Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The Dolby Vision presentation worked well.
Sharpness consistently pleased. The movie always felt distinctive and tight, without any issues connected to a lack of definition.
The image lacked jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws also remained absent.
Unsurprisingly, the film’s palette favored a moderate orange/amber and teal hint, though many segments favored a light “forest green” feel to suit the outdoor settings. The disc replicated the colors as intended, and the 4K’s HDR added range and impact to the tones.
Blacks seemed dark and dense, and shadows seemed smooth and clear. The HDR contributed power to whites and contrast. This became a satisfying reproduction of the image.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos audio added dimensionality to the story. With many action scenes, the mix used the various channels to create a lively, vivid soundscape.
This meant various creatures zipped around the room in a smooth, convincing manner, while other aspects of battles and mayhem brought out well-placed material that blended together in a nicely integrated way. The soundfield meshed together to deliver a well-rounded impression.
Audio quality also impressed, with speech that seemed natural and concise. Music appeared vivid and full, with dynamic tones.
Effects fared best of all, as those elements seemed accurate and tight, with crisp highs and deep lows. As I expect from a movie of this sort, the soundtrack excelled.
Six featurettes appear, and From Dice to Dragons goes for 11 minutes, 15 seconds. It provides notes from directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, writer Michael Gilio, producer Jeremy Latcham, visual effects supervisor Ben Snow, and actors Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Regé-Jean Page, and Hugh Grant.
“Dice” looks at the source game and its adaptation to the movie screen, the film’s tone, effects and fantasy concepts. It comes with a mix of pretty useful details.
Rogues’ Gallery runs 11 minutes, 24 seconds. It includes comments from Goldstein, Daley, Page, Pine, Rodriguez, Smith, Latcham, Lillis, Grant, and actor Daisy Head.
Here we examine characters, actors and performances. A few insights emerge but much of this feels fluffy.
Next comes Fantastic Foes, a seven-minute, three-second piece. It features info from Pine, Daley, Goldstein, Head, Rodriguez, Grant, Page, and actor Chloe Coleman.
This one indulges in more about cast/characters/work, with an emphasis on the bad guys. It also mixes worthwhile material with happy talk.
The Bestiary fills nine minutes, 21 seconds. It involves Rodriguez, Daley, Goldstein, Latcham, Grant, Pine, Lillis, Smith, Page, Legacy Effects’ Shane Mahan and puppeteer Lon Muckey.
Unsurprisingly, “Bestiary” looks at the movie’s creatures and various effects used to bring them to life. Expect a reasonable overview.
After this we locate Forging the Forgotten Realms . It lasts eight minutes, seven seconds and delivers remarks from Goldstein, Page, Smith, Daley, Latcham, Pine, Lillis, production designer Ray Chan and location manager Naomi Liston.
“Realms” examines sets, locations and production design. Despite a lot of happy talk, “Realms” nonetheless comes with some useful thoughts about the topics.
Finally, Broadswords, Battleaxes & Badass Brawls goes for eight minutes, 40 seconds. Here we find notes from Goldstein, Daley, Rodriguez, Lillis, Pine, Smith, Page, Latcham, stunt coordinator Diyan Hristov, weapons master Tommy Dunne, and stunt choreographers Georgi Manchev and Troy Milenov.
This one views stunts and action. Expect another mix of facts and fluff.
A Gag Reel goes for six minutes, 51 seconds and mostly shows the usual goofs and giggles, with a lot of the latter based on Michelle Rodriguez’s snort. We do find a good number of alternate/improv lines – generally from Chris Pine – and those add value.
The disc concludes with one Deleted Scene (1:09) as well as five Extended Scenes (9:26). Called “Harassing Holga”, the lone deleted scene alludes to aspects of Holga’s past and adds a little depth.
As for the extended clips, we get some extra exposition and a little more comedy. Nothing here seems crucial, but the scenes offer some interesting segments. At six minutes, 15 seconds, “Corpse 6” – in which an undead character discusses books – goes on waaaay past the point of amusement, though.
Though not a great mix of adventure and comedy, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves proves reasonably entertaining. It maintains a light and frisky tone that largely overcome its messy story. The 4K UHD offers terrific picture and audio along with a fairly decent set of supplements. While the film fails to excel, it becomes likable and fun most of the time.