@@fedos and the fact that Hasbro and WoTC lost their lawsuits to paramount who actually developed the film. They barely maintained the right to have their name on it. But since DnD is part of the draw, they did. But this is NOT a Hasbro movie.
@@jojosoni It wasn't just marketing. Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast tried to screw over players and content creators with a new license for DnD. Some people stuck to the boycott of any and all materials including this movie.
@@Aganoize This. They lost a LOT more support than they anticipated. I watched it on the third week because more of the price of the ticket goes to the theater rather than the production company.
44:35 Oddly it wasn't written in. It was a creative choice to play Zenk so straight-laced that he was portrayed to walk with purpose and true. Rege-Jean expected them to cut the scene earlier, but the directors were curious to see what he would do once he reached the boulder and kept recording. Rene-Jean was a bit nervous when "Cut!" wasn't yelled, so decided that Zenk would **Absolutely** walk over the boulder.
And by the time the director did call cut, the sound of the surf was too loud for Page to hear. So, not wanting to ruin the shot, refused to break character, and just kept walking until they sent someone to run get him. You have to give him points for dedication.
The chubby dragon is actually part of dnd lore, Themberchaud, who was known to have dwarves of a sacred flame order tend to his needs and kept him fat off slaves. The producers had to ask WOTC many times to portray him as a fat dragon because of this backstory.
Thing about Holga is that, in game mechanics terms, she has a feat called "Tavern Brawler", which means she gets a buff when using improvised weapons. That's why she uses whatever she has on hand as a weapon, be it a brick or... a potato 😁
Even without knowing about the feat, to me that slowmo potato throw felt like a perfect "D&D moment". That kind of moment where a player goes 'can I throw my potato at him?' and gets a great roll so it actually works out.
My home game includes a fighter who spends an inordinate amount of money on imported fruit. During a rebellion in a city under martial law controlled by a tyrant he chose to hurl a cantaloupe at an executioner set to kill an innocent scapegoat and scored a critical hit, stunning the axeman and starting a riot. The potato thing? Definitely true to the chaos your players develop as memes.
I thought Tavern Brawler was the one that gave you the ability to pick a feat you don't have and just use it as long as it is martial, for about a minute total per day in rounds. It does pair well with Improvised Weapon and Throw Anything. :D
This movie has no right being as good as it is. I've never actually played D&D but I've seen plenty of livestreams and it's a lot of fun. This movie really captures how chaotic, dramatic, and at times, hilarious the nature of it can get.
Finally someone else that felt sorry for Themberchaud(The big fat red dragon)... He is famous in D&D and has a very sad backstory if you want to look him up... The short version was, that he was raised from the egg to power the furnaces of the dwarfs of the underdark. They kill the dragons before they become adult, but his replacement died/was killed, before it could replace him, so they could not kill him before he became an adult. D&D dragons are VERY intelligent and tend to get even more smart as they get older until they are well above normal human level. Here is a quote of his: “And now I am far too large to ever leave. Even if I tore the entire place down around me, I could not claw my way to the surface from here. Instead, I remain buried in a prison of my parents' making, far beneath a sky I've never seen.” - Themberchaud's lament
Mm... If I recall correctly Themberchaud did find out about the part where they were going to kill him and had adventurers steal the egg. But yeah, quite a tragic character for a Red Dragon.
@@TarossBlackburn Ahhh... Now that sounds like a dragon... A D&D dragon at least!😀 I just recently discovered that he was created during a game, when a big fat cat jumped up onto the gaming table and started knocking everything over!!! There can be no better real world origin story than that!!!
And a dream sequence of her. So, everything is going to be idealized because it is from a man who missed his deceased wife and thinking/ dreaming about the past.
I have a 3 subject college ruled notebook FILLED with quest ideas where all I have to do is sub in names for the current PCs for 100’s of fetch quests. Present me really thanks past me a lot for those.
As someone who plays D&D it captures the essence very well. Players come up with wonky ideas but when there's no reason to not let it play out so you just let them try. And that is a thing we see here as well. It also latches onto D&D tropes really well without getting obnoxious about it. Like the Lawful Good character being absolutely relentlessly morally consistent so it really irks people, and some iconic monsters (Owlbear, Gelatinous Cube, Mimic and Displacer Beasts). Another thing that amused me is what happens in D&D is that players kind of abuse the rules. And the movie actually made a great play on that: *you can just ask 5 questions*, and for a second you expect that to be really limiting, until you just realise you can just dig up like a hundred people and ask them 5 each.
It's not often you get a "niche" movie that ends up working for so many people so well. It's something very special. What a great cast that clearly had fun together. The film feels very much like a table top game session. Slightly ridiculous, bouts of tension and battles, making things up off the cuff... side quests, etc. It's just so well done. The movie knows exactly what it is, and doesn't try to be anything else.
God this movie is so cool, such a great surprise. Michelle Rodriguez kills it in the action sequences, there are some awesome set pieces and stunts and really cool effects both practical and CGI, also loved the shapeshifting every time they used it. Lovable cast too, the actors are great in their roles, and overall it really does have that "D&D campaign" feel to it. Also it has some genuinely heartfelt and feelsy moments too. I sincerely hope it's successful enough to get a sequel down the line.
You know, it occurs to me that there is a hidden lesson about greed in the movie for the villains too. If Sofina and Forge would have just given the tablet and Kira to Edgin and Holga, then they all would have left; Forge would have escaped with his treasure horde, Sofina would have taken over Neverwinter, and evil would have won the day. But Forge juuuuuust couldn't part with a single piece of treasure that had absolutely no meaning to him besides its market value. Someone needs to tell Dark Helmet that evil is dumb too.
That is the essence of evil - there can never be enough…. "Why rule a country when you can rule the world? " The same drive we celebrate for people like Steve Job or George Lucas is probably the same one that motivated Hitler or Napoleon… 😅 They just had different goals.
Themberchaud (The chonky dragon) is from D&D lore. He was raised by duergar (subteranean dwarves) to act as a living furnace for their forge. When he got too big and powerful they decided to kill him and replace him with a new dragon (something they'd done before), but instead Themberchaud ate them all.
The story, the writing, the acting, VFX, makeup, set design, the fight and stunt choreography, everything in this movie is top tier. With the popularity DND has gotten from hit shows like Stranger Things and The Legend of Vox Machina it’s honestly disappointing that the fan base for those shows (especially Stranger Things) didn’t show up at the box office. Now because it is technically a box office 💣 it may never get a sequel! Which is a massive shame because if it kept up this kind of quality I would want there to be spin-off movies as well as sequels.
Streaming may yet save it, actually. Sadly, a poor position of opening weekends and the completely self-inflicted PR disaster by WotC that they only barely got ahead of a few weeks prior to the movie killed what could have been an actual blockbuster. It has gotten extraordinarily good ratings from both the audience and critics.
I think it will pick up. I don't think anyone anticipated the movie being this good. But reactions and streaming reviews will give it a boost. I'm sure of it.
THIS MOVIE WAS SOOOOOOO SOOOOO FUN!!!! I need them to make more!!! It doesn’t have to be perfect just these types of characters, the world they built, more D&D lore, and fun adventures…and they will have a fun franchise to build upon
This movie was made by 3 friends who have been playing the game together for decades. While watching it, if you imagine every main character is being played by a friend sitting around a table, it just makes the whole thing even better :) I really liked this one - and thanks for an excellent reaction/review!
This is very genuine to the source material, even going so far as to capture the chaos of the average D&D party. I think they plan to franchise this and I honestly hope they do. They've already established a really cool major villain in this first film who is already a major villain from D&D. I can imagine them doing something similar to the MCU and covering a few villains and groups from D&D. I can think of a few that I'd love to see them use.
Really love the paladin...having such a very NPC energy.. he's not making jokes acts like an NPC saying random words and walking straightline is very video game reference.
Regé-Jean Page absolutely nailed that classic high-level, dedicated, serious (unintentionally funny) paladin vibe. He's going to be a huge star (already well known in the UK).
Chris Pine caught my attention in star trek. I've been a fan since. He has actually been in aloooot of movies and TV shows. I didn't recognize that until years later
This movie was a blast. It was fun to be immersed in just a fun fantasy-action romp that was really creatively shot. I love sequences like the Doric escape one-shot and all the cool camera maneuvers during the painting switch-a-roo scene (they took out a whole wall of that carriage just so they could get that rotating shot of Doric!). And the of practical effects was such a treat, too. I believe Jarnathan was 100% practical. You can see the love of the directors for D&D and this movie oozing through. And all the characters were a hoot. Loved Page's Xenk, and you can never go wrong with Chris Pine playing these kinds of frustratingly charming characters.
Jaby, remember the flashback was Edgin's memory of his wife, who, go figures, he remembers her as "angelic" so in that respect her performance makes sense. Loved this movie. Played D&D for over 30 years. Agree with you, it was just good fun.
I agree. It’s not even flashback. It is Edwin’s retelling of his past or his dream of his time with his wife. So, everything is idealized or this angelic feel.
When she threw the potato in slow motion my wife said "I can almost literally hear the player at the table saying 'Hey.... can I throw a potato to distract him??'"
I knew this movie would be good before I saw it, but it surpassed my expectations. The action, humor, characters, story, visual effects, everything worked. I don't get why more people didn't go see it, especially in IMAX. I hope we get a sequel. By the way, Achara laughing at the fat dragon was adorable lol.
So something i just realized, Sophina likely got the cuff slapped on her which took away her powers at the point when she started looking like a zombie. This movie was great on the details.
So the movie left off that Sofina cant be easily killed (you cant kill what is already dead) but also there was a mention of Szass Tam coming to the City of Neverwinter to finish what Sofina couldnt, cause Sofina was a servant of Szass Tam.
This movie was so great! What is amazing is they made the "player" characters behave like characters experienced DnD players would create. Interesting peronalities, flaws, creative use of their skills and abilities. They used the best setting in all of Dungeons and Dragons and played to the strengths of everything.
Might be my favorite movie for 2023 so far. At the end of the movie, I just had a giddy feeling that this movie was a blast! It has everything a person who likes fantasy could ask for - action, comedy, heart…. More dragons would be nice, but we had the chunky dragon… 😂😂😂. Love how Achara was losing it…
As fun as this movie was for you, it was even more fun for those of us who’ve played the game. There are so many Easter eggs & tropes in it that actually add to the experience rather than distract from it. My favorite was Rege-Jean Page’s paladin. He’s what we players would call a “DMPC” - an NPC made by the Dungeon Master (the game’s referee) who’s too precious to die and always steals the spotlight. And the chonky dragon is from the game, too! Themberchaud is morbidly obese because he was enslaved & imprisoned by the deep dwarves to warm their underground city. I’m so glad he’s free!
To be fair he doesn't have to be a DMPC, could just be a paladin that has rolled god-stats (except int, he clearly dumped int like the rest of the party). Paladins are after all one of the strongest classes in DnD when it comes to combat.
@@WolfODonnelfan But… he’s not a member of the party all the way through the adventure. He’s mostly in the story to help the main PCs unlock a reward on their fetch quest. So he’s either a guest player, or a DMPC. I vote for the latter because of how OP he is, and how much everyone in the game world loves him.
Lol, in the theater, I couldn't contain myself when Themberchaud made his appearance😅 But it was so much fun looking fir D&D references! I literally shouted out "MIMIC!!!!" when Holga saw the chest gahahha
The script for this movie really captures the chaotic and at times idiotic feel of an actual campaign: the DM having to come up with a name on the spot so he goes for ummm... Jarnathan. Simon triggering the bridge trap, so the DM has to say the walking stick is actually a powerful magical item that allows them to bypass the problem and move the story along. The vault heist failing spectacularly because the painting just... fell face down. The way that everything went to hell the second they split the party. They got it right
When Forge asked Sophina to help with his drink, her finger dipping down into the cup could have represented the smoky tendrils coming down to the giant colosseum.
This laid out D&D so well. Depending on your Dungeon Master things can easily fall into place then get crazy or you can have easy moments that lead into more complex situations. This film is amazing 😂 The fat dragon is my favorite thing from this film 😂😂
Here's the deal. With the nature of D&D, if they do return with a sequel, it cannot be the same villain(s). What made the movie so great is that the heroes' quest was not about the undead kingdom, it wasn't about saving the world, it was about revenge. The movie was a journey, an adventure. If the writers tried to make it into some kind of grand quest to save the world, the movie would have been horrible. For a sequel, once again, it needs to be some kind of personal quest that just so happens to force them to do the right thing.
I really love how Achara could not stop laughing!! Best part of the reaction. They have the potential to make another with other DnD characters. Barbarian, Elf, etc This might have been mentioned but I used to play Baldur's Gate (mentioned in the movie) on the Nintendo Gamecube!! They took a lot from that game and incorporated it here.
The movie was very much an homage to those that had played the game because the feel was that of sitting around and having a good time. Even The Paladin, whom was great, but to players they knew he was a non player character created by the Dungeon Master. It translated so well to be inclusive to all.
I watched this in a 🇬🇧 cinema two weeks ago with a friend on a whim. It was a fun entertaining movie & damn funny. You can see where the $150M was spent & that it's disheartening that it has only made $200M worldwide. It deserved more. When you consider marketing & distribution costs it will be lucky to break even 😥 I'd love a sequel with this cast
Sequels have been greenlit based on dvd/streaming sales. Austin Powers and Hellboy are good examples. Hopefully this will also be a massive hit outside of the cinema.
Hopefully, it will do better on VOD or streaming or physical media. Spider-Man Into The Spider Verse did not make a lot money, but people caught on later and won the Oscar for best animation. Not saying this is in the same caliber, but hope it gets another life down the line…
I'd say the reason Chris Pines characters wife was so ethereal and overly perfect was because you're seeing her through his memories of her in every scene she's in.
It's such a shame that WotC had a self-inflicted PR disaster that they only barely got ahead of a few weeks prior to the movie coming out. If they had not had that, and had a better choice of opening weekends, this could have been quite the blockbuster. Hopefully streaming will make up for the moderate-but-lackluster box office returns.
15:32 Fascinating that they included this one. This particular dragon, according to DND lore, is housed by several under dark Dwarves who rely on him to keep their forges lit. In return they feed him an over-abundance of food to both stave off his hunger and keep him so damn complacent and plump that he’s physically incapable of escaping.
They did a great job with that movie. Loveable characters, great action and humor, creative ideas like the portal thing, a good story and a whole lot of heart too. Perfect entertainment.
I was leery as a D&D player, but this movie was SO MUCH FUN. There were so many D&D Easter eggs and references, it stayed really true to the material. But it was such a good stand alone film that non-players can not just follow along, but enjoy it. Which makes sense as John Daily(one of the directors) is a HUGE D&D player/DM. This movie was just fun beginning to end, the comedic timing was phenomenal, the acting amazing, just fantastic. It's too bad the movie is this underrated.
Ive never seen Achara laugh that much lmao, the fat dragon lol, i laughed even more watching this reaction than when I did watching the movie hahahhaha
"Maybe the other wizard will show up." What other wizard? The only wizards we see in this movie are Thayan, and the guy from Simon's visions was just him but older.
Player: I turn to an owlbear DM: nah, dude. It’s against the rules Player: then I’ll walk, see ya DM: fine! You can turn to owlbear Player: he’ll yeah!
As a DnD player the scene in the Underdark with the Intellect Devourers passing the entire party by gave me a good laugh. Not just because the party feels offended because these abominations didn't think them to be worthy of attention, but it actually works with the classes they portray. A Paladin, Bard and Sorceror all use Charisma as their main stat. A Druid uses Wisdom. A Fighter pretty much needs to juggle Strength, Constitution and also some Dexterity. All of them can dump intelligence as their lowest score because it 'only' does skill points and that can always be filled in with magic/items. Which makes it fitting the only 'Thief', the conman Forge, has the highest Intelligence and manages to trick them all.
Watched this in the theaters with my D&D group. (My first time in a d&d group by the way) i gotta say i wasnt too stoked to go see this movie since hollywood has been pushing out alot of BS movies. But man this movie suprised me it was alot better then i could imagine. Has good action and humor but not too much humor. And most importantly Michelle rodriguez is a total babe! " if she were president she'd be called BABERAHAM LINCOLN "
There are so many movies where I come out thinking, "those characters were so dumb! Why didn't they just ___?" This was not one of those movies! It's so fun to see smart, creative plots.
Its satisfying seeing how high of a score the film got on rotten tomatoes, i think it was great and saw the movie in theaters twice. Great reaction and honest review 👍
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Michael Rodriguez is a barbarian so the idea that some of it wasn’t believable kinda makes sense. As someone who plays DND I’m happy they made a fun and entertaining movie that can be enjoyed by both casual viewers and fans of the game. It was funny but not in a ham in fist type of way, the plot was decent, the action was really well done, and there was a ton of references from DND dating back to some of the first canon literature to 80s tv shows to 3rd party content like critical role.
if you love Chris pine should watch Unstoppable 2010. If you know about d&d you know zenk is the Op NPC comes to help out in the main quest. they nailed it
I think this movie is underrated and deserved to do better at the box office. It was so much fun.
Their advertising wasn't very effective and then the release was poorly timed.
Also some of the D&D fandom was boycotting it due to wizards of the coast’s recent actions.
@@jb-wc1hx Which was dumb because by the time of release Wizards had already backtracked.
I hope people speak up cause I think a sequel would be awesome
@@fedos and the fact that Hasbro and WoTC lost their lawsuits to paramount who actually developed the film. They barely maintained the right to have their name on it. But since DnD is part of the draw, they did. But this is NOT a Hasbro movie.
This deserved to be a bigger hit on the box office and a sequel. I sure hope the streaming numbers are great.
This shows how important marketing is. Even if you make a 10/10 movie, it might not be a bit if not marketed properly
@@jojosoni It wasn't just marketing. Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast tried to screw over players and content creators with a new license for DnD. Some people stuck to the boycott of any and all materials including this movie.
@@Aganoize This. They lost a LOT more support than they anticipated. I watched it on the third week because more of the price of the ticket goes to the theater rather than the production company.
Spread the word, buy some blu-rays or digital copies for your friends who haven't seen it.
@@Aganoize i don't think that is enough for the movie to fail
44:35 Oddly it wasn't written in. It was a creative choice to play Zenk so straight-laced that he was portrayed to walk with purpose and true. Rege-Jean expected them to cut the scene earlier, but the directors were curious to see what he would do once he reached the boulder and kept recording. Rene-Jean was a bit nervous when "Cut!" wasn't yelled, so decided that Zenk would **Absolutely** walk over the boulder.
I did not hear about that. So, that is not scripted? And the jokey commentary was adlib or added in later? Cool.😊
It's even funnier when the scene's moved on to Simon and the helmet and you can still see a tiny Xenk walking in the distance. 😂
This is why everyone needs to watch Bridgerton. He's so good in it
And by the time the director did call cut, the sound of the surf was too loud for Page to hear. So, not wanting to ruin the shot, refused to break character, and just kept walking until they sent someone to run get him. You have to give him points for dedication.
Source?
Achara losing it at the sight of the chunky dragon absolutely made my day :D
The chubby dragon is actually part of dnd lore, Themberchaud, who was known to have dwarves of a sacred flame order tend to his needs and kept him fat off slaves. The producers had to ask WOTC many times to portray him as a fat dragon because of this backstory.
Wyrmsmith of Gracklstugh
And apparently he's based on Gary Gygax's cat.
@@CyberBlastoise Yep. His tubby cat hopped up on the table and started batting around the figures. Gary went with it and let it be part of the game.
Thing about Holga is that, in game mechanics terms, she has a feat called "Tavern Brawler", which means she gets a buff when using improvised weapons. That's why she uses whatever she has on hand as a weapon, be it a brick or... a potato 😁
thank you, I've never played D&D and was so confused on the slow motion potato throw and just all the potato references in general haha
Even without knowing about the feat, to me that slowmo potato throw felt like a perfect "D&D moment". That kind of moment where a player goes 'can I throw my potato at him?' and gets a great roll so it actually works out.
@@Hakkar6993 Cf. Exandria Unlimited: Nancy, and wrestling alligators 😂
My home game includes a fighter who spends an inordinate amount of money on imported fruit. During a rebellion in a city under martial law controlled by a tyrant he chose to hurl a cantaloupe at an executioner set to kill an innocent scapegoat and scored a critical hit, stunning the axeman and starting a riot. The potato thing? Definitely true to the chaos your players develop as memes.
I thought Tavern Brawler was the one that gave you the ability to pick a feat you don't have and just use it as long as it is martial, for about a minute total per day in rounds. It does pair well with Improvised Weapon and Throw Anything. :D
This movie has no right being as good as it is. I've never actually played D&D but I've seen plenty of livestreams and it's a lot of fun. This movie really captures how chaotic, dramatic, and at times, hilarious the nature of it can get.
It captures the essence of playing a D&D game with friends for sure.
This comment is word for word on other reactions to this movie 😅
Copy and paste.
Ok bot
@@chand911 It made perfect sense.
Finally someone else that felt sorry for Themberchaud(The big fat red dragon)... He is famous in D&D and has a very sad backstory if you want to look him up...
The short version was, that he was raised from the egg to power the furnaces of the dwarfs of the underdark. They kill the dragons before they become adult, but his replacement died/was killed, before it could replace him, so they could not kill him before he became an adult. D&D dragons are VERY intelligent and tend to get even more smart as they get older until they are well above normal human level.
Here is a quote of his:
“And now I am far too large to ever leave. Even if I tore the entire place down around me, I could not claw my way to the surface from here. Instead, I remain buried in a prison of my parents' making, far beneath a sky I've never seen.”
- Themberchaud's lament
Mm... If I recall correctly Themberchaud did find out about the part where they were going to kill him and had adventurers steal the egg. But yeah, quite a tragic character for a Red Dragon.
@@TarossBlackburn Ahhh... Now that sounds like a dragon... A D&D dragon at least!😀
I just recently discovered that he was created during a game, when a big fat cat jumped up onto the gaming table and started knocking everything over!!! There can be no better real world origin story than that!!!
45:35.. here's the thing - we never really see Edgin's wife, we see Edgin's _memory_ of her. So of course she's going to seem angelic and perfect.
And a dream sequence of her. So, everything is going to be idealized because it is from a man who missed his deceased wife and thinking/ dreaming about the past.
Fetch quests are a huge part of D&D the game. Had to have them
I have a 3 subject college ruled notebook FILLED with quest ideas where all I have to do is sub in names for the current PCs for 100’s of fetch quests. Present me really thanks past me a lot for those.
The chonky dragon is actually a character from the game and is very accurate representation of how it looks in the artwork lol
As someone who plays D&D it captures the essence very well. Players come up with wonky ideas but when there's no reason to not let it play out so you just let them try. And that is a thing we see here as well. It also latches onto D&D tropes really well without getting obnoxious about it. Like the Lawful Good character being absolutely relentlessly morally consistent so it really irks people, and some iconic monsters (Owlbear, Gelatinous Cube, Mimic and Displacer Beasts).
Another thing that amused me is what happens in D&D is that players kind of abuse the rules. And the movie actually made a great play on that: *you can just ask 5 questions*, and for a second you expect that to be really limiting, until you just realise you can just dig up like a hundred people and ask them 5 each.
It's not often you get a "niche" movie that ends up working for so many people so well. It's something very special. What a great cast that clearly had fun together. The film feels very much like a table top game session. Slightly ridiculous, bouts of tension and battles, making things up off the cuff... side quests, etc. It's just so well done. The movie knows exactly what it is, and doesn't try to be anything else.
Achara losing it with the dragon. :D
Yeah!!! That was the best part 😂
I'm so glad that they managed to make a movie even non D&D people like you can enjoy!
And yeah, Achara's reaction at the chonky dragon was the best!
I love Doric
She is played by my favorite actress, Sophia Lillis
She has my heart ❤️
Druids are always the best
When A.K started laughing at the dragon it was wonderful and infectious 😀
God this movie is so cool, such a great surprise. Michelle Rodriguez kills it in the action sequences, there are some awesome set pieces and stunts and really cool effects both practical and CGI, also loved the shapeshifting every time they used it. Lovable cast too, the actors are great in their roles, and overall it really does have that "D&D campaign" feel to it. Also it has some genuinely heartfelt and feelsy moments too. I sincerely hope it's successful enough to get a sequel down the line.
You know, it occurs to me that there is a hidden lesson about greed in the movie for the villains too. If Sofina and Forge would have just given the tablet and Kira to Edgin and Holga, then they all would have left; Forge would have escaped with his treasure horde, Sofina would have taken over Neverwinter, and evil would have won the day.
But Forge juuuuuust couldn't part with a single piece of treasure that had absolutely no meaning to him besides its market value.
Someone needs to tell Dark Helmet that evil is dumb too.
That is the essence of evil - there can never be enough…. "Why rule a country when you can rule the world? "
The same drive we celebrate for people like Steve Job or George Lucas is probably the same one that motivated Hitler or Napoleon… 😅 They just had different goals.
Themberchaud (The chonky dragon) is from D&D lore. He was raised by duergar (subteranean dwarves) to act as a living furnace for their forge. When he got too big and powerful they decided to kill him and replace him with a new dragon (something they'd done before), but instead Themberchaud ate them all.
This was a pleasant surprise when I went to watch it. Enough that I bought it lol.
"SHES THROWING POTATOES!!" Lol
The story, the writing, the acting, VFX, makeup, set design, the fight and stunt choreography, everything in this movie is top tier. With the popularity DND has gotten from hit shows like Stranger Things and The Legend of Vox Machina it’s honestly disappointing that the fan base for those shows (especially Stranger Things) didn’t show up at the box office.
Now because it is technically a box office 💣 it may never get a sequel! Which is a massive shame because if it kept up this kind of quality I would want there to be spin-off movies as well as sequels.
Definitely deserves a sequel.
Man imagine Pratchett films with this quality
Top tier? I think you are overreacting, the movie is fine, nothing more
Streaming may yet save it, actually. Sadly, a poor position of opening weekends and the completely self-inflicted PR disaster by WotC that they only barely got ahead of a few weeks prior to the movie killed what could have been an actual blockbuster. It has gotten extraordinarily good ratings from both the audience and critics.
I think it will pick up. I don't think anyone anticipated the movie being this good. But reactions and streaming reviews will give it a boost. I'm sure of it.
THIS MOVIE WAS SOOOOOOO SOOOOO FUN!!!! I need them to make more!!!
It doesn’t have to be perfect just these types of characters, the world they built, more D&D lore, and fun adventures…and they will have a fun franchise to build upon
This movie was made by 3 friends who have been playing the game together for decades. While watching it, if you imagine every main character is being played by a friend sitting around a table, it just makes the whole thing even better :) I really liked this one - and thanks for an excellent reaction/review!
This is very genuine to the source material, even going so far as to capture the chaos of the average D&D party. I think they plan to franchise this and I honestly hope they do. They've already established a really cool major villain in this first film who is already a major villain from D&D. I can imagine them doing something similar to the MCU and covering a few villains and groups from D&D. I can think of a few that I'd love to see them use.
Really love the paladin...having such a very NPC energy.. he's not making jokes acts like an NPC saying random words and walking straightline is very video game reference.
Regé-Jean Page absolutely nailed that classic high-level, dedicated, serious (unintentionally funny) paladin vibe. He's going to be a huge star (already well known in the UK).
Chris Pine caught my attention in star trek. I've been a fan since. He has actually been in aloooot of movies and TV shows. I didn't recognize that until years later
This movie was a blast. It was fun to be immersed in just a fun fantasy-action romp that was really creatively shot. I love sequences like the Doric escape one-shot and all the cool camera maneuvers during the painting switch-a-roo scene (they took out a whole wall of that carriage just so they could get that rotating shot of Doric!). And the of practical effects was such a treat, too. I believe Jarnathan was 100% practical. You can see the love of the directors for D&D and this movie oozing through.
And all the characters were a hoot. Loved Page's Xenk, and you can never go wrong with Chris Pine playing these kinds of frustratingly charming characters.
Jaby, remember the flashback was Edgin's memory of his wife, who, go figures, he remembers her as "angelic" so in that respect her performance makes sense.
Loved this movie. Played D&D for over 30 years. Agree with you, it was just good fun.
I agree. It’s not even flashback. It is Edwin’s retelling of his past or his dream of his time with his wife. So, everything is idealized or this angelic feel.
I don't think I've ever seen Achara laugh as much as she did when she saw the dragon. She had me rolling with her laughter!
Did anyone notice, the people who were in the cage "In the arena." Remember the Cartoon characters from Dungeons & Dragon.
When she threw the potato in slow motion my wife said "I can almost literally hear the player at the table saying 'Hey.... can I throw a potato to distract him??'"
I knew this movie would be good before I saw it, but it surpassed my expectations. The action, humor, characters, story, visual effects, everything worked. I don't get why more people didn't go see it, especially in IMAX. I hope we get a sequel. By the way, Achara laughing at the fat dragon was adorable lol.
This movie did a FABULOUS job of telling the back story in an interactive way. The show don't tell aspect just amazingly done
So something i just realized, Sophina likely got the cuff slapped on her which took away her powers at the point when she started looking like a zombie. This movie was great on the details.
So the movie left off that Sofina cant be easily killed (you cant kill what is already dead) but also there was a mention of Szass Tam coming to the City of Neverwinter to finish what Sofina couldnt, cause Sofina was a servant of Szass Tam.
This movie was so great! What is amazing is they made the "player" characters behave like characters experienced DnD players would create. Interesting peronalities, flaws, creative use of their skills and abilities. They used the best setting in all of Dungeons and Dragons and played to the strengths of everything.
Might be my favorite movie for 2023 so far. At the end of the movie, I just had a giddy feeling that this movie was a blast! It has everything a person who likes fantasy could ask for - action, comedy, heart…. More dragons would be nice, but we had the chunky dragon… 😂😂😂. Love how Achara was losing it…
The way Michelle Rodriguez portrayed Holga and Chris Pine's charm is the main highlight of this movie.
As fun as this movie was for you, it was even more fun for those of us who’ve played the game. There are so many Easter eggs & tropes in it that actually add to the experience rather than distract from it. My favorite was Rege-Jean Page’s paladin. He’s what we players would call a “DMPC” - an NPC made by the Dungeon Master (the game’s referee) who’s too precious to die and always steals the spotlight.
And the chonky dragon is from the game, too! Themberchaud is morbidly obese because he was enslaved & imprisoned by the deep dwarves to warm their underground city. I’m so glad he’s free!
To be fair he doesn't have to be a DMPC, could just be a paladin that has rolled god-stats (except int, he clearly dumped int like the rest of the party). Paladins are after all one of the strongest classes in DnD when it comes to combat.
@@WolfODonnelfan But… he’s not a member of the party all the way through the adventure. He’s mostly in the story to help the main PCs unlock a reward on their fetch quest. So he’s either a guest player, or a DMPC. I vote for the latter because of how OP he is, and how much everyone in the game world loves him.
Lol, in the theater, I couldn't contain myself when Themberchaud made his appearance😅 But it was so much fun looking fir D&D references! I literally shouted out "MIMIC!!!!" when Holga saw the chest gahahha
He's so good in Bridgerton 🌟
The script for this movie really captures the chaotic and at times idiotic feel of an actual campaign: the DM having to come up with a name on the spot so he goes for ummm... Jarnathan. Simon triggering the bridge trap, so the DM has to say the walking stick is actually a powerful magical item that allows them to bypass the problem and move the story along. The vault heist failing spectacularly because the painting just... fell face down. The way that everything went to hell the second they split the party. They got it right
When Forge asked Sophina to help with his drink, her finger dipping down into the cup could have represented the smoky tendrils coming down to the giant colosseum.
teh flashback was Egdin's memory of his wife, so its how he saw her not necessarily how she actually was.
Omg that laugh when the Fat Dragon shows up A grade wholesome!😂😂
This laid out D&D so well. Depending on your Dungeon Master things can easily fall into place then get crazy or you can have easy moments that lead into more complex situations. This film is amazing 😂
The fat dragon is my favorite thing from this film 😂😂
Here's the deal. With the nature of D&D, if they do return with a sequel, it cannot be the same villain(s). What made the movie so great is that the heroes' quest was not about the undead kingdom, it wasn't about saving the world, it was about revenge. The movie was a journey, an adventure. If the writers tried to make it into some kind of grand quest to save the world, the movie would have been horrible.
For a sequel, once again, it needs to be some kind of personal quest that just so happens to force them to do the right thing.
When I heard that this was happening in Forgotten Realms, I was so hoping that they would give Minsc and Boo a cameo.
McConaughey was in The Gentlemen with Hugh Grant. Operation Fortune was Grant with Statham and Aubrey Plaza.
This movie was so damn fun to watch! Dry humor, the physical comedy. The fat dragon 😂😂I laughed as hard as Achara .
This movie was great. It got cut from the video but I loved the whole Speak with the Dead scene where they keep messing up the questions. 😄
I really love how Achara could not stop laughing!! Best part of the reaction.
They have the potential to make another with other DnD characters. Barbarian, Elf, etc
This might have been mentioned but I used to play Baldur's Gate (mentioned in the movie) on the Nintendo Gamecube!! They took a lot from that game and incorporated it here.
I wasnt expecting the wizards to use hand to hand combat...
The movie was very much an homage to those that had played the game because the feel was that of sitting around and having a good time. Even The Paladin, whom was great, but to players they knew he was a non player character created by the Dungeon Master. It translated so well to be inclusive to all.
I think that the scenes with the Bard's wife, we are seeing how the Bard remembers her, not what she was actually like.
I watched this in a 🇬🇧 cinema two weeks ago with a friend on a whim.
It was a fun entertaining movie & damn funny. You can see where the $150M was spent & that it's disheartening that it has only made $200M worldwide.
It deserved more. When you consider marketing & distribution costs it will be lucky to break even 😥 I'd love a sequel with this cast
Sequels have been greenlit based on dvd/streaming sales. Austin Powers and Hellboy are good examples. Hopefully this will also be a massive hit outside of the cinema.
Hopefully, it will do better on VOD or streaming or physical media. Spider-Man Into The Spider Verse did not make a lot money, but people caught on later and won the Oscar for best animation. Not saying this is in the same caliber, but hope it gets another life down the line…
I'd say the reason Chris Pines characters wife was so ethereal and overly perfect was because you're seeing her through his memories of her in every scene she's in.
So, Bradley playing a Halfling. Does that make him, a Mini Cooper?
hahahah i love how much achara loved the chubby dragon 😂 her laugh is delightful
It's such a shame that WotC had a self-inflicted PR disaster that they only barely got ahead of a few weeks prior to the movie coming out. If they had not had that, and had a better choice of opening weekends, this could have been quite the blockbuster. Hopefully streaming will make up for the moderate-but-lackluster box office returns.
24:11 - Little Easter egg for ya, the group in the cage are wearing the outfits from the dungeons and dragons cartoon!
15:32
Fascinating that they included this one. This particular dragon, according to DND lore, is housed by several under dark Dwarves who rely on him to keep their forges lit. In return they feed him an over-abundance of food to both stave off his hunger and keep him so damn complacent and plump that he’s physically incapable of escaping.
I guess they went with a bit of comedy… and they got a fan with Achara…😂😂😂
I also think that Sofina was a great villain character. Other than the one over-acting scene when she was impersonating Kira she was great.
I couldn't help but laugh at that scene, especially the "heu heu heu" laugh.
Hugh Grant is channeling his inner Phoenix Buchanan from Paddington 2. A superb villain in a superb and heartfelt film.
Honor Among Thieves had one of the the writers behind Spider-man: Homecoming. The MCU vibes are not an coincidence.
Both writers actually. They were also supposed to direct the flash movie but dropped due to creative differences.
Now you guys gotta check out Bridgerton!!!!!! There's also an Indian lead in the 2nd season.
They did a great job with that movie. Loveable characters, great action and humor, creative ideas like the portal thing, a good story and a whole lot of heart too. Perfect entertainment.
I’m so glad someone else sees how fantastic Chris Pine is and how underrated he can be in comparison with the other Chrises!
15:26 Achara 🤣🤣 What a wonderful laugh!
I was leery as a D&D player, but this movie was SO MUCH FUN. There were so many D&D Easter eggs and references, it stayed really true to the material. But it was such a good stand alone film that non-players can not just follow along, but enjoy it. Which makes sense as John Daily(one of the directors) is a HUGE D&D player/DM. This movie was just fun beginning to end, the comedic timing was phenomenal, the acting amazing, just fantastic. It's too bad the movie is this underrated.
I agree that story and character are so much more important than special effects.
Ive never seen Achara laugh that much lmao, the fat dragon lol, i laughed even more watching this reaction than when I did watching the movie hahahhaha
This movie is as good a big budget blockbusters can get
"Maybe the other wizard will show up." What other wizard? The only wizards we see in this movie are Thayan, and the guy from Simon's visions was just him but older.
Player: I turn to an owlbear
DM: nah, dude. It’s against the rules
Player: then I’ll walk, see ya
DM: fine! You can turn to owlbear
Player: he’ll yeah!
15:21 My absolute favorite laugh of Achara’s
Chris Pine is fantastic in Unstoppable alongside Denzel Washington. I believe it was the last movie directed by Tony Scott, Ridley Scott's brother.
This movie looked like fun I wouldn't mind seeing the cartoon version brought back. With a nice budget and special effects
The pudgy dragon was just a fat cat interrupting a dnd game and trying to play with the character figures. 🐈
The Guy Ritchie film with Hugh Grant and Matthew McConaughey was called The Gentleman 38:36
As a DnD player the scene in the Underdark with the Intellect Devourers passing the entire party by gave me a good laugh. Not just because the party feels offended because these abominations didn't think them to be worthy of attention, but it actually works with the classes they portray.
A Paladin, Bard and Sorceror all use Charisma as their main stat.
A Druid uses Wisdom.
A Fighter pretty much needs to juggle Strength, Constitution and also some Dexterity.
All of them can dump intelligence as their lowest score because it 'only' does skill points and that can always be filled in with magic/items. Which makes it fitting the only 'Thief', the conman Forge, has the highest Intelligence and manages to trick them all.
I honestly think a show in this same tone & universe would work very well.
Don't know if anyone mentioned this but the DnD 80s cartoon characters make a cameo in the arena scenes 😊
Watched this in the theaters with my D&D group. (My first time in a d&d group by the way) i gotta say i wasnt too stoked to go see this movie since hollywood has been pushing out alot of BS movies. But man this movie suprised me it was alot better then i could imagine.
Has good action and humor but not too much humor. And most importantly Michelle rodriguez is a total babe!
" if she were president she'd be called BABERAHAM LINCOLN "
he wasnt pompous, he was regal and grandiose, centered and serene.
It’s not Operation Fortune that’s the one with Jason Statham it’s The Gentlemen the one where Hugh plays the slimy news reporter
There are so many movies where I come out thinking, "those characters were so dumb! Why didn't they just ___?" This was not one of those movies! It's so fun to see smart, creative plots.
This movie was an unexpected surprise! I loved it!
This is the best adaptation of a board game to film since Clue (1984)😊
Holga throwing the potato at Forge wasn't random, she did it at the beginning in the prison during their escape..
I love how Achara liked the chonky dragon !
I've never seen Achara laugh so hard lmao
Omg this movie was way better than expected. I hope there will be more dnd movies to explore the world and lore.
This movie was a pleasant surprise i did not expect to like, super solid in every aspect.
The group in the cage was the group from the 80s d&d cartoon series.
The feeling you get while watching this movie is the exact feeling you get from a good dnd game
Its satisfying seeing how high of a score the film got on rotten tomatoes, i think it was great and saw the movie in theaters twice. Great reaction and honest review 👍
loving the subtitles completely "ruining" the surprise that Sofina is a thayan wizard
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Michael Rodriguez is a barbarian so the idea that some of it wasn’t believable kinda makes sense.
As someone who plays DND I’m happy they made a fun and entertaining movie that can be enjoyed by both casual viewers and fans of the game. It was funny but not in a ham in fist type of way, the plot was decent, the action was really well done, and there was a ton of references from DND dating back to some of the first canon literature to 80s tv shows to 3rd party content like critical role.
if you love Chris pine should watch Unstoppable 2010. If you know about d&d you know zenk is the Op NPC comes to help out in the main quest. they nailed it