Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Uncharted, is the newest film from Columbia Pictures. It’s based on the popular 2007 video game series of the same name. The film stars Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, and Antonio Banderas.
This is your spoiler warning for Uncharted, out February 18
Street-smart Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to recover a fortune amassed by Ferdinand Magellan and lost 500 years ago by the House of Moncada. What starts as a heist job becomes a race to reach the prize before the ruthless Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas), who believes he and his family are the rightful heirs.
From the start, this origin movie feels like the games. We follow Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) starting off on his path to the adventuring and surprisingly well-read treasure hunter gamers know and love. The film picks up in media res, as Nate hangs from a cargo plane straight out of Uncharted 3, before flashing back to his orphanage childhood framed by an attempted museum theft with his brother Sam. Nate’s relationship with Sam is a driving factor of his character and motivation in-game, and it’s played quite nicely by Tiernan Jones and Rudy Pankow as young Nate and Sam.
Mark Wahlberg’s Victor Sullivan (Sully) leverages this connection to convince Nate to help him acquire this film’s McGuffin – one of two Spanish crosses that act as keys to finding the lost treasure of Ferdinand Magellan. This device will feel familiar to Uncharted fans, as Nate and Sully head to Barcelona to meet Chloe Frazer (Sophia Ali) and team up in a delicate alliance, following clues and solving puzzles across the globe. The Hollywood Reporter perfectly described it as “the love child of Tomb Raider, Raiders of the Lost Ark and National Treasure”. Throughout their hunt, the trio is dogged by Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas’s) and his right hand Braddock (Tati Gabrielle’s) pursuing Moncada’s birthright claim to the cross and the treasure. The film stays true to the games’ theme of the scrappy underdogs (Nate, Sully, and, debatably, Chloe) working to stay ahead of the rich, well-resourced collector, with plenty of twists, turns, and betrayals to satisfy fans of the games.
At the risk of spoiling some of the ending (stop now if you really don’t want details on the Big Showdown), you’ll want to fully suspend your understanding of physics and a general sense of disbelief for one of the most novel and ridiculous aerial fights scenes I think I’ve ever seen. Braddock manages to raise two 500-year old Spanish ships using one helicopter apiece, which, even if they weren’t rotten from centuries of exposure to sea air and water, seem somewhat too heavy for the aircraft swinging them through the air. If you manage to talk yourself out of that impossibility, it’s an incredibly fun scene, with lots of swashbuckling, 30 feet above the ocean. The Uncharted games aren’t the most grounded in reality but this was… a lot. Just go with it.
Tom Holland is a great Nate, and I’m hopeful we get to see him in a few more Uncharted flicks. The casting overall is fine; there was a lot of salt regarding Wahlberg’s casting as Sully online, but honestly, the weakest element on that front is that he and Nate don’t build much of the relationship they’re known for in the games. The adversarial tone that follows them throughout most of the narrative barely has time to fade into trust and respect by the denouement, though we have a brief post-credit scene showing they’ve grown closer (as well as giving us Sully’s requisite mustache).
I did find myself wishing Antonio Banderas had more screen time as Moncada, or that he’d chewed more scenery. He’s an excellent actor, but underutilized. Both his Moncada and Tati Gabrielle’s Braddock could have used more development to deepen their villain status and really make them worthy adversaries; they’re somewhat one-dimensional. Braddock and Chloe, however, are excellent counterpoints to one another and have some great fight scenes together.
The choreography and effects in this are both really strong and enjoyable. This isn’t a complicated or mind-blowing film, but it is fun. If you liked playing the games, you’ll likely be happy seeing Holland’s Nate on the big screen, and I think gamers will be generally satisfied. From the opening scene, I frequently found myself having flashbacks to playing sequences that the film references and the camera work definitely reflected the play experience. It’s a solid video game movie, very entertaining, and sets us up for a series – I just hope that subsequent films are a bit more inventive, considering the games gave us a fairly complete arc for Nate.
Also, I 100% called the post-credit scene revealing that Sam is alive, again in keeping with the Uncharted games. Part of me hoped that would remain a mystery to be a Big Reveal in a later Uncharted film, but hey, it could work as a hook, as does the cliffhanger in the other post-credit scene.
3.5/5 stars / Temple of Geek rating system
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