The last trailer review I wrote was for The Social Network back in October of 2010, so excuse me if I’m a bit rusty. I had to read through a few of the old ones just to see what I even did for them. I figured that a Dungeons & Dragons movie would be geeky enough to bring them back. I hope you enjoy it, the trailer review that is, not the movie. Well, I hope you enjoy the movie too, but I had no hand in making it, so I’m less invested in your enjoyment.
I’m reviewing the “NEW Trailer” for the movie linked here. The trailer starts off with a couple of quick scenes with Led Zeppelin backing and then announcing that this is the new trailer. Then starts the trailer proper with Michelle Rodriguez, a barbarian, and Chris Pine, a bard, tied up and ready to be executed. Michelle does some barbarian stuff and Chris is about as useful as any bard can be in this situation by providing some witty banter.
| Reviewinator | |
| Trailer | YouTube |
| Starring | Chris Pine Michelle Rodriguez |
| Director(s) | John Francis Daley Johnathan Goldstein |
| Official Site | Link |
| US Opening | March 31, 2023 |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Genre | RPG to Movie |
| Explosions | 4ish |
| Weapons | Red horn thingy, Axe, brick, sword, fists, bow, magic, teeth, fireballs, monsters, gravity, mandolin |
| Man Quotient | 7.6 |
| Trailer Déjà Vu | Dungeons and Dragons (2000) |
| Geek Factor | 85% |
| See Trailer? | Yes |
| See Movie? | Yes |
Next we get the setup for the movie. Pine’s band of thieves have stolen something for the wrong people and caused all sorts of problems. The red wizards have used the stolen artifact to raise an army of the dead. They need to build a team to steal it back, The A-Team, wait, The A-Team movie was back in 2010, no, they need a balanced group of magic users and martial characters to storm the castle. Hopefully, they can get together more often than my D&D group.
There are quite a few humorous quips and plenty of action sequences involving some decent looking special effects. Plenty of classic monsters such as dragons, owlbears and displacer beasts make appearances.
I’ve been playing too much Overwatch 2 because when I heard the line “This ends now!” from one of the villains, I had flashbacks of being headshotted by Sojourn. I wonder if that was intentional.
The trailer ends with the party on one end of a bridge spanning lava with the paladin explaining that they must avoid the trap. Unfortunately, the eager sorcerer sets off the trap, destroying the bridge. At least they are keeping this true to most campaigns I’ve been a part of.
Ending Prognostication: The hapless party finds their courage deep within and saves the destruction of the world. However, an even deeper evil reveals itself at the end setting up the necessary sequel.
Fun with IMDb: From a director who once starred in an episode of Drunk History and starring an uncredited wedding guest from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
Conclusion on Trailer: The trailer had some good humor and special effects. Much better than I would expect from a D&D movie. It also had some decent actors who aren’t completely on the tail end of their careers. I thought it was a fun watch and recommend watching the trailer.
Conclusion on Movie: Dungeons and Dragons has already had a resurgence, so I don’t expect this movie to expand the game to a much wider audience than Critical Role has. It does look like this movie is of high enough quality to be enjoyable though. I expect it will be a fun romp without winning too many awards come Oscar season.