So lets go ahead and get my negatives out of the way first. The first ten minutes or so of the movie is VERY exposition heavy, and a bit odd from a tone standpoint. Its not terrible or anything, but if the whole movie were like this it wouldn't be much fun. Luckily the story gets going pretty fast. I also want to call out the special effects used for the halfling characters. The rest of the movie looks great, but any time theres a halfling on screen its like we're suddenly watching the visual from a straight to dvd film. There's also one or two character decisions that, while I think they make sense in context, could have probably been explained a bit better.
Less of a real complaint and more of a personal nit pick, I wish the film could have spent more of its runtime in the underdark sequence. It probably would have killed the pacing, but I feel like we just got a small glimpse of it. Perhaps it shall be explored further in future sequels. Also, as a fan of the Bard class, I am a bit bummed that Edgin doesn't seem to have any of the combat or magic related abilities of the class, but he still embodies the flavor of a Bard very well. Dude's got some high charisma, what can ya do?
Now, aside from that it's mostly all positives. Right off the bat this movie is packed with familiar names, lore and organizations from the source material. We even get to see Elminster in this film! How cool is that? Also its a big plus that the movie takes place partially in Neverwinter, as that's probably my favorite dnd city. I grew up playing Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, and that's really my earliest exposure to dnd.
The characters are all well written, and most of them get full arcs of their own, so the movie really feels like an ensemble. The acting ranges from good to really fucking good, so even the less developed characters are fun to have on screen. The movie is very heavy on the comedy, but it mostly knows how to balance that with the action and the drama. There are even some genuinely creepy scenes in this movie, including one surprisingly effective jump scare.
The action is so entertaining in this movie. Xenk taking on the assasins in the underdark is some of the most impressive and flashy sword fighting I've seen in a movie in a long time. Dorric's escape from the palace is an extremely creative and fun sequence, with some really cool use of the wildshape ability to hide and run from her pursuers. And of course the final battle is very solid as well. They definitely do a good job demonstrating the power of a high level wizard.
Lastly I'll touch on the plot. Its fairly predictable in term of the overall arc, though there are surprising moments and subversions peppered throughout. Overall the execution is solid, and it did a good job of getting me invested in the characters. I actually did care what happened, and wanted to see them succeed.
Overall I am delighted by this one, and I hope it does well enough for them to make more.
