It was shocking to me watching Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves how much I loved the movie. Not because I thought I wouldn’t like it. But more than I thought it’d be one of those movies I laughed at, enjoyed, then went on with my life. But the more I think about Dungeons & Dragons, the more I love it. And that’s completely down to its characters and the way that they were brought to life throughout the story.
Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) is trying to bring together a team to help bring his daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) back to him. And part of that team is his good friend Holga (Michelle Rodriguez). Holga met him when he was at his lowest and she has tried to help him raise Kira (who she calls Bug) and their dynamic as friends is one that really is the heart of the movie.
And I have become obsessed with Holga as a character because she is strong, feminine, and someone who is willing to show her vulnerability (and sing) with her friends. All that love is down to Rodriguez performance in the movie. And getting to talk to her about Holga was such a treat because you can tell that she really does love this character and this movie.
For Rodriguez, Holga’s strength is something she has gone back and forth on in her career. “You know, it’s crazy. Like I’ve always felt like a lot of the work that I’ve done has been kind of a hyper masculinized version of femininity,” Rodriguez said. “And it’s because action movies were the only place where I could go to be free from being the girlfriend or the girl who’s crying over some guy and the guy’s everything.”
She went on to talk about how she found her place in action movies. “The only way I could get away from that was making action movies. And it’s taken me a while to figure out where the femininity is in that because, you know, to exert any kind of strength or freedom, it’s usually a physical fight or some sort of brute force. And I really don’t think that that is the true now that I’m older essence of strength, of femininity.”
The beauty in strength
Rodriguez opened up about how she’s come to understand the “soft power” in both the masculine and feminine qualities of herself and her acting. She also said that the heart of the film is tied to Chloe Coleman’s Kira.
“Obviously we both come from men and women and we have father qualities and mother qualities within all of us, whether you’re a man or a woman,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve come to a place in life as I’m older where I’m finding the soft power within all of that hyper masculine physical activity in action movies. So, but I’ll tell you, the heart of this film to be sincere is Chloe. That wonderful girl, really so phenomenal at such a young age to have such a mature array of emotions and to be able to call upon them like a G. I mean, she’s so quick with it, she’s so quick-witted. So I felt like I was alongside an adult performing. It was amazing.”
You can see our full interview here:
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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hits theaters on March 31st. And you won’t want to miss it!
(Featured image: Paramount Pictures and eOne)
Published: Mar 23, 2023 05:51 pm