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 adaptation of one of Naughty Dog’s bestselling video game titles of the same name. As a whole, the movie sucked as much juice from the game as it could to make this movie. Video games don’t 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 letdown.

There’s this thing that movies do, where treasure seekers seem to have a link to one another. All of them have deep knowledge of history and are 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 first thirty minutes of the film echoed throughout the entire runtime.

The movie, of course, did a good job of taking cutaway video clips from the game and employing them in the movie. The movie gives you the needed attention you want when it comes to adventure/action, but with poor thrills (other than the falling-out-of-a-plane scene). When you see movies like those of Jackie Chan and the Mission: Impossible series, the stunts bring exhilarating thrills. Here, the movie lacked it big time. I don’t know whether it’s bad editing or just weak cinematography.

I liked seeing all the players introduced in the first forty minutes. I really wished the movie had been done better, with a more solid plot that starts outside the gaming universe and steers into it. Tom Holland was pleasant throughout this movie, and for me, he kind of outclassed everyone else on set, except 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 sailed around the world. The movie tells us that the Moncada family sponsored this voyage because of a deal they had with Magellan. Magellan was to seek gold on this voyage and bring it back to them. There’s a story that Magellan had amassed a treasure on this trip, and 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 birthright.

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 and entering. 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’s been working on this with Sam before Sam vanished without a trace. Nathan agrees to help Sully, and they begin their adventure. They steal a cross, which Sully knows someone (Chloe) has the second cross, which they use 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 murdered his father to make sure their family wealth became his solely. But the movie decides 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 at so-and-so address?

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