Why So Blu?

Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

One the year’s big surprises was the big time appreciation for Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. While people debate on the how good or worthy House of The Dragon and The Rings Of Power are on television, the original geek fantasy property took to the big screen for a well rounded, singular tale that aimed at a full enjoyment in one sitting. And now, you can own one of the year’s most like films on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. It comes with plenty of featurettes and an Atmos track. It was released on May 30th and you can order yourself a copy by using the paid Amazon Associates link that follows the review at the bottom of this page. Scroll…or…roll your mouse to find it.

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Film

A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people in this hilarious and action-packed adventure.

I had middling interest in another Dungeons and Dragons movie until that first trailer arose on us. I had somehow missed John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein being the team behind it. Low and behold, they took an angle not being sought after by rival medieval fantasy properties like Game of Thrones and Lord Of The Rings; adventure comedy. A film that promised just as big of laughs as it would spectacle, with some nice loose, more human feeling take on fantasy character and while poking fun at, staying respectful to the source material. You could tell there was a passion and love behind what they were having some fun with, not a mean spirited jab to try and look cool to the uninitiated. The result was a big one, with glowing reviews, good word of mouth and a solid box office intake that I believe outdid expectations.

The script for the film is plenty clever and smart, but never super smug. Its forced into expository stuff and world building dialogue, but has fun with it in word, performance or visuals. They make it a simpler world that easier to understand and leaves the complex stuff to be a “if you don’t get it, just go with it” type attitude that manages to work. There are quite a few cities/towns/terrains traveled in the movie, but each of them differentiate quite well and feel easy. Characters and their types function for the surface level of an audience and then for the hardcore fan who knows more to the mechanisms. In an odd sense, it feels like they have managed to find a common ground for anyone to enter the Dungeons and Dragons world and get a maximum sense of enjoyment, be they the joe schmo or the greatest DM.

In addition to its creators, they’ve found a wonderful cast to put together. Everyone knows the best Chris, Chris Pine, is capable of both this type of performance and this type of film. Showing the trailer with him in this comfort zone is possibly a lot of what sold everyone that this was going to be a good ride. Also showing some great comedic chops are Justice Smith and Rege Jean Page. Sophia Lillis and Michelle Rodriguez get to toss some jokes out here, but they are the ones that get to play it straight and handle some of the heavier lifting in both the action and some of the drama. Hugh Grant is quite delicious as ever a villain here. And this film also brilliantly carries one of the best cameos in the film, played completely straight which works for both the funnies, the feels, the story and a certain character. Its what a cameo SHOULD be rather than just the hollow and flashy clickbait things the Marvel movies/tv shows and Star War tv show worlds seems to be obsessed with nowadays.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a full quadrant blockbuster that offers something for everyone. From character to adventure, to its humor and action providing for memorable set pieces, to the actors and visuals providing some added entertainment…its really hard to find much to complain about here. There’s something in it for everyone with a game that some might feel isn’t or wasn’t for them. This argues to already be one of the top studio wide releases of 2023 and there’s a good chance it’ll be there when the year is up as well.

Video

Disclaimer: Screen captures used in the review are provided by Paramount Home Entertainment, not the 4K UHD Blu-ray disc.

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-66

Clarity/Detail:  Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves comes to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray a native 4K title. It looks quite lovely with wonderful colors popping against a crisp, sharp picture. There are very fine details on display. CGI holds up very well among home video scrutiny, and carries lots of clear information itself.

Depth: Depth of field is quite good as it presents great pushback as well as a bigger, grand scale. Movements are natural and smooth with no problems coming from rapid action causing jitter or blur

Black Levels: Black levels are natural and consistent. Night sequences feel dark but still contain plenty of details and clarity. The shadows and darker material in the frame still showcase plenty of finer information as well as textures and patterns. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: Colors really pop here, and especially contrasted to the darkness. Greens, reds, blues and yellows really come on bolder. Magic beams, fire, magical smoke and more really glows and sting here with good use of the HDR especially in the darker areas of the frame.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent from start to finish of the film. Facial features and textures are visible to the finest points from any real reasonable distance in the frame. Be ith stubble, lip textures or bruising or dirt/dried sweat, its clear as day.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean.

Audio

Audio Format(s):English Dolby Atmos, English Audio Description, Spanish (Castilian) 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish (Latin America) 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, French (Canadian) 5.1 Dolby Digital, Italian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Japanese 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English, English SDH, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin America), French, French (Canadian), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Finnish, Swedish

Dynamics: Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has quite a tasty Dolby Atmos track. If the subwoofer would just hit harder, it would have been perfection. But I’m scoring it high because of how loud, intricate and spacious it feels when watching it. Its a well balanced mix with a focus on the effects and environment building. If you want to hear your speakers being incredibly active, look no further for this to be your demo.

Height: The ceiling channel is one of the loudest and most active I’ve every heard. And its not being ridiculous either. Dragons fly over, magic bursts soar, debris crumbles down and even stuff like cavernous ambiance light up the speakers up top. It also travels with good power.

Low Frequency Extension: Sadly, while not poor, the subwoofer might be the weakest link of this mix. It hits with a little bit of an average/solid hit. There are many moments an explosion, crash, burst or the like it about to go and you brace for what ends up being lighter impact. Considering how loud the rest of the speakers are going, you’d think the subwoofer would go for it, too. But alas, it does not.

Surround Sound Presentation:  This is a loud and active experience from the jump. Every channel is loud and working overtime. The rolling sound has  good power as it goes across the room, side to side and front to back.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp. Plenty audible no matter how loud the action, but still feeling in tune with the environment.

Extras

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves comes with a redeemable digital code.

From Dice To Dragons: Honoring The Lore (HD, 11:15) – This is a brief little making of with the background of the production and the objective they had with turning the game into a movie once again.

Rogues’ Gallery: The Heroes Of Dungeons & Dragons (HD, 11:24) – Obviously our main cast and our band is gone over. Actor skills, character traits and how it comes together is looked at in this one.

Fantastic Foes (HD, 7:03) – In this piece everyone talks about Hugh Grant and Daisy Head.

The Bestiary (HD, 9:21) – Here we go over the monsters in the film.

Forging The Forgotten Realms (HD, 8:07) – We go over the decision as to where in the Dungeons and Dragons world that this takes place, why, and how it was brought to life (via set dressing and whatnot).

Broadswords, Battleaxes & Badass Brawls (HD, 8:40) – This one goes over the layout and how they did some of the action sequences in the film.

Gag Reel (HD, 6:51)

Deleted And Extended Scenes (HD, 10:35)

Summary

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is some of the most IP blockbuster fun you’re going to have at the movies this year. This 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray obviously loves it as well, with a terrific audio and video presentation. There’s a good smattering of extras that cover plenty of ground as well. Don’t miss out on this one, pick it up!

This is a paid Amazon Associates link