Uncharted Review

2022 | PG-13 | 1h 56m

With plenty of terrific plot and action, Uncharted is a thrilling throwback to adventure movies of the past. The film is based on a PlayStation video game, and follows a group of people on a trail to find lost 16th century gold belonging to famous explorer Ferdinand Magellan.

An intelligent street thief Nathan Drake (Tom Holland), is recruited by an established treasure hunter Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to assist him in recouping a 500-year-old fortune lost by explorer Ferdinand Magellan. What begins as a heist job soon becomes a globe-trotting, white-knuckle race to reach wealth before the merciless Santiago Moncada, who believes that he and his family are the genuine heirs, can get his hands on it. If Nate and Sully can decode the clues and resolve one of the oldest mysteries on Earth, they have a chance to find $5 billion in treasure. But they will only achieve this if they work together.

The movie is attractive to look at and overloaded with jaw-dropping adventure sequences set in foreign lands. The adaptation of the video game is compelling, though you wouldn’t be able to tell if you haven’t played it. What Uncharted has going for it is the star, Holland, who is the set piece in the film. Nate is constantly in the center of mortal danger, yet remains good-humored and a tremendous foil for Wahlberg’s Sully, who becomes blank-faced during adventures. Tom Holland’s easygoing vibe makes viewers want to root for Nate on his pursuit throughout beautiful places and unfathomable danger. The only contrast between Sully and Nate are the well-funded Moncada team that opposes them, and it’s evident the Moncada family is involved in criminal enterprises.

The film discloses a few throwaway lines, and suddenly, Sully and Nate are apparently clear to kill as many people as they desire in the pursuit of the treasure. That doesn’t sound like a heroic quest precisely, but the movie treats it as such. There is no character in the film who questions the worthiness of the goal, even when there are dozens of lives lost along the way. This unquestionably detracts from the message viewers might otherwise get from the film, while the video game fans may not be surprised. Scenes in which Sully and Nate leap through mid-air from helicopters and planes and ancient Spanish galleons are thrilling, and the Wahlberg and Holland team is satisfying enough to tie up the movie if you don’t think too hard about it.

People who have played Uncharted games before can appreciate this movie more than those who haven’t. Many of the Uncharted games have a lot of deadly violence, with enemies killed in dozens as the main characters pursue their goals. This is relatable to the Uncharted movie. The movie dehumanizes the characters who die so that the viewers don’t recognize their death as crucial, and it doesn’t lessen the flow of the film. The villains and the heroes in this movie use the same ends as in the video games to attain their means i.e. trickery and physical violence, which may not be suitable for kids watching. The characters are frequently in danger, but the frequent nature of these events almost makes them less important given how unrealistic they already are. In conclusion, the movie is mildly exciting and mildly amusing, and does not dishonor the past great adventure fils while managing to deliver a few unique thrills.