A creative person with a good idea can make a good movie out of anything. Books, comics, TV shows, other movies, real stories, and many more pieces of source material have been capably adapted to the big screen. The problem occurs when branding something as an adaptation becomes more important than finding the art in the inspiration.
After years of sitting on various shelves, a movie about Dungeons & Dragons is heading to theaters. Honor Among Thieves isn't the first take on the franchise and the previous entries were bizarre messes, but the public perception of Wizards of the Coast's beloved game has changed dramatically.
When adapting a work of fiction, there are many ways to change the source to fit the new medium. A creator can simply reformat an existing story to the right runtime and language, like most films based around hit novels. These examples usually deviate little from their original basis and seek to tell the same story for a new audience. Other creators may choose to take the basic framework of a text and shift it completely to better fit the medium. Comic book movies take the characters and iconography of their source material but break down the individual stories into Lego bricks that can then be reassembled in any way for the screen. Some adaptations are in-name only, slapping a recognizable brand onto an otherwise unrelated story in the hopes of drawing in fans. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves saw those options on the class features list, then picked a rare feat that allowed them to abuse two at once.
Is there an officially recognized story in Dungeons & Dragons? Yes, hundreds, if not thousands of them. Countless books exist within the Forgotten Realms world, along with the many narratively canon origin stories of people, places, and things within it. There are tons of characters that exist as pieces that can be employed to fill the necessary roles in a game. Countless deities to worship, endless demons to slay, a deep backstory for each one. There are countless stories about brave adventurers that are accepted as canon in the realm of the franchise. But, this isn't a story about Drizzt Do'Urden or Erevis Cale, it's a story that happens to take place in some of the same locations.
The real stories of Dungeons & Dragons are the ones that Dungeon Masters and players craft together. They take countless genres, plot lines, lengths, forms, and endless divergent structures based on the people who build them together. So, it stands to reason that the only thing that a D&D movie could be is a band of adventurers forging their own story in the iconic world. That's what the upcoming film has set out to do. A bard, a barbarian, a paladin, a sorcerer, a druid, and a rogue must get a magic item. They have to assemble as a party, plot a heist, steal a magic item, and beat a classic "big bad evil guy". It's baby's first tabletop game. Any competent DM could write the character sheets, hand them out to a few friends, piece together the adventure, and run a party through it within 24 hours with dramatically different results. The problem is, that a generic tabletop campaign is already taking from tons of other sources and telling a story influenced by every other fantasy story. Take away the gameplay, the rules, the spontaneity, and most importantly, the collaborative storytelling effort, and all the film is left with is a basic fantasy story we've all seen before.
The only benefit of calling this film Dungeons & Dragons, rather than simply making a fun new fantasy movie called Honor Among Thieves, is the ability to use the license. Fans get to nerd out over a mimic, or a displacer beast, or a gelatinous cube, while an original film would have to make up new monsters to fill those slots. The only reason to make a movie out of a game that can take any story is to abuse the iconography of the game. It's like a fantasy equivalent to Rogue One, a competent enough story that hopes to send fans home happy with plenty of stuff they remember.
There have been plenty of good stories set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, the film might be one of them. Some adaptations of good tabletop campaigns have been incredible pieces of art that demonstrate what's so fun about the game. But, there's no good reason to make a film about a game that leaves behind all its best elements in transition. Honor Among Thieves may be a perfectly decent fantasy movie, or it could be a shameless cash grab packed with references, but its approach to adaptation doesn't inspire hope. But, looking on the bright side, maybe it'll bring a few more fans to the table to see what D&D is really all about.
