The most accurate part of the Dungeons & Dragons movie is that it's a comedy

Take away the mechanics - the dice and spell slots - and "Dungeons & Dragons" is a game where people sit around a table and try to have a good time. Sure, there are serious or emotionally charged moments in any campaign, but most friendships aren't based on a mutual desire to spend three hours practicing the Strasberg Method. Instead, it's a format that encourages jokes and chemistry between friends. It's a bunch of people trying to make each other laugh.

But there is also an element of metatextuality in every Dungeons & Dragons game. When I sit down to build my latest hero, I tend to create a composite of movie and TV characters that have inspired me. For example, in my last campaign, my cleric was modeled after Wyatt Russell's Dud in "Lodge 49." The idea was to play someone both serious and a bit naive who clings to something bigger than himself to make sense of what he sees in the world around him. And when we look to other media for inspiration, finding characters that inspire us and allow us to have a good time with friends will naturally lead us to look more to Robert Downey Jr. than Daniel Day-Lewis.

Some people have suggested that the movie riffs on the Marvel formula a bit too much, and it's easy to point out parallels between the two approaches to world-building and character development. But I could say that the influence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on "Honor Among Thieves" also works on a diegetic level. Chris Pine may be a character actor trapped in the body of a leading man, but his work in the "Star Trek" franchise is kind of a modern leading man shorthand that fits in perfectly in the current Hollywood moment. Turns out Chris Pine is the perfect actor to play a "Chris Pine guy".