Barrett Brief Movie Review – Uncharted Sails Through Familiar Territory

Barrett Brief Movie Review – Uncharted Sails Through Familiar Territory (2 1/2 out of 4)

Summary: Street-smart Nathan Drake, is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter, Victor “Sully” Sullivan, to recover a fortune amassed by Ferdinand Magellan, and lost 500 years ago by the House of Moncada.

Genre: Action, Adventure  

Uncharted is based on the wildly popular video game from Sony, first debuting in 2007. Since selling over 41 million copies worldwide, a film adaptation was inevitable. Finally hitting the screens the weekend of February 2020, with Tom Holland in the lead role. I confess that I am unfamiliar with the source material, having never played the video game. However, one can clearly see that this film is an attempt to modernize the Indiana Jones franchise, which is no easy task. Others have tried to varying degrees of success (Tomb Raider, National Treasure) but none truly capturing the scope and scale of the Indiana Jones trilogy. Uncharted, separated from its video game sibling does some good things well, has the exotic locations down & has a decent adventure. However, this film could have been a bit shorter and despite his best efforts, I just couldn’t buy Holland in this role. 

The Pieces In Place, Just Doesn’t Quite Fit. 

The film starts off in an action sequence, then flashes back. Off the top, I hate this strategy in film making because now we are waiting to get back to this point to see how it ends. It robs the beginning of the film of any intrigue and adventure, because we know the main character survives up till this point. We then flash back to when Nathan is 15 and get some background about him and his brother. Then we move forward to the “Present Day” and we see Tom Holland (Nathan Drake) living in New York City. He then meets up with Mark Wahlberg (Victor Sullivan) who recruits him for “a job”. Quick bit of exposition and away we go! In very quick succession we meet Antonio Banderas (Santiago Moncada), Tati Gabrielle (Braddock) & Sophia Ali (Chloe Frazer). We move from set piece to set piece and come up with a resolution in time for teaser for upcoming sequels. 

Now if it seems I am skimming over things, I am not. This is an action adventure film. I am not even saying it is a bad one. The plot moves along pretty consistently and the heroes journey is followed. You have seen it all before. One thing I will give Uncharted credit for is that there was no woke nonsense within the film. There was no girl power moment at the expense of the main male characters and gender roles were followed. Small victories, but victories nevertheless. 

 The Cast

Let me say off the top that I like Tom Holland, seems like a nice guy and I enjoy his take on Spider-Man. That being said, he has a babyface. Nathan Drake is suppose to be 31 in the first Uncharted game and despite his best efforts, I just can get past how young he looks. There is a world of difference between being 25 and 31. I get that Sony wants to lock up Holland for the long run, but this wasn’t the right vehicle for him. We even see the Playstation version of Drake in the opening, which only show the contrast even more. Holland has the quips, and handles the action well, but he is just TOO knowledgable about stuff that it seems ridiculous. Wahlberg is who he is in these kinds of movies. He has the “too cool” attitude down to a T. That being said, you can really feel the difference between him at 51 and Holland at 25. Wahlberg has the best lines and delivers them well. Antonio Banderas  is wasted in this film. He brings more depth to the role than it deserves. Tati Gabrielle was believable enough, didn’t overpower the men and was a convincing woman (props to Sony for allowing a black woman to be the antagonist). Sophia Ali was fine in her role, honestly I think anyone young actress in her mid 20’s would have done fine here. 

Highs & Lows

Highs: Nice set pieces, Mark Wahlberg, Beautiful Catholic imagery

Lows: Hollands age, poor script choices, waste of Antonio Banderas

Overall

Uncharted is the latest attempt to capture the magic of Indiana Jones. While there are some good pieces in place, it just can’t find the X. 

Score:

2 1/2 out of 4 briefcases