Uncharted is one of the best action-adventure video game franchises. It was like an interactive film that was inspired by films such as Indiana Jones and National Treasure. So it isn't too surprising that it got a movie adaptation. However, video game movies are known to be bad so I didn't have high expectations. Does Uncharted continue this video game movie curse or finally break out of the mould?

The biggest thing I enjoyed about this film is the action sequences. They are fun to watch even though they are defying physics. The thing is though that the big action set piece is just ripped from the game. Tom Holland is a charismatic lead and it is clear he is still great at being the main lead in the film. It was also clear that Tom was giving 110% in the role. Antonio Banderas was also pleasant to watch as the villain. I love the charming yet cold nature of his performance.

However, Tom Holland just doesn't feel like Nathan Drake. His character is shown to be a thief at the beginning which fits Nathan but then afterwards he becomes a saint that won't give in to greed. Nathan was never the perfect guy in the games and was kind of an a-hole at times. He also had fun quips and tend to complain about the absurdity of the situation but in this film, he is lacking in all of these qualities. The same can be said for Chloe and Sully played by Sophia Ali and Mark Wahlberg respectively. Sophia gives a fine performance but her character just keeps being very dislikable and Mark is just playing himself so Sully just ends up being bland. Antonio was doing great as the villain and had clear motives but he is replaced by Tati Gabrielle who is just underwhelming and lame. In the end, the characters are all underdeveloped and uninteresting.

Another amazing aspect of the game was the action set pieces. They were just visually so awesome and Drake always felt like he was in danger and could die. This is not the case in the film. Drake never feels like he is in any mortal danger and this could be due to the silly weightless and slapstick feel of the action. There is also a fight scene at a Papa Johns that feels so shameless and blatant in product placement. Additionally, the story and writing feel so basic and predictable. The writer just copy and pasted the typical treasure hunting plot from previous movies with slight changes and called it a day. The interactions between the characters aren't funny and lack the heart that was seen in the games. Every scene of talking is either pointless or just saying exposition. Due to this the movie has so many moments where the pacing just slows completely.

Overall, Uncharted (2022) is a soulless cash grab that inherited none of the qualities from its source material. It doesn't try to do anything original or even crazy and just plays completely safe which is just disappointing. The Uncharted franchise has always been about these over the top set-pieces but the director would rather be more interested in copying it and not doing it as well. That is the best description of this movie, doing everything that the game and previous treasure hunting movies have done but not as great. It did well at the box office so is likely to get a sequel but I sure hope it isn't like this first outing.

Ideal for fans of Tom Holland and devil-may-care treasure hunts, "Uncharted" is a solid action movie with crazy stunts, beautiful locations and surprising star power. It's a good reason to leave the house for that big-screen spectacle that we all live for. If you've never owned a Playstation, that's really all you need to have a good time.

. . .

But sweet merciful Jesus, this is not an Uncharted movie and that is a torpedo that sinks the whole thing. Because to have that, you need Drake and Sully, and both Holland and Mark Wahlberg are way off; they're not even close. They don't look like these characters and they don't sound like them, despite the mid-credits afterthought of a scene that's supposed to satisfy this requirement.

And as a result, I have to admit, I was bored to tears. To the movie's credit, it picks up considerably in the third act, and even goes nuts in the set piece department (that airlift scene was pretty cool). But to make us wait ninety-odd minutes for Drake to even pick up a gun is ridiculous.

I admit personal bias in the strongest sense; this series of games makes my desert-island list, no question, and I wanted to be surprised by this. It just didn't happen, and I couldn't make these actors fit these characters. As it stands, that Nathan Fillion fan film from a few years back (I'm serious, go watch it) still reigns supreme. I try to be a movie-goer that steers clear of fanboyism, but it didn't work here. And it was not fun.

36/100

Uncharted is Sony's latest attempt to fit an acclaimed franchise with 42 hours of content and story into just 2... Make your own judgment from that.

It's funny to think that, no matter how hard you try, these days you cannot adapt a video game into a film, and vice versa. While one tries to be as efficient as possible with his limited time, the other can pack as much information as it can in order to become more extensive or ambitious.

This indicates that, even if someone has the courage to adapt something like the Uncharted series to the big screen, whether they wanted to or not, they must summarize, or flatly ignore, certain plot points to prioritize others. The problem is that this selection process has such a complex naturalness that, with a single mistake, it can feel like the film is trying to contextualize as much as it can, ignoring not to feel overwhelming.

Even if that is your purpose, you have to be subtle. Uncharted binned that advice completely.

From European villains to straight up pirate ships, Uncharted feels like one of the least ambitious popcorn flicks I've come across in quite some time.

The plot seems to have been invented while the filming process of the film was being executed, which would not surprise me at this point if it were true, while clinging to the mediocrity of the actors' work. The same ones who clearly did not want to be part of the film in the first place.