Video game adaptations are having a bit of a moment. They have been a pretty stable fixture in the Hollywood movie calendar for the best part of 30 years, moving from pretty cheap cash-ins on popular titles to the star led vehicles of Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider flicks and the storied franchise of Resident Evil, the latter of which made a return last year along with a brand new Mortal Kombat.
There is no hitting pause this year, with adaptations coming to both cinema and TV screens. Sonic the Hedgehog will be collecting more coins in his upcoming sequel, while Halo and The Last Of Us are being turned into prestige TV shows for streaming services. There are countless more adaptations in various stages of development, meaning there’s no slowing down, despite the fact they have never particularly been that well-received from both critics and fans.
The first out the gate this year looking to break the video game curse is Uncharted based on the popular Naughty Dog series for PlayStation (which is now a film production company all its own). The games, much like Tomb Raider, have their roots in adventure movies, clearly designed in the mold of Indiana Jones, with a dash of James Bond and Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy in the shaker for good measure. As video game adaptations go, the material lends itself to the big screen more easily than most, at least on the surface that is.
It has taken a while to get there, with the film going through 14 years of development, seven different directors, and a number of stars attached to the role of roughish hero Nathan ‘Nate’ Drake. It has finally chartered its way to your local multiplex, with Spider-Man’s Tom Holland heading out on a hunt for treasure in what essentially amounts to ‘the young adventures of Nate Drake.’
Nate has gone through life having to fend for himself, after being separated from his big brother Sam at a Catholic orphanage after the pair cause too much trouble. Now in his 20’s, Nate crosses paths with treasure hunter Victor ‘Sully’ Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) who claims to have been working with Sam on the search for a lost fortune in gold from the voyages of Magellan, one of the first men to chart the globe. Now joining the hunt in the hope of finding out what has happened to his brother, it is not too long until Nate and Sully discover that there are other parties interested in finding the loot, who will do anything in their power to get it.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer, the Uncharted movie is very faithful to the look of the games, with very bright and colourful cinematography helping provide some visual pep to the adventure tropes that the script happily trades in. Story-wise, it feels like a bit of a ‘pick n mix’ of elements from the games, with many of the action sequences recreating levels from across the series. While some of the closer combat isn’t much to write home about, the larger scale sequences – particularly in its more plundering final third – deliver the kind of big silly thrills you’d be hoping for from a movie based on such a video game series.
However, the film takes a bit too long to get to the fun stuff, with much of the first two acts categorised by a bland approach to comedy and treasure hunting antics. Nothing provides too much excitement and it is decidedly lacking in the kind of inventive puzzles and traps that the games provided, elements you think would lend themselves quite well to an adventure movie of this kind.
Much of the lack of verve in the first two-thirds also stems from a lack of chemistry between its stars. Wahlberg has been funnier and more charismatic in the past, with his Sully coming across as more lumbering and dumb than witty and sardonic. He’s not helped by a script that struggles to recreate the patter of lighthearted banter that the games manage seemingly so effortlessly.
Holland himself brings a great physicality to the role, even if he doesn’t quite have that roughish charm established yet. It works for this version of Drake, one who is still growing into himself, but the script is too inconsistent when it comes to balancing Drake’s naivety with his natural capability to treasure hunting and combat. But when it comes to the promise of a sequel, which this film aggressively advertises, the thought of seeing Holland again in the role is a welcome one.
On the villain side, the film is a bit of a disappointment, making little use of both Antonio Banderas as Moncada – the ruthless millionaire also on the hunt for the treasure – and Tati Gabrielle as mercenary Braddock. However, Sophia Ali as Chloe – fellow treasure hunter and ‘sometimes’ ally to Nate and Sully – does have an easier time establishing an engaging level of chemistry with Holland.
Uncharted will hardly change anyone’s opinions when it comes to video game adaptations. One can’t help shake the feeling that there is a slight waste of potential when it comes to making a live-action escapade for Nate. Most of its best moments are recreations from the games, and even then it takes some time for the sequences to bring a sense of fun akin to taking hold of a dual shock controller. It is a colourful and distracting enough time, with Holland bringing more to the role than some skeptics may expect. But for Nate’s first big-screen adventure, it is sadly lacking in the personality and inventiveness that have made the games so darn entertaining across the years.
Uncharted
Summary
Lacking in the personality and inventiveness that have made the game so entertaining, but Tom Holland brings a lot to the main role in a colourful and distracting adventure film.
