Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
This is obviously a new movie with high quality video and audio. It really does not warrant any noise reduction or other post-production enhancements, especially by an amateur like myself. However, since I tend to prefer slightly over-baked color saturation, contrast, and sharpness, I decided to have a go at it anyway. Also, I wanted to experiment with Topaz Video AI upscaling and upconverting features. The upconverting to 60Hz introduced a bit of the "soap opera" effect, but it also gives the video motion an interesting realness. There are plenty of 23.976Hz versions available to those who find this unacceptable. No need to be a flatulent flaming methane troll in the Comments section.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a 2023 American fantasy comedy film set in the Forgotten Realms of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The film stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, and Hugh Grant. Production went through various phases in development since 2013, beginning with Warner Bros. Pictures after beating Hasbro and Universal Pictures in a lawsuit over the film rights to the tabletop role-playing game. Production ultimately moved to Paramount Pictures. Goldstein and Daley were the final writers/directors, using elements from the previous attempt by director Chris McKay and screenwriter Michael Gilio. Filming began in April 2021 in Iceland and later Northern Ireland. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 10, 2023, and was released in the United States on March 31, 2023 by Paramount Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics but underperformed at the box office, grossing over $208 million worldwide but falling short of its break-even point.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has been denoised and sharpened using the Neat Video Pro V5 plugin for Virtualdub2. The brightness, contrast and color saturation were also adjusted using Virtualdub2 plugins. Color hue was tweaked using AviSynth courtesy of Ripbot264 (I really need to find a better way to adjust skin color tones). Upscaling, upconverting and compression, as well as some marginally discernible video quality improvements, were accomplished using Topaz Video AI. Video and audio encoding details can be found in the Media Info data provided above.
Lastly, a Massive Spoiler, much to the dismay of some downloaders, is included following the Media Info. You have been warned!
Storyline
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. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings the rich world and playful spirit of the legendary roleplaying game to the big screen in a hilarious and action-packed adventure.
Media Info
General
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 32.0 GiB
Duration : 2 h 15 min
Overall bit rate : 33.7 Mb/s
Writing application : Lavf60.4.100
Writing library : Lavf60.4.100
ErrorDetectionType : Per level 1
Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main [email protected]@High
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 2 h 15 min
Bit rate : 23.8 Mb/s
Width : 3840 pixels
Height : 2160 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 60.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.048
Stream size : 22.6 GiB (71%)
Writing library : Lavc60.6.100 hevc_nvenc
Default : No
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Audio
ID : 2
Format : PCM
Format settings : Little
Codec ID : A_PCM/FLOAT/IEEE
Duration : 2 h 15 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 9216 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth : 32 bits
Stream size : 8.75 GiB (27%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Massive Spoiler
Prior to imprisonment, bard Edgin Darvis served in the Harpers, an order of peacekeepers, until his wife was killed by disciples of a Red Wizard he had arrested.
Accompanied by barbarian Holga Kilgore, Edgin attempted to make a new life for himself and his daughter Kira by turning to theft, teaming with amateur sorcerer Simon Aumar, rogue con artist Forge Fitzwilliam, and Forge's mysterious acquaintance Sofina. While raiding a Harper stronghold, Edgin attempted to steal a "Tablet of Reawakening" to resurrect his wife, but he and Holga were captured while their accomplices escaped.
After two years' imprisonment in arctic Revel's End, the pair, unaware they have been pardoned, escape to Neverwinter and learn Forge has become Lord there after its prior lord fell mysteriously incapacitated. Forge has been taking care of Kira, convincing her that Edgin's selfish greed led to his arrest. It is revealed that Sofina is a Red Wizard and together they orchestrated Edgin and Holga's capture.
Sofina attempts to execute Edgin and Holga, but they escape and decide to rob Forge's vault and bring Kira home during the upcoming High Sun Games, needing the tablet to prove their innocence to Kira and resurrect Edgin's wife. The gladiatorial games had been banned, but Forge reinstituted them, promising that the games would bring tourists and money. Edgin and Holga track down Simon to help; he suggests also recruiting Doric, a druid whose forest community is fighting forced logging ordered by Forge.
Shapeshifted into a fly, Doric infiltrates Forge's castle, finding the vault has magical defenses from Mordenkainen, which Simon cannot disable. Simon believes a magic relic, "The Helm of Disjunction," could disable them. They travel to an old graveyard to ask Holga's ancestors where to find it. Simon resurrects the dead with a talisman long enough for them to answer five questions each. The corpses reveal they gave the Helm to Xenk Yandar, a paladin who fled his country, Thay, when Szass Tam turned Thayans into an undead army. Not being asked enough questions, one corpse is left "alive".
After forcing Edgin to swear to distribute any gained bounty to the people, Xenk guides the group through the Underdark to retrieve the Helm. With the help of a teleportation staff obtained from Holga's halfling ex-husband, they find the relic but are attacked by Thayan assassins sent by Sofina. Xenk fights off the assassins and helps the group escape from the obese red dragon Themberchaud before departing.
Simon has trouble mastering the Helm's power, so they decide to use the staff to enter the vault during the games. Simon and Holga infiltrate the magically sealed door but find the room empty except for a magical trap. Sofina, disguised as Kira, subdues Edgin. The group is captured and forced to participate in the games, but manages to escape the stadium. Doric discovers Forge has loaded the treasure onto a boat and is preparing to flee. The group steals the boat for themselves and rescues Kira from Forge, who threatened Kira's life.
As they escape, the group realize Sofina organized the games to draw a massive crowd and turn them into an undead army using the curse that destroyed Thay. The group returns, transporting Forge's stolen riches out of the boat with the teleportation staff and spreading them across the city by hot-air balloon, drawing people out of the stadium before Sofina's spell takes effect.
Enraged at her defeat, Sofina attacks the group, but Simon manages to master his magic and nullify Sofina's time-stop spell, allowing Kira to use an invisibility pendant Edgin and Holga gave her as a child to place an anti-magic bracelet on Sofina. Sofina is killed when attacked by Doric in owlbear form and then crushed by falling debris, but Holga is fatally injured. Edgin uses the tablet to bring her back to life, accepting that he wanted to bring back his wife only for his own sake while Holga had become a true part of their family. Doric signals openness to a relationship with Simon.
Restored, the old Lord of Neverwinter declares the team heroes of the realm. Xenk sends Forge to Revel's End, where he spectacularly fails to escape as Edgin and Holga did when his pardon was denied.
