Director: Ruben Fleischer
Screenwriters: Rafe Judkins, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway
Starring: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Sophia Ali, Antonio Banderas, Tati Gabrielle, etc.
Cinematographer: Chung-hoon Chung
Another year, another video game adaptation. Recently, we’ve seen movies like Tomb Raider (2018) whose early buzz quickly fizzled out. There’s Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), which defied the video game movie curse. And more recently, Hollywood has tried to bring Mortal Kombat (2021) back into the good graces of fans. Whether or not Hollywood has actually succeeded in making a great video game adaptation is up for debate. But that certainly will never stop them from trying.
The latest video game to take one for the team is none other than Naughty Dog’s Uncharted. The film stars Tom Holland as the street-smart Nathan Drake. After being recruited by veteran treasure hunter Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to find the gold lost by Ferdinand Magellan, the two set out to uncover truths and dig up treasures beyond their wildest dreams. Unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones after it.
Here are 4 Reasons to watch Ruben Fleischer’s Uncharted – in theaters February 18, 2022!
4) That looks pretty… Oh so pretty!
Minor CGI issues aside, Uncharted is a damn good time visually. The set designs brought me back to the underground tunnels and beautiful scenic beaches that I came across during the video game. And these homages were simply great to look at. This isn’t exactly how I’d imagine an adaptation of one of my favorite games but it’s pretty damn close. Who could be mad at that?
3) Action, Baby!
If you’re like me and you’re expecting the action sequences to be great simply because the Uncharted name is tied to the project, you’ll be happy! While these moments did not come as often as I’d like, they were well executed. Next go around, I need them to go full steam ahead, especially since Nate will no longer be a newbie!
2) I got your back
I can’t recall the last time the supporting cast was better than the leads of a feature film, but Uncharted managed to be at the top of 2022’s list. Tom Holland (Nathan Drake) did all he could to elevate this script from an oversimplified one, but he just could not solo this effort opposite of Mark Wahlberg (Sully). Sophia Ali (Chloe Frazer) and Tati Gabrielle (Jo Braddock) completely steal the show. I kind of want… No, I NEED a movie with just them, somehow. And what do you know? They’ve got a game they can borrow ideas from!
1) My mind’s telling me no…
In the end, this mindless adapted video game movie is an underwhelming mess that refused to put time into its characters. And I say this as someone who knows these characters well after playing all Uncharted games on all difficulty levels. But you know what? I still had some fun. So, I’m choosing to hold onto that. Is it the homage? Was it the easter eggs? Who knows? But I’m choosing to listen to that very small fraction of my heart that managed to enjoy parts of this. My mind’s got some catching up to do, though!
Final thoughts:
Uncharted might have been a total miscast, but I couldn’t help but to get excited with the action sequences that reminded me of scenes within the video game. Though they weren’t the best for their respective roles, the banter between Tom Holland’s Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg’s Sully made for a fun watch. The creators behind this video game adaptation did the bare minimum. But let’s hope they’ve set themselves up for future success in the coming sequels.
Watch the trailer for Uncharted – in theaters now!
