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UNCHARTED
(2022)
The Synopsis:
A charming and street-savvy Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is recruited by a seasoned treasure hunter who goes by the name of Sully (Mark Wahlberg) to find a fortune lost over five-hundred years ago. However, things are not as simple as they seem as other interested parties begin to make their move toward discovering the treasure for themselves.
Why-oh-why Uncharted?
Without the license attached to it, Uncharted could have been a half-decent National Treasure-esque adventure into a slightly dull but ultimately passable world. Using characters and properties from the Uncharted games unfortunately posed to be at the detriment of this film and with some truly appalling casting and lackluster chemistry between our leads, Uncharted feels like its potential could not truly be realized due to the limitations its source material put on it.
The Director & The Wasteful Scripting:
Ruben Fleischer doesn't do terribly directing here. With films like Gangster Squad and Zombieland under his belt, there are many impressive and ultimately engaging action sequences to be had in Uncharted. Sadly, it's most impressive sequence is spoiled in the teasers (and granted, is snagged right from a cut scene in the games), and additionally, features as a portion of the opening of the film also. This crucial mistake guarantees that the best thing you're going to witness out of this half cocked mess is rushed out of the way within the first fifteen minutes.
Which leads us to the script.
It's generic, predictable and wasteful.
With an actor like Antonio Bandera as Santiago Moncada who - at least initially - is framed as the main antagonist, is pretty much unceremoniously removed from the overarching story that the film is exploring just as his character is given something to do; only to be replaced with a far lesser villain in Braddock (Tati Garbielle).
This combined with the unfunny banter between Drake (Holland) and Sully (Wahlberg) and you're pretty much left with a barebones version of things done far more impressively before it. There's not a whole lot the script had to be - but at the very least - it had to sport some genuine and likeable characters and interactions which - in pretty much every aspect - it does not.
The Casting:
Whoever casted this thing had no idea what they were doing. Tom Holland is far too young for Nathan Drake. While it seems they are aiming to place Drake in his younger years to get as many sequels as they can out of this thing, Holland's likeable enough as an actor, but he's not Nathan Drake. His quick-wit and smart-alick charm doesn't breathe through as well as it might have with a different actor. Holland's just too nice of a guy.
However, where Holland does a passable job as just being a general protagonist, the real problem comes in with Mark Wahlberg's Sully. It felt like Wahlberg struggled severely with taking the backseat to Holland and instead of there being fun, playful banter, it constantly feels like Wahlberg's trying to steal the scene instead of compliment Holland's own performance. It's done so often and bleeds through so badly that it just feels like everything is forced. Very few of the jokes land, Wahlberg is almost completely unlikeable and he is nothing like Sully from the game. And that's not even getting into how little he shares any physical resemblance. Yikes.
Supporting cast do an okay job. Antonio Banderas (for the short window he's in the film) plays a passionate, rich guy villain well enough - but again - is criminally wasted. Tati Gabrielle as Braddock is fine. She's pretty much just a devious butt-kicker that has very little to do on an emotional or developmental level. She's just a bad guy for bad guys sake and brings nothing major to the table.
Final Thoughts & Verdict:
I did not like this film.
I'm not a huge fan of the Uncharted games in general, but I've played a few here and there and know them well enough to know that this was done pretty poorly. The casting is off, the banter is all wrong and the whole thing (other than the treasure hunting) doesn't feel like Uncharted at all. They should have just called it The Treasure of Moncada , made it a fun adventure film and scrapped the tie-in to Uncharted altogether. At lease that way there'd had been no expectations and no comparison to the games. And in that instance, it might have been a fun time.
Unfortunately, you can't look passed the fact that this is an adaption and with that being said, it is an adaption that was done poorly.
I was yawning and glancing about the theatre with about forty-minutes left to see if anyone else had lost engagement in the damn thing.
I can't recommend it and I'd rather watch the disappointing The Batman before endeavoring on a venture with these not-quite-right-versions of the Uncharted cast.
UNCHARTED
(2022)
The Synopsis:
A charming and street-savvy Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is recruited by a seasoned treasure hunter who goes by the name of Sully (Mark Wahlberg) to find a fortune lost over five-hundred years ago. However, things are not as simple as they seem as other interested parties begin to make their move toward discovering the treasure for themselves.
Why-oh-why Uncharted?
Without the license attached to it, Uncharted could have been a half-decent National Treasure-esque adventure into a slightly dull but ultimately passable world. Using characters and properties from the Uncharted games unfortunately posed to be at the detriment of this film and with some truly appalling casting and lackluster chemistry between our leads, Uncharted feels like its potential could not truly be realized due to the limitations its source material put on it.
The Director & The Wasteful Scripting:
Ruben Fleischer doesn't do terribly directing here. With films like Gangster Squad and Zombieland under his belt, there are many impressive and ultimately engaging action sequences to be had in Uncharted. Sadly, it's most impressive sequence is spoiled in the teasers (and granted, is snagged right from a cut scene in the games), and additionally, features as a portion of the opening of the film also. This crucial mistake guarantees that the best thing you're going to witness out of this half cocked mess is rushed out of the way within the first fifteen minutes.
Which leads us to the script.
It's generic, predictable and wasteful.
With an actor like Antonio Bandera as Santiago Moncada who - at least initially - is framed as the main antagonist, is pretty much unceremoniously removed from the overarching story that the film is exploring just as his character is given something to do; only to be replaced with a far lesser villain in Braddock (Tati Garbielle).
This combined with the unfunny banter between Drake (Holland) and Sully (Wahlberg) and you're pretty much left with a barebones version of things done far more impressively before it. There's not a whole lot the script had to be - but at the very least - it had to sport some genuine and likeable characters and interactions which - in pretty much every aspect - it does not.
The Casting:
Whoever casted this thing had no idea what they were doing. Tom Holland is far too young for Nathan Drake. While it seems they are aiming to place Drake in his younger years to get as many sequels as they can out of this thing, Holland's likeable enough as an actor, but he's not Nathan Drake. His quick-wit and smart-alick charm doesn't breathe through as well as it might have with a different actor. Holland's just too nice of a guy.
However, where Holland does a passable job as just being a general protagonist, the real problem comes in with Mark Wahlberg's Sully. It felt like Wahlberg struggled severely with taking the backseat to Holland and instead of there being fun, playful banter, it constantly feels like Wahlberg's trying to steal the scene instead of compliment Holland's own performance. It's done so often and bleeds through so badly that it just feels like everything is forced. Very few of the jokes land, Wahlberg is almost completely unlikeable and he is nothing like Sully from the game. And that's not even getting into how little he shares any physical resemblance. Yikes.
Supporting cast do an okay job. Antonio Banderas (for the short window he's in the film) plays a passionate, rich guy villain well enough - but again - is criminally wasted. Tati Gabrielle as Braddock is fine. She's pretty much just a devious butt-kicker that has very little to do on an emotional or developmental level. She's just a bad guy for bad guys sake and brings nothing major to the table.
Final Thoughts & Verdict:
I did not like this film.
I'm not a huge fan of the Uncharted games in general, but I've played a few here and there and know them well enough to know that this was done pretty poorly. The casting is off, the banter is all wrong and the whole thing (other than the treasure hunting) doesn't feel like Uncharted at all. They should have just called it The Treasure of Moncada , made it a fun adventure film and scrapped the tie-in to Uncharted altogether. At lease that way there'd had been no expectations and no comparison to the games. And in that instance, it might have been a fun time.
Unfortunately, you can't look passed the fact that this is an adaption and with that being said, it is an adaption that was done poorly.
I was yawning and glancing about the theatre with about forty-minutes left to see if anyone else had lost engagement in the damn thing.
I can't recommend it and I'd rather watch the disappointing The Batman before endeavoring on a venture with these not-quite-right-versions of the Uncharted cast.