Tom Holland is box office gold right now. The young actor is setting himself up to be a British version of Tom Cruise and while his latest film, Uncharted, is making money hand over first, the movie itself leaves a lot to be desired from all corners of the map.
Adapted from the popular video series of the same name, Uncharted tells the story of young explorer Nathan Drake as he partners with an old collector, Victor Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg), as they tentatively work together to uncover Ferdinand Magellan’s lost gold. Right from the beginning, the film seems overeager to get to Sully and Drake meeting for the first time. The first twenty minutes are mainly an exposition dump to set up Drake and his eagerness to find Magellan’s gold along with his brother who mysteriously disappeared sometime before the events of the film. Uncharted largely skips characterization and developing story in order to get to its action sequences or elaborate set pieces which seem more like rejects from the Indiana Jones or even The Goonies and lack the grandeur seen in the games.
Speaking of the games, fans of the series will ultimately be disappointed in this film as it pulls elements from the entire series rather than focusing one of the four entries and tries to combine those elements in a cohesive manner. The inclusion of Nate’s brother, who only arrived in the final game in the series, is introduced far too early for the film series and would have made a nice element to include in a sequel or a third film if the trilogy route was pursued. Fans may also note that the voice actor for Drake in the video games, Nolan North, is regulated to a mere cameo in a slight tip of the hat that those fans will recognize. In addition to the bloated storylines or subtle nods to the games, is the constant backstabbing that all of the characters undergo at some point; Sully abandons Drake, Drake tricks Chloe, Chloe sells out Drake and so on and so on until it just becomes exhausting and merely done because the writers could not come up with a better way to move the story forward.
While the performances of Tom Holland and Sophia Ali are great and their chemistry is evident on-screen, Wahlberg looks completely out-of-place here and seems to merely rely on the fact that he’s Mark Wahlberg rather than try and add some subtleties to Victor Sullivan. While Sully doesn’t get his own true story until the third game in the series, Wahlberg is capable of acting and seems to phone it in here. The elaborate action sequences, which were a staple in the video games, are lackluster and were spoiled thanks to Sony’s extensive marketing campaign. To summarize, there isn’t a chase scene, fist fight or gun fight that wasn’t shown during the trailers. Uncharted does a decent job of beginning an adventure but maybe a new director and better writers for a sequel will get the journey back on the map.
Featured Image Credit: The Verge
VERDICT: 2.5 falling cars out of 5
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