Uncharted Movie Review

Uncharted is a film that is based on a popular video game franchise of the same name which was developed by Naughty Dog as a Sony PlayStation exclusive. The game’s popularity is well recognised in the gaming community, so much so that it seems that Hollywood recognised this and greenlit a film to be made. The film comes directed by Ruben Fleischer who some may know as the director of Zombieland (2009) or Venom (2018). It stars Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas and Sophia Ali.

According to IMDB, the synopsis of Uncharted is as follows “Street-smart Nathan Drake, is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter, Victor “Sully” Sullivan, to recover a fortune amassed by Ferdinand Magellan, and lost 500 years ago by the House of Moncada.”

Having been a big fan of the Uncharted video games ever since I played the original game on the PlayStation 3 and then all the games that followed it, I was initially very excited to go and see the film. I know the lore and the characters well and knew that there could be something good made out of it. The thing I didn’t expect though, was for the whole thing to be butchered in the worst way possible. While I could argue that you could still have a good time in there watching all the insane stunts and action sequences, if you’re a fan of the Uncharted games, like I am, I think you may get disappointed.

The main problem that this film has is with the casting and the story. The casting of the actors for this film seems wrong. Nathan Drake is a character that I’ve always thought of as being in his late 30’s to early 40’s potentially. He’s a man, not a boy. I get that the film is telling the story from the start of Nathan Drake’s career, which suggests that casting Tom Holland there might have been a good idea, but I just couldn’t see Tom Holland as Nathan Drake at all. I don’t mind this actor as Spider-man, but the problem with him is that he’s got a boyish look/charm to him and to me that’s not Nathan Drake. The other problem is Mark Wahlberg, he seems nothing like the Sully I knew from the games, doesn’t dress like him, his accent is wrong and basically, he’s just Mark Wahlberg. With these two as the main cast, it’s a bit of a disaster. I tried hard, I did try hard to accept it as it was and just go with and watch the film, but that also means accepting the story too.

The story isn’t well told. What this movie is, is it’s just a basic heist/treasure hunt movie that happens to star Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. If it was not called ‘Uncharted‘ you could pass it off as its own unique story. There are some callbacks to the games and references here and there. But for the most part, it’s something completely different. I was a bit disappointed with it, to be honest. The characters didn’t seem to be written in the same way as they were in the game, something is missing, maybe it needed more ‘heart’.

The action sequences are maybe the high point. They are a little bit unrealistic though, so you will need to suspend your belief a little. But if you can do that, then it can be fun. Things get very crazy towards the end with physics seemingly being abandoned. But to be honest, I thought it wasn’t too bad.

If you’re looking for just a weekend at the cinema and don’t mind watching a mediocre action film then go and see Uncharted. It won’t totally bore you because there are some crazy action scenes, but in two or three weeks time, probably around the time The Batman releases, you’ll likely forget you watched this one. So my recommendation is to watch it if you really need something to get you through the weekend. Go in there with an open mind if you’re a big fan of the video game franchise though.