Last year’s DnD movie is the best film of the last ten or so years. It succeeded on every level, except in the box office.
My hypothesis is that Hasbro insisted on branding it “Dungeons & Dragons” to push the brand, and non-gamers figured it wasn’t for them. If they’d have made the main title “Honor among Thieves”, all the game nerds would have seen the DnD logo, and others wouldn’t have been turned off *. As it stands, people will find it and it’ll become the new “Starship Troopers” that bombed but shines forever in retrospect.
* See “Arcane”.
This wasn’t an art film… but it had an original plot, was genuinely unpredictable throughout, awesome, imaginative action sequences, epic high fantasy, great comedy (I laughed my ass off), and real emotional tenderness (well, I cried). Often weaving these together in the same scene. I think you have to judge a movie based on what it’s meant to be, and for a fun high fantasy jaunt, this was a monumental achievement. IMHO.