A young thief teams up with an experienced treasure
hunter to track down a legendary lost treasure. ACTION
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Uncharted (2022)Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Written by Rafe Judkins, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway Starring Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle Based on the videogame from Naughty Dog LLC. |
I had such low expectations for this film that it ended up winning me over simply by being good enough. I've been a huge fan of the Uncharted game series and I couldn't wait for a film adaptation. The Uncharted movie seemed to always fall apart in development, and when it finally got off the ground, Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Victor Sullivan were, in my opinion, terrible choices. Lo and behold, the film comes out and it's funny, exciting, intense, celebrates the spirit and tone of the games, and Holland and Wahlberg are both really good. What a nice surprise.
The film takes bits and pieces from the first four games to craft an independent narrative that isn't beholden to the games. If you've never played them, you can still enjoy the movie. Holland plays a younger, inexperienced Nathan Drake who is trying to find his long-lost brother Sam, and ends up working with the shady but loyal Victor Sullivan (Wahlberg, who was way better than I expected). Wahlberg is basically just playing Mark Wahlberg for the millionth time, but his chemistry with Holland makes it work. Together, they track down the legendary loot of Ferdinand Magellan, while eluding a billionaire (Banderas, who was underused) and his gun for hire (Gabrielle). The action scenes are great, the story is engaging, and there is an awesome brief cameo from Nolan North, the original voice actor of Drake in the games. You can tell Ruben Fleischer wanted fans to like this. There are so many nods to the games, from music stings to costumes and mustaches. It's a fun movie that is far better than critics are making it out to be. Go see it for yourself before judging it. As a fan of the franchise, I can say I was impressed. |
The Uncharted video game series has consistently been regarded as one of the greatest PlayStation exclusives of all time. And for good reason. Drawing heavily from the action-adventure genre of cinema and films like Indiana Jones and The Mummy, it would provide players to play the thrilling action moments on screen while also enjoying an engaging story with excellent characters. It was a no brainer when a movie adaptation was announced. What was surprising was how long the film was stuck in development hell. Going through numerous directors and actors for the role of Nathan Drake, it was starting to look like it was never going to happen. But things started to turn around as a cast and director seemed to stick with production finally happening. Now, in 2022, almost a decade since this was announced, we finally got the long-delayed adaptation.
Considering casting was one of the biggest problems leading up to the release, they ended up doing a pretty good job. Tom Holland excels as a young Nathan Drake, imbuing the character with much of the charm and charisma we expect from the source material. As for Mark Wahlberg as Sully, he’s decent. While not a bad performance, he never really feels like the mustache wearing, cigar chomping father figure from the games. Just feels like Wahlberg if I’m being honest. The biggest crime, though, is Antonio Banderas. While he seems to be enjoying the villainous role, he’s severely underutilized. Outside of the actors, director Ruben Fleischer does a tremendous job of capturing the tone of the games. This is a light, breezy, over the top, fun adventure film filled with plenty of Easter Eggs for the fans. What holds it back from being truly great in this regard is the influences I mentioned earlier. Whereas the game was able to make them fresh by having you play the role, the reverse happens once you see it onscreen in a movie. Instead of fresh and exciting, it comes off more tiresome and cliché. For the most part, this is another solid video game adaptation. The cast is great and the tone is exactly what I wanted. It’s just a shame the film itself is held back by a feeling of déjà vu due to, admittedly, better influences. |