Uncharted is the latest foray into the all-encompassing “video game movie” genre. It’s a genre littered with less-than movies that failed to live up to their fans’ expectations. The seemingly best result you can hope for these days is “fun.” And to be fair, that’s not the worst way to describe a movie, but ideally that won’t be the only thing going for it.
The Uncharted video games are some of the most popular and highly regarded games out there. I’ve never played them, so I can’t speak to that. But everything I’ve seen or read makes that much quite clear. It also features an action adventure treasure hunting setup you would think would make for an easy adaptation into a good – and yes, fun – movie, maybe even a full series. And the result here? Pretty decent and lots of fun. Not bad, all things considered.
Tom Holland stars as Nathan Drake, bartender, pickpocketer, history buff, and aspiring treasure hunter. Growing up in an orphanage, he and his brother Sam dreamed of finding a massive treasure of gold rumored to have been lost by Ferdinand Magellan. Unfortunately, Sam disappeared 15 years ago when he escaped after getting arrested for attempting to steal a map of Magellan’s expedition. Sam promised to come back, but Nathan hasn’t seen him since.
One night, Victory “Sully” Sullivan ” (Mark Wahlberg), comes into Nathan’s bar and reveals he was hunting Magellan’s treasure with Sam. Sam disappeared after things went south, and now Sully wants Nathan’s help in finishing the job, and maybe finding Sam in the process. The two set off on a globe-trotting adventure to hopefully secure the $5 billion treasure once and for all.
It wouldn’t be a treasure hunt adventure without a bad guy racing against them. In Uncharted’s case, that comes in the form of billionaire Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas) and his legion of goons, led by the ruthless and dangerous Jo Braddock (Tati Gabrielle).
Uncharted doesn’t do anything to reinvent the genre, and it doesn’t really do much, if anything, to even set itself apart from its more successful counterparts. It takes pieces from Indiana Jones, National Treasure, Pirates of the Caribbean. And that’s fine; those movies are awesome (with some exceptions in the Pirates series) and tons of fun. But they all have their own unique identities. Uncharted doesn’t. It all just feels so formulaic and generic.
Luckily, though, the formula it uses is a pretty hard one to mess up completely. It has most of the hallmarks you think of for treasure hunting movies like this. A good mix of humor and light-heartedness, big set pieces, solving riddles and clues, and of course, outlandish stunts that make no sense – but are still a blast to watch.
That makes it all the more frustrating, then, that there are hints of a great movie in here. There are a number of times where it feels this close to taking a turn into something more. But for whatever reason, Uncharted just can’t make the jump. If there are sequels – and the ending scenes (and credit scenes) certainly confirm that desire – hopefully the production team will take a few more risks and really go for something.
Any future installments could also use some more focus in the character department. The villains are completely surface-level, characters you’ve seen time and time again. You can say mostly the same for Sully as well. Nathan gets the most depth, but there’s still plenty more to be explored there. Sophie Ali plays Nathan and Sully’s maybe partner Chloe, and her usage was confusing and inconsistent.
Side note: Ali starred in India Sweets and Spices, a criminally underseen movie from 2021. Super charming, good movie, that I would recommend to everyone.
Whenever a new video game movie comes out, the game’s fans often make the most noise in the online discourse, inevitably comparing the movie version to the games (the same goes for book adaptations). For Uncharted, based on some of the comments I’ve seen so far, I think you’ll get more out of it if you’re not familiar with the games. You’ll go into it without any preconceived notions of the characters or story. You won’t know if this person or that person is an ally or villain.
Is Uncharted going to blow you away? Nope. But is it a solid enough popcorn flick that offers up just enough fun and excitement? Definitely.
Score: 75/100
