To preface I have never played a game of D&D or seen any of the movies before this. In fact I did not even know others existed until looking deeper into this film. I am however a lover of the fantasy genre and comedies so will be coming at this from that perspective.
Right out of the gate HAT is subverting expectations and misdirecting the attention in effective and hilarious ways. Fun, and charming and at times poignant the opening balances perfectly the humor without taking away the emotional moments. I remember seeing Thor Love and Thunder not to long before this where they were terrified to let any emotion linger for more than a second and had to cut it with a joke. This movie is not that.
The sad and well-done backstory somehow mixed in humorous breaks at exactly the right time to keep the tone of the film evident while allowing us to feel the loss of Chris Pine’s character Edgin. He and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) are ridiculous foils and the reveal of who Jonathan was and why they truly were waiting for him was hilarious.
I will say that I was immediately guessing/questioning whether Sofrina was a red wizard as well as who held the real control she or Forg (Hugh Grant who is a delight in this). The backstory of how Edgin gets caught left me with a question that never really got answered though. Why did whoever was in charge, want Simon (Justice Smith)and Edgin’s character out of the way? As it’s later revealed that Holga was not a target. That is a plot point that is never fully explained but, that movie is on to the next fun scene so I let it drop at the time.
Holga is straight-up a badass and I’m just going to say it I thought the execution/axe scene phenomenal. The dynamic of the hero working on his restraints while the “sidekick” takes out everyone was priceless, (chef’s kiss) while in no way making me dislike Edgin.
The other two members of the party are introduced well just like our established heroes. Simon the wizard is self-deprecatingly hilarious and Doric the druid has an awesome introduction as the four-legged owl. At the time I just kept wanting to see that again (am and glad my wish was finally fulfilled).
Up until this point in the movie, I’m not going to lie, I was struggling with Chris Pine’s character name- Even on my 2nd watch-through I found it hard to remember compared to the other characters and kept referring to him in my head as Chris. Only in checking the cast list did I get confirmation that his name was indeed Edgin. I don’t know why that was so hard to remember.
The shapeshifter’s escape of the castle was riveting to watch and had me and most everyone else in the theater on the edge of our seats but then it ended not because she got away but just because she got out of the city. It was kind of confusing and after talking with others I know I’m not the only one who didn’t understand why they didn’t just raise the gate and keep chasing after her. I would’ve rather them use one of the multiple opportunities Doric had to actually lose Sofrina. If there was an explanation it wasn’t given.
The surprise of dwarf/hobbit Bradley Cooper nearly had me choking in surprise and before being able to embrace the hilariousness that then suddenly became devastatingly sweet. The theme of found family is pretty overt throughout but carries nicely into these sincere moments that are incredibly sweet and touching in the midst of the insanely funny romp.
Which brings me to the cemetery questionnaire. I as someone who normally doesn’t like gore or horror and avoids zombie movies like the plague found this far funnier than anticipated, especially with such a creepy and the gross lead up. I will say however that the plot/reason for the whole sequence almost gets lost in the humor and the repeating device of these questions and flashbacks. Even now I’m struggling to remember why they were there. . .the helmet? I think so. . .
The reveal of the villain Tam was pretty dark but also just made me think of basically Voldemort with the addition of a zombie army (inferi). I did wonder though why some still seem to have wills or at least thought and agency of their own while others are purely mindless monsters. Again, it’s never really explained.
The name places in this movie are at once hilarious and so ridiculously simple. The Orifice. Yep that one had me nearly spitting out pop, then Neverwinter and Underdark; you see what I mean. I’m guessing this was playing on the D&D naming trends? I will say that it helped keep things straightforward. One issue I had was the first use/appearance of the hither-thither staff. With no foreshadowing of it’s power, it felt overly convenient in the Underdark and took what seemed like it was going to be an interesting obstacle and negated it. Just a little zest of deus ex machina.
The Paladin’s (Rege-Jean Page) fight in the Underdark was cool and leading into the dragon battle was amazing with once again, the perfect balance of humor. An unbeatable battle against the undead suddenly becomes all of them running for their lives from Chonky the belly-surfing dragon. The only issue I had at all with this sequence was why didn’t the druid transform when she was in danger? She could have become a giant griffin or anything with wings and flown them out of the Underdark. Now, I know there is probably some in-universe D&D explanation as to her limitations and why she didn’t help, but they didn’t give us that information in the film, so everyone is left to wonder why she was even there.
I loved seeing the fulfillment of such good foreshadowing of the gold Edgin stole and how he was responsible for his wife’s death. They did an excellent job laying the groundwork for that as well as for the guilt he carried and why it was extra important for him to resurrect his wife. As a side note, the musical score throughout the film was lovely and often reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings (of course).
Back to the main plot though, it felt weird to give Holga the winning idea when that had not been her role and up until this point she has been the muscle of the group (as well as solid emotional support for Edgin). Not saying characters can’t subvert expectations but in an ensemble like this, especially where each is supposed to fulfill a specific function in the group (Magic, might, stealth, & strategy) it made no sense to have this idea come from her.
The painting/wagon heist ended up being pretty cool, though ineffectual, but having the knights escorting the wagon not see the feet, while funny, was also dumb. It didn’t make sense. In fact, Half the knights in this movie are apparently blind not noticing when a main character is just out of frame but in the world should also be right in front of their nose. There are so many moments where the heroes were seen but somehow ignored.
I digress. The Chris Pine animatronic thing was the kind of horrifying you can’t look away from. Solidly executed but Helga’s potato throw. . .this one is hard because it was foreshadowed but it was also dumb and made no sense. Forg really didn’t see it coming? The CGI made his reaction delayed and unrealistic which in another moment of the movie might have been comical but again, how could have possibly not seen the potato flying at his face? Oh well, I like it better when Holga uses her weapons anyway.
The final battle was so good. Doric the 4 legged owl returned and I was so happy to have that pay off! (I did however, later wonder why she didn’t turn into a dragon to fight Sofrina’s. Is that another of her limitations? Four-legged Owl Bear things are fine but Dragons are a no-no? I really wish we’d had more explanation about her power.)
But other than that, rolling around in the giant marble had me cackling, Simon and Sofrina’s wizard’s hand battle was unique and funny while showing the strength of these two magic wielders. (I also so appreciated them not just shooting lights at each other ala Harry Potter.) The 4 on 1 battle did a fantastic job of showing how powerful Sofrina was and made me genuinely concerned if they would be able to beat her.
The resolution again showed masterful foreshadowing of using the tablet of reawakening to bring back not Edgin’s wife, but his daughter’s mother. The only part of this I found odd was that once they bring up this option it is Edgin (Chris Pine) who double-checks with his daughter, and reminds her that they can only use it once. The way it plays out is as if the daughter was the one wanting to bring back her birth mother in the first place; as if she is the one making the sacrifice. She’s not though.
The daughter has no memory of her mother and they’ve already established that she does not feel that loss in the same way Edgin does. If I could make one change to this story it would be to have her be the one asking her father if it’s “really okay”, after he suggests using the tablet. Have his daughter ask if he is sure about using it, or even simply switch the line so that she is the one to say, “but we can only use it once”. Then it really puts the decision (and sacrifice) fully back in Edgin’s hands, making it much more impactful as he would respond with “I know” and choose the right thing not just for himself, but for his daughter and their whole makeshift family.
Over all, with all its little flaws and holes of missing exposition, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, as did my D&D playing siblings and my parents. It is nearly a perfect film in terms of balancing emotion, comedy, character, and action making it appealing to a huge variety of audiences. And all those little imperfections? Well, they’re so overshadowed by the rest that I can easily see myself returning to this as a fun movie night option again and again. (I also just might have my fingers crossed for a sequel.)
