Taking a whole bunch of leaves out of the Marvel playbook, this knockabout fantasy from the directors of Game Night, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, boasts Guardians of the Galaxy-style energy and irreverence as a motley crew get a crack at redemption. In Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, canny casting, imaginative visuals and a script unafraid to poke fun at genre traditions combine for a thoroughly ripping yarn.

Rebooting the D&D franchise might seem an unenticing prospect given that the last time the tabletop role-playing game was brought to the big screen was a less-than-impressive effort in 2000. Starring Jeremy Irons, Thora Birch and Bruce Payne, it was both a critical and commercial flop, though spawned a made-for-TV sequel and direct-to-DVD third instalment.

With influences including The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the Indiana Jones saga this time round, Daley and Goldstein (along with fellow screenwriter Michael Gilio) broaden their film’s appeal considerably beyond the game and the original trilogy’s fanbase.

Chris Pine brings the charisma and Michelle Rodriguez the might as our intrepid antiheroes Edgin, a bard and former Harper, and Holga, a barbarian who has been exiled from her tribe. After escaping from prison, the affable pair team up with so-so sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith) and shape-shifting druid Doric (Sophia Lillis).

Together, they plot to liberate Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) from the care/clutches of the gang’s former associate Forge (Hugh Grant). Forge is a con artist who has risen to become Lord of Neverwinter with the help of red wizard Sofina (a fierce and brooding Daisy Head), a right-hand woman with her own shadowy agenda.

Goldstein has stated that, though the film doesn’t take itself seriously, it is not intended as a spoof of the much-obsessed-over source material and other fantasy fare. There are, however, moments where it does play that way, with Honour Among Thieves at the very least acting as a refreshing counterpoint to the recent Lord of the Rings series The Rings of Power.

Through the humourless, morally superior paladin Xenk (amusing work from Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page, who nicely complements Pine), the script affectionately ridicules the pomposity of such characters, along with their tendency toward flowery language and convoluted explanations. There’s also a cameo from an A-lister as a Hobbit-like creature, which is similarly played for laughs.