The almost always brilliant Jeremy Irons did not show his best side in this failed fantasy film

Last year, the fantasy film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was released to positive reception and success. This movie was a reboot of the Dungeons and DragonsFilm franchise that began in 2000 with the film Dungeons & Dragons, which was a huge failure. It is, therefore, one of Jeremy Irons’ worst films.

Dungeons and Dragons from 2000 was directed by Courtney Solomon in her directorial debut and written by Carroll Cartwright and Topper Lilien. The film is based on the role-playing game of the same name. In addition to Irons, the lead roles are also played by Justin Whalin, Marlon Wayans, Thora Birch, Zoe McLellan, Kristen Wilson, Lee Arenberg and Bruce Payne.

History
Dungeons and Dragons Set in the Kingdom of Izmer, where wizards use their magic to rule the land. The young empress Savina (Birch) wants to use magic for good, but the evil Profion (Irons) plans to use his powers to seize Savina’s throne and subject the kingdom to totalitarian rule.

Profion gains control of the kingdom’s golden dragons, while Savina sets out to gain control of the even more powerful red dragons. Along the way, she gathers a colorful group of allies to help her.

Excessive
Irons reprized his role as the villainous Profion. Dungeons and Dragons in a hilariously over-the-top way. Irons is known for his memorable and intense performances, but in this film he seems to have thrown all restraints to the wind.

The result is a performance that feels like Irons knew he was in a chaotic production and decided to go for it, with absurd intonations and wild facial expressions. When asked why he made this film, Irons responded: “Are you kidding me? I just bought a castle, I had to pay for it somehow!”Failure
The film was ultimately a major box office failure, grossing $33.8 million against a budget of $45 million, and also failed critically. so you have Dungeons and Dragons just a score of 9% in Rotten Tomatoes.

The critical consensus on the site reads: “Critics say this film seems cheap and poorly directed. Despite the presence of talented actors, the performances are very poor and, furthermore, some people are offended by the character of Marlon Wayans, whom they consider a racist throwback to black stereotypes.”

Continue and restart
Despite the poor reception, a television sequel was made in 2005, The wrath of the dragon god. This sequel was not a direct continuation of the previous film’s story, although Payne’s character Damodar returned. a third movie The book of vile darknesswas released straight to DVD in 2012.

A reboot was made with the film in 2023. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thievesdirected by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, and starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis and Hugh Grant. This film was positively received, but underperformed at the box office, grossing just over $208.2 million worldwide, which was just shy of turning a profit.

To look at?
Want Dungeons and Dragons to see? You can’t find the film on the various streaming services in the Netherlands, but you can buy it on DVD.