The beloved Sony video game franchise Uncharted finally gets its long-awaited adaptation for the big screen.
Video game adaptations into movies have for the longest time been shunned as some of the weakest adaptations to hit our screens. Hollywood cannot seem to get it right from the laughably bad 90’s and 2000s attempts such as House of the Dead and Mortal Kombat. Many fans feel that the games’ overall essence is lost in a two-hour film, as many of the games being adapted have storylines that can go on for tens of hours, and the Uncharted series is no exception.
If there were ever a franchise adaptation to get right, it’s Uncharted. Sony chose Ruben Fleischer after years of complicated development issues and behind the scenes drama that forced the project to be delayed year after year. His usual approach to big-budget action romps is an interesting one. While not everyone can pinpoint what a Ruben Fleischer film looks like, they can describe what they feel like; that being fun but ultimately forgettable. Uncharted is yet another example of this.
With a budget of nearly $120m, Fleischer, along with stars Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Sully, has created a movie that will be forgotten almost as soon as the audience sees it. Nothing about the film stands out in any unique way, from the goofy action sequences to the wooden acting. The main issue with this film is the same as what most video game adaptations face, and that’s condensing the game to a short runtime, in this case, less than two hours. It feels as though they hardly scratched the surface of what Uncharted has to offer.
Tom Holland is having a blast right now in the blockbuster industry. His last outing as Spider-Man was greatly received, and he seems to be getting roles left, right and centre. And while he is typically a fine actor who can give very serviceable to good performances, he never feels as though he embodies the main character and instead just feels like Tom Holland. Nothing about anyone’s performance in this film feels as though they tried something new; everyone just went through the motions. The worst culprit of that is Wahlberg. He absolutely did not care one bit about the subject matter, essentially just playing himself.
The action is also a weak point. While at times fun and inventive in the way it is filmed, namely an exhilarating plane scene ripped straight from the game, the action feels nauseating and tiresome after a while, due to the lack of originality in its presentation, making it feel as though we have already seen it before.
Uncharted is, unfortunately, another example of a video game franchise not being given the film treatment it so deserves. The actors don’t fit their roles and seem to have no interest in the subject matter. The action is lacking, and the overall tone just doesn’t work for what they were trying to accomplish. The game franchise would have worked a lot better as a TV series, but alas, that will likely never happen.
Fun Fact:
Tom Holland was cast as Nathan Drake after Sony turned down his pitch for a Young James Bond movie.
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