Dungeons & Dragons Humbles Marvel By Its Own Formula
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) seems to be losing its identity after Avengers: Endgame, with recent films being underwhelming when it comes to entertaining the audience.
Even supposedly safe bets, such as Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, have received cold shoulder from critics and fans.
Several MCU Disney Plus shows also received mixed reviews. Seems like Only Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: No Way Home were the only truly Marvel movies in Phase 4 (while the former stayed the established course of a hero origin move, the later won over the audiences with fan service).
And just like that, an unlikely contender in the form of Dungeons & Dragons steals the spotlight.
The recently released Honor Among Thieves movie fills the gap with a fun film experience that works exactly like the usual MCU formula.
The story, where a group of losers come together to save the day, sounds like Guardians of the Galaxy of sorts, and while it doesn't reinvent the wheel, it still works miracles.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which follows a group of adventurers who come together to steal a powerful artifact and save their homeland, succeeded in igniting the spark that the Marvel films have been somewhat lacking recently.
Surely, the film won't be breaking any new ground in terms of its narrative structure or character arcs, but what it does do is stick to the established Marvel formula of creating fun and entertaining cinema that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
The film's cast, which includes big names like Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Hugh Grant, is one of its biggest strengths.
The chemistry between the group is palpable, and the humor is spot-on. The film's action sequences are amazing, with enough spectacle and excitement to potentially satisfy any Marvel fan. Too bad Marvel movies are failing to do that...
How the Dungeons & Dragons movie sticks to proven formula and just has fun creating enjoyable cinema experience are lessons that Marvel could definitely learn from in order to reignite its spark and bring back the magic that made its earlier films so memorable.