'Dungeons & Dragons' Is a Terrible Fantasy Movie but Has Exactly 1 Redeeming Quality

Image via New Line Cinema

Published Mar 2, 2026, 11:18 AM EST

Charlie Ridgely is a writer from Maryland, currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee. He may be new to Collider, but he's been writing, editing, conducting interviews, and podcasting around the industry for 10 years. From 2016 to the start of 2026, Charlie was a full time writer and critic at ComicBook.com. A lifelong movie fan, avid reader, and renowned (fictional) dungeon explorer/dragonslayer, Charlie is a jack-of-all-trades throughout the fandom multiverse and has covered everything under the sun.

Dungeons & Dragons has been enjoying a cultural resurgence in recent years, especially with the enormous popularity of "actual play" shows like Critical Role and Dimension 20. Stranger Things gave the game several big moments and got younger generations interested. Chris Pine starred in a very funny and extremely well-liked D&D movie just a couple of years ago. The biggest role-playing game on the planet is once again getting the spotlight it deserves, but no amount of popularity can help fans and players forget the disaster that was New Line Cinema's Dungeons & Dragons movie.

Simply titled Dungeons & Dragons, the 2000s fantasy film was an utter failure on every level. It was hated by critics, movie fans, and D&D players alike, and it absolutely bombed at the box office. Watching it through today's lense is even worse. It's not one of those situations where a bad movie from childhood has an endearing quality to it years later. This isn't a "so bad it's good" type of movie. Dungeons & Dragons has aged like milk and stands out as potentially the worst fantasy movie of all time.

However, there is one individual element of this film that has actually endured. The writing is rough, the CGI is Spawn-level bad (if not worse in some scenes), and most of the cast acts as though they are in completely different movies. But the biggest name on the Dungeons & Dragons call-sheet came to play, shining a flamboyantly villainous beacon across this desolate wasteland of a movie. Jeremy Irons took the big bad role of Dungeons & Dragons and absolutely ran with it — and he's the only thing about the film that makes it remotely worth revisiting.

Jeremy Irons Is Amazing in Dungeons & Dragons

Jeremy Irons as Profian in 'Dungeons & Dragons' — Jeremy Irons as Profion in 'Dungeons & Dragons'

Six years after starring in The Lion King and bringing to life one of the greatest and most menacing animated villains in movie history, Irons went back to the villainous well for his role as Profion in Dungeons & Dragons. The film's main antagonist is a powerful mage who basically exists in a role that isn't too unlike Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. He's a magic advisor to a young princess and has plans to use a senate-esque governing body to put himself into a position of ultimate power. Unlike Palpatine, however, he's not very secretive.

Irons chews every scene he's in and spits it back out again. His face contorts into numerous displays of rage and malice as he orders his underlings to track down the inexperienced heroes as they chase a magical rod (they literally call it "the rod" all throughout the film) that will grant him the power to control red dragons? Look, the plot isn't important here, we're all aware it doesn't make any sense. But Irons does everything he possibly can to make you feel something.

And for the most part, he succeeds! While most of the movie is easy to hate because it's utterly draining, you hate Profion because he's a cruel S.O.B. and Irons spits absolute venom when he speaks.

Giving 'Dungeons & Dragons' More Than It Deserved

Not only does Jeremy Irons deliver a genuinely great performance in a terrible movie, but there are times when it almost seems as though he's aware of just how bad the surrounding film actually is, and he's actively fighting back against it. Seriously, you haven't seen anything quite like this man screaming, "LET THEIR BLOOD RAIN FROM THE SKIES" as he full-body convulses in front of an army of digital dragons. It's absolutely magical.

This is by no means a plea for you to check out the Dungeons & Dragons movie — it's 107 minutes of your life that you will never get back. You won't be glad you watched it. But if you're up for the punishment, you do get the reward of what might be the most enjoyable villain performance ever found in an otherwise terrible movie. Dennis Hopper in Super Mario Bros. has nothing on what Jeremy Irons is doing in Dungeons & Dragons.

PG-13

Drama

Adventure

Fantasy

Release Date: December 8, 2000
Runtime: 107 Minutes
Director: Courtney Solomon
Writers: Topper Lilien, Carroll Cartwright
Producers: Allan Zeman, Joel Silver, Kia Jam, Nelson Leong, Thomas M. Hammel
Sequel(s): Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God (2005), Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness
Franchise(s): Dungeons & Dragons