by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $13.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Tati Gabrielle, Sophie Ali, Steven Waddington
Intro:
…. for those who want ridiculously fun action scenes, funny quips, and several eyefuls of shirtless Tom Holland, Uncharted is an entertaining trek into familiar waters.
After fourteen years of development hell, and quite a few popular perception shifts when it comes to the viability of video game adaptations, the film version of arguably one of the greatest modern adventure titles has finally arrived. Naughty Dog’s Uncharted games remain some of the closest instances of interactive films that the video game medium can lay claim to, with their emphasis on blockbuster production values, tightly constructed set pieces, and investment in characters. It should be a smooth victory to translate that to the big screen, but what we ultimately get is sitting on much rockier ground.
The characters are inconsistent, both on their own terms and as adaptations of the original personalities. Tom Holland as Nathan Drake, boyish looks aside, is the closest the film gets to that previous standard, echoing Nate’s penchant for riffing on his surroundings and his aptitude in the action scenes. Mark Wahlberg as his mentor Sully comes an uneasy second, as he still appears to be on auto-pilot, with Holland needing to fill in on the charisma stakes every so often.
With Antonio Banderas and Tati Gabrielle as the villains, and Sophie Ali as fellow treasure hunter Chloe, it’s quite sad that a henchman known only as ‘The Scotsman’ (Steven Waddington) leaves more of an impression that all three of them combined. Chloe especially is quite a letdown, as Nathan and her chemistry on-screen not only doesn’t measure up to the original, but it can’t even hold a candle to Crash Bandicoot and Tawna.
The story isn’t all that special either. As indebted as the original games were to classics like Indiana Jones and even Tomb Raider, this script from Rafe Lee Judkins (The Wheel of Time) and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (Iron Man) leans in even harder, to the point of trying to pull a Red Notice and just openly acknowledging its influences by name. Pitting Nathan Drake as the only honest man in a frequently dishonest hustle gives the narrative some push, as does his strained buddy dynamic with Sully, but only just.
Thankfully, director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) and second unit director Scott Rogers (John Wick 3 – Parabellum) manage to balance things out with their approach to the action set pieces, which definitely live up to the Uncharted name. Partly because some of them are pulled directly from the games, like the plane scene out of Drake’s Deception, but the presentation finds nice pockets of Mission: Impossible style ostentatiousness. It’s hard to tell what does more mid-air spinning: The bottles during Nathan’s flair bartending, or Nathan himself.
Those going into this wanting a pure adaptation of the games will likely walk away disappointed, as mainstream video game adaptations haven’t quite reached that point yet. But for those who want ridiculously fun action scenes, funny quips, and several eyefuls of shirtless Tom Holland, Uncharted is an entertaining trek into familiar waters. If nothing else, it’s the least embarrassing Playstation-centric decision Sony has made recently.