I felt that Hugh Grant’s delivery of his line at the end of that said everything about how dumb he thought that was.
Really all of them felt like they were loading up on sarcasm.
Thinking further about the introduction in which the cast thanks the audience for watching the movie in the theaters, I vaguely remember seeing similar bits in movies I saw early in the pandemic, when few people were willing to leave their homes. And Googling, this movie was postponed a couple of times; Wikipedia says the original release date was in July 2021, so solidly in the middle of the pandemic. So perhaps back then, this bit made sense but I’m not sure why they left it in.
Hid a spoiler in this text
I saw it with my son and we enjoyed it. He’s in a D&D club now and is dungeon mastering a campaign; I’ve played it here and there but nothing really in the past 20+ years. It was a fun romp with some laughs and some nice set pieces. I was impressed that they mixed up a lot of the action - it wasn’t all big CGI beat downs, there was some chase sequences and times where the characters had to work their way through the problems. I found the fat dragon amusing and it was fun to see the 80s cartoon characters homaged though I was less interested in seeing them brought in just so they could be jobbed out at the games (the Thief character was killed, the rest ended up in that cage and their fates weren’t revealed).
I think the only real big part that fell flat was when Holga died in the battle at the end. It seemed pretty obvious that she would be resurrected.
Please don’t post spoilers in this thread. At least until May.
If you want to discuss the movie without spoiler tags, start a new thread and ensure the title indicates something like “Here be Spoilers”
Thank you!
FYI There is a mid-credit scene (I assume that is OK to post.)
I found it enjoyable enough – I saw it at the $5 matinee theatre (usually second run shows*)
A couple of times I was thinking “ooh, they rolled low there”
Spoiler stuff:
Summary
Hmm, who are they going to resurrect? the person who had 2 lines, or the main character? still a bit touching.
The theatre had a pay $5 and roll a D20 (roll with advantage if you bring your own). I got a lemonade, but just out of curiosity I rolled and got a 19 “Mind Flayer” – forgot to ask what that was.
Brian
* They have classics this month: Conan, Labyrinth, Jason & the Argonauts, MP and the Holy Grail, Princess Bride
I think you left out part of this description… They gave you a random drink? They gave you a random coupon for a drink? Would the drinks have normally cost more than $5? Does “rolling with advantage” give you the higher number (which might or might not be good if you’re referring to a table of outcomes), or your choice of the two outcomes?
I believe alcohol is normally at least $5 – it is roll the die and get what you roll (Kids was $3).
I’m guessing I could have taken the lower number of the 2 D20s I rolled.
Supposedly the higher rolls were better drinks “All rolls are final”
I should point out that this in Wisconsin
Brian
I asked what a 19 would get me. 16 is Ginger Beer + Whisk(e)y
Saw it with my wife. She liked it so having D&D pre-knowledge is not a requirement. Really, all knowing the game does allow you to think “that was XYZ spell” when you see it. Parts of it felt a little checkbox – “Well, it’s a D&D movie so we’ll need this location/thing”
My own opinion was that it was about where I expected it to land. Would have liked it to be a little better but feared it being a lot worse. I don’t think anything about it “needs” the big screen versus your 65" panel at home these days.
I spent the entire movie thinking that the one magic lady looked super familiar but then looked her up and nope. Never saw a single thing she was in. Guess she just has one of those faces. Or everyone looks the same with enough white powder and black eye makeup.
Spoilers
Agreed with everyone else about the ending; the moment I saw the knife I knew how the next five minutes would shake out. Still enjoyed it though.
From what I saw elsewhere, the movie producers consciously decided not to have the bard and druid cast any spells because they felt it would be too hard to make reasonable challenges (by the view of the audience) if the movie had three casters to just magic up solutions. Though it does make you wonder why even include a bard at all versus just a standard rogue or fighter.
Mind Flayer = Kahlua, Vodka, and Cherry Slushie.
Brian
Does her dad?
I saw on Saturday and I thought it was a lot of fun. Between this and Game Night I feel like Daley and Goldstein are trying their hardest to bring back the mid-tier action comedy format, which has been absolutely consumed by franchises. I noticed there weren’t any sort of teases or dangling plot threads about the next movie which is so common in blockbusters these days.
I think being a bard works well. He was basically using Bardic Inspiration throughout the movie. Plus the scene of his “hologram” (not sure what the spell is called) failing while singing might’ve been the funniest scene in the entire movie.
Played some hooky from work this afternoon and grabbed a solo matinee. I have to say, this was a fantastic way to spend a couple hours. As a Gen Xer, I’m fairly familiar with D&D but was never a player, so I’m coming in without much baggage.
It’s light, it’s funny, it’s nerdy in the best possible way, and it’s got solid action and effects, so it doesn’t feel too campy. I saw it alone because my wife is pretty burned out on superheroes and fantasy stuff, but after having seen it I think that as probably wrong. She would probably have had a lot of fun with this one.
My only real complaint was Justice Smith, he drags down the movie but not enough to ruin it. All the other characters and actors were delightful. Chris Pine is a pretty sure bet in anything he’s in and this has been pining (ha!) for another Star Trek film.
One somewhat atypical note, they didn’t spend a lot of time fleshing out the bad guys. This wasn’t a “bad guys with a point” kind of thing, which is okay in a light fantasy film like this. These are cartoon bad guys who are evil just because they are. It’s refreshing without being dumbed down.
I saw it on Sunday and found it fun. As a fan of the Forgotten Realms, I could nit pick a lot, but it was fun and I enjoyed it.
Mostly but it requires knowing the lore. In fact, through the years, Thayan bad guys have gotten more nuanced but they can also be cartoon bad guys.
Sounds good!
Just saw it and really liked it. Went with 4 guys from my gaming group. I play some TTRPGs but I don’t know a lot of lore. I caught some references but I know I missed a bunch. It didn’t matter.
I watched it this past week and agree with those who thought it was a fun adventure movie. Not a lot of nuance or character development, but I did not go to see it expecting to find that. I never played D & D though I am tangentially familiar with it, so for me the references were lost, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. This is a movie that I will likely put on my list of films to watch in order to put me in a good mood (or reinforce one).
//i\\
Took my 18 yo and her DnD group to see it. Liked it a lot, it was a lot of fun. If I had to find fault, I’d say that Justice Smith was the weakest link, who didn’t really gel for me.
Finally saw it. No “might” about it, it was really good!
Sophia Lillis could have been given more to do, IMHO. On the other hand-Owlbear!