★★☆☆☆
The new Uncharted movie took 14 years to make, but the time that went into making the movie doesn’t show in its quality. You would expect over a decade of work to allow the creators to fine-tune every element of the film. Instead, Uncharted feels as lazy as every other cash grab in Hollywood today.
In the film, Tom Holland plays Nathan Drake, a crafty bartender, thief, and history buff, who is lured in by Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to help hunt for lost treasure. Sully claims that he has come close to finding Ferdinand Magellan’s gold, a treasure worth billions of dollars. Sully recruits the help of Nathan and Chloe Frazer (Sophia Taylor Ali), another treasure hunter with a shady side.
To go into this movie expecting a cinematic masterpiece is a sign of delusion. But the movie also disappoints as a simple, entertaining action-adventure flick. The film is based on a popular video game of the same title, but the characters’ central mission isn’t interesting. Every choice the characters make is weighed down by loose ends and confusing details meant to patch up plot holes.
The characters don’t offer any redeemable points for an audience to hang on to or root for. They only stir up more questions. Much of Nathan’s past remains a mystery to the audience, including his impressive acrobatic skills. Holland seems to have channeled his Spider Man skills for the film’s acrobatics. The stakes of the heist are rarely mentioned in the film, taking away any sense of suspense.
There are some redeeming qualities to Uncharted, though, that make it a watchable film. Holland and Wahlberg don’t go above and beyond in their acting, but they do enough to be entertaining on screen. Sully provides a few laughs that keep some scenes alive. The movie’s grand sets and action stunts are all visually stimulating, including a scene where Nathan is knocked out of an aircraft and begins a freefall toward earth.
Cash grabs sometimes produce very entertaining movies. But what misses the mark with this one is that it doesn’t have enough of that entertainment. To take another form of entertainment—a video game—slap a few big names on the poster, and call it a film comes across as lazy.
Featured Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment
