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 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.
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