Uncharted (2022)

Uncharted (2022)

5/10

 Starring

Tom Holland

Mark Wahlberg

Sophia Ali

Tati Gabrielle

Antonio Banderas

 

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

 

This movie is a live-action production of one of Naughty Dog’s bestselling video game title of the same name. As a whole, the movie sucked as much juice from the game that it could to make this movie. Video games do not need to give you so many details into stories but focus more on the gameplay to make users happy. Movies on the other hand are all about stories and it is in this aspect that this movie is a let-down.

There is this thing that movies do, where treasure seekers seem to have a link to one another. All of them having deep knowledge of history and such great thieves. The first link up between Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) and Sully (Mark Wahlberg), was just textbook heist movie style setup. This lack of originality in the thirty minutes of the film, echoed throughout the whole running time.

The movie of course played good work to taking cutaway video clips from the video game and employ it into the movie. The movie gives you that needed attention you want, when it comes to adventure/action, but with poor thrill (other than the falling out of a plane scene). When you see movies like those of Jackie Chan and the Mission Impossibles the stunts bring exhilarating thrill. Here the movie lacked it big time. I don’t know whether it is bad editing or just weak cinematography.

I liked seeing all the players introduced in the first forty minutes. I really wished the movie was done better with a more solid plot which starts outside the gaming universe and steers into it. Tom Holland was pleasant all through this movie and for me, he kind of outclassed everyone else on set, expect Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas). I don’t have much to say about Wahlberg his work in this movie was just average.

Moncada in this movie is the only living descendant of the Moncada family who bankrolled the Magellan expedition in the early 1500s when Ferdinand Magellan did his sail around the world. The movie tells us that the Moncada family sponsored this voyage because of a deal which they had with Magellan. Magellan was to seek gold in this voyage and bring it back to them. There is a story that Magellan had amassed a treasure in this trip, it was this treasure that Nathan and Sully were seeking. Funny thing is, Moncada whose family paid for this treasure is made to be the villain, when the treasure is his birth right

We get a first glimpse into Nathan's early life in an orphanage with his brother Sam. Sam was obsessed with finding this treasure of Magellan, which led to them being separated as children when they were caught breaking an entry. Nathan grew up to be an experienced thief working as a bartender and robbing wealthy marks. That’s how Sully tracked him down and pulled him into his own treasure hunt for the Magellan gold. He tells Nathan that he has been working on this with Sam before Sam vanished with no trace. Nathan agrees to help Sully and they begin their adventure. They steal a cross which Sully know someone (Chloe) who has the second cross which they used to help point them in the right direction with the aid of Elcano’s diary to where the treasure hunt should start. Chasing them is Moncada who had murdered his father to make sure their family wealth become his solely, but the movie decided to change focus when it comes to the villain. I still always wonder about treasure maps and diaries with just clues, why can’t anyone just write the thing located here in so and so address.

If you feel the movie plot summary here is light, well it is because the movie itself has a light story.

The movies plot is not well garnished to make you want to pay that much attention to what is being said, the plot is underdeveloped, and all the talk of a sequel is not appealing.