part of a shop next to his house into a full-fledged play area. He crafted walls made of stone, hung electric lanterns that give the appearance of flame, lit the play area from above, built a massive wooden table that looks straight of the Middle Ages, and has committed countless hours of his life to building play area models, painstakingly painting figures, and of course gathering friends and fellow Dungeons & Dragons players for lengthy sessions of the narrative-driven adventure. Indeed, Dungeons & Dragons fans take their gaming very seriously, which makes it something of a surprise that this 2023 film adaptation takes a decidedly lighter tone and approach to the material. From Directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, Dungeons & Dragons builds an adventure worthy of the name, though whether it will completely satisfy longtime payers of the ever-popular game I cannot say. As escapist cinema, however, it's not at all bad, even if it's overlong.

A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings the rich world and playful spirit of the legendary roleplaying game to the big screen in a hilarious and action-packed adventure.

Someone better versed than I will have to comment on how faithful Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves the movie is to Dungeons & Dragons the longstanding tabletop role playing game. Obviously, there are dramatically different dynamics in play between a movie on the screen and a game played around a table, but as far as the movie's translation to the screen it comes out looking fairly good, if not somewhat generic. The story is familiar: it's essentially a classic quest tale in which various characters come together throughout the earlier parts of the movie, each bringing their own skills and backstories to the table and joining forces to achieve a shared goal. There is humor and peril along the way, and special effects galore, as well as creatures, swordplay, and so on and so forth. None of it is necessarily novel, but the film has a lot of fun by simply assembling its pieces and going to town with the story, laughs, and action, all of which are presented in satisfying balance. Audiences won't leave the film feeling like they've seen something that reinvents the wheel, but this is certainly a fine example of its genre that should appeal to fans who aren't necessarily familiar with the ins-and-outs dynamics of the classic Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game.

The film capably masks some of the structural unoriginality with its zeal for its world and zest for its characters. The actors have a lot of fun playing dress up, doing wire work, interacting with digital creatures (and dead people), and wielding various weapons and doing physical stunt work. The result is a film that show boundless energy even within its bloated runtime, which does still feel overlong but not too terribly overlong. There’s an obvious passion for the project on both sides of the screen, with the filmmakers certainly not phoning in the material and the actors seeming ready, willing, and able to do whatever is necessary to make a blast of a movie. Again, there’s nothing revolutionary here, but audiences will find a satisfying Fantasy/Adventure film in the style of so many that have come before it that does visual work and builds an ensemble cast up there with the best of them that have not been directed by Peter Jackson.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Paramount's 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD presentation of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves looks very good. The Dolby Vision grading adds some significant color depth to the image, rendering the picture a bit darker but at the same time more vivid and accurate. Colors are dramatically punchier and more stable, especially natural greens and Doric's red hair, both of which are standout examples of how the UHD stabilizes and improves upon the most critical colors throughout the film. Further, flesh tones are rendered healthier and fuller, blacks deeper and more efficient, and whites brighter and more naturally oriented. The Dolby vision grading changes are fairly dramatic. The resolution upgrade adds obvious sharpness and fairly intense boosts to clarity. The image is not soft on Blu-ray, but the UHD certainly amplifies textural excellence with plainly superior crispness that brings hairs, pores, clothes, and environments to life with much greater accuracy than the Blu-ray can offer. As with the Blu-ray, noise is negligible at worst and there are no encode issues of note, either. This is an excellent UHD presentation from Paramount.

Note that this disc would not play on my Panasonic DP-UB9000, which is becoming a disappointing trend with Paramount UHD discs. Playback was instead through an Oppo UDP-203 player.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, the same that is found on the corresponding Blu-ray release. The track is solid, if not a bit unremarkable. It's certainly not a thunderous, bass-y track, favoring more subtle low-end cues rather than overpowering boom and depth. The same may be said of overhead and surround content: present, but at reference volume not presenting with the sort of prominent swoosh and swish one might expect. Still, clarity is very good to all elements, and surrounds are utilized extensively, just not with high intensity or volume. Musical definition is first-rate, action elements are clear and discrete, and dialogue is front-centered and well prioritized for the duration. The track commendably handles the material, but listeners might find it just a bit lacking in overall high-volume intensity for this style of movie.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This UHD release of Dungeons & Dragons includes several extras, including a few that are UHD exclusive. No Blu-ray copy is included, but Paramount has bundled in a digital copy code.

• From Dice to Dragons: Honoring the Lore (1080p, 11:15): Cast and crew discuss their history with the real game, reasons for the game's appeal, how it exercises the mind and brings people together, putting a comedic spin on the material, the film's narrative structure and how it resembles a real Dungeons & Dragons campaign, making portals in the film, and more.
• Rogues' Gallery: The Heroes of Dungeons & Dragons (1080p, 11:24): Looking at the characters collectively and also exploring individual character details.
• Fantastic Foes (UHD Exclusive) (1080p, 7:04): As the title suggests, this piece looks at the film's villainy.
• The Bestiary (UHD Exclusive) (1080p, 9:21): Exploring some of the creatures that appear in the film.
• Forging the Forgotten Realms (UHD Exclusive) (1080p, 8:08): Discussing why this areas was chosen as the setting for the film. This piece also looks at production design elements.
• Broadswords, Battleaxes & Badass Brawls (1080p, 8:40): Making a few of the key action and stunt moments.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 6:51): Humorous moments from the shoot.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p, 10:35 total runtime): Included are Gorg's Arrival - Extended, Ice Breaker - Extended, Harassing Holga - Deleted, Eating Ash - Extended, Harper's Sanctuary - Extended, and Corpse 6 - Extended.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dungeons & Dragons isn't going to capture the imagination and create a new generation of rapid Fantasy fans, and probably not do much for sales of the classic tabletop game on which it is based, but it should satisfy genre moviegoers in search of the latest and, visually, one of the greatest of these types of films. It's enthusiastically made on both sides of the camera and overcomes overlength with confidence and zeal for the material. Paramount's UHD features tip-top 2160p/Dolby vision video, solid Atmos audio, and a decent smattering of bonuses. Recommended.