The movie adaptation to the video game franchise Uncharted was treading water for well over a decade, stuck in a development hell marked by a revolving door of writers, directors, and actors. With the movie finally released in theaters, it’s time to see if Uncharted (Ruben Fleischer, 2022), is indeed a lost treasure worth recovering or a relic best left buried.
The opening sequence of Uncharted throws the audience straight into the action with protagonist Nathan Drake trapped dangling thousands of feet in the sky, having fallen out of a plane's cargo hold. To avoid plummeting to his death into the ocean below, Nate is shown climbing, leaping, essentially parkouring his way to safety using falling crates as leverage—all while avoiding nameless, disposable goons determined to get in his way. It is pure spectacle and indulgently ridiculous, a scene that’s literally pulled directly from the game series. As an opening, it does well to establish the tone of the film and also serves as a promise to fans of the series that its video game origins will be embraced.
The story is centered around the origins of Nathan Drake, laying everything out in a quick and simple backstory. Nate and his older brother Sam are orphans who share a love of not only history but treasure hunting, claiming to be the descendants of the famous captain, privateer (and slave trader), Sir Francis Drake. After failing to steal the original world map used by the Magellan expedition to sail around the world, Sam runs away to escape arrest, leaving Nathan behind but promising to return.
Cut to years later, Nathan is shown working nights as a bartender in New York City, indulging in petty theft on the side. He’s scouted by a treasure hunter, Victor “Sully” Sullivan to assist in stealing an artifact from an auction. The artifact, a golden cross that’s one of a pair, is supposedly a key to finding the lost treasure of the Magellan expedition. With that, the main adventure begins.
Although the opening sequence of Nate falling from a plane showed promise of a high octane adventure with fun stunts and gravity-defying leaps that are a staple of the games, it is unfortunately only one of two scenes that stands out in a movie that is an otherwise unremarkable and forgettable journey. Another staple of the games is its charming and memorable cast of characters, and unfortunately, the movie also misses its mark when it comes to adapting these characters to the big screen.
While Tom Holland as Nathan Drake makes for a safe lead, no doubt cast for his easy charm and known athleticism, for anyone remotely familiar with the character, Holland neither becomes Drake nor makes the character his own. Mark Wahlberg as Victor Sullivan lacks the charm necessary to make audiences care about a selfish money-hungry thief, and his turn from being a backstabbing stranger into a rough but friendly paternal figure for Nate just doesn’t come through with Wahlberg’s one-note performance and a script that misunderstands what makes Sully a great character in the games. As a new character written explicitly for the film, Antonio Banderas, usually oozing charisma no matter the role, is completely forgettable and ineffectual as the industrialist villain, Santiago Moncada.
Although I had gone into this film wanting to see how it stands on its own, it’s difficult to completely divorce this movie and its actors’ performances from the original video games. The original series boasted Hollywood-grade cinematics and used motion capture to create organic, actor-driven movements that were translated seamlessly into a digital landscape full of sweeping visuals. Nolan North (the original voice and motion actor of Nathan Drake) even has a brief cameo in the film, fanservice that ultimately highlights just how charmless the flesh and blood characters in the movie are.
Even when taking the game’s legacy out of the equation, as an action-adventure movie it is severely lacking. Chase scenes and action sequences, including the climax of the film which proves to be a fun and interesting premise, are lost to poor fight choreography and weak cinematography. The instrumental score of the film, however, is serviceable and well-orchestrated, but it comes as no surprise when it’s Game of Thrones alum Ramin Djawadi working with groundwork set by the award-winning music from the games composed by Greg Edmonson.
For those unfamiliar with the games, Uncharted only promises to be a middling action movie that might make for a moderately fun but forgettable matinee on a rainy weekend. As for fans of the franchise, it’s probably best to forgo the cost of a movie ticket altogether and replay the games or instead watch the well-regarded 2018 live action fan film directed by Alan Ungar for free.