Uncharted

Uncharted has been a videogame movie in a long and twisting development hell. 

Most of the time, that spells doom for anything like this as the goal is to cash-grab based on an established IP since there's already a ton of sunk-cost into the gestation period of the movie. 

As someone who's a tremendously huge fan of the videogame franchise - it's probably my favorite of all time - I've been cautiously optimistic ever since this was announced. Partly because...well...videogame movies are very hit or miss (and mostly miss). Secondly is because it always felt like to me that, out of many videogame series, Uncharted was the one that needed a film adaptation the least. The game itself is cinematic in quality, and the series is clearly one part Indiana Jones and one part Tomb Raider (movie or game in this instance, TBH). 

Unlike some other series that I very much want to hit the big screen (God of War, anyone?), I always questioned with Uncharted: is it necessary?

Throw in some extra bland posters like the god-awful one you see in this post and some trailers that feel pretty "meh", and you've got a huge franchise fan expecting to be disappointed in a big, really sad way. 

Thankfully, I can report back that anticipation for my disappointment was misplaced. Not completely unfounded; Uncharted isn't going to re-write action/adventure films or anything. But instead, I found this mostly original story (in relation to the game series) to be a solid laying of the groundwork for bigger adventures to come later. There's more than enough fun to be had throughout and the charisma of our leads is definitely going to be enough to keep the series afloat for several iterations, despite what internet trolls crying for the 50+ year old voice actor to play the main hero may say. 

As with many movies these days, my biggest gripe with Uncharted is that it's just too long, probably by 10-15 minutes. That may not sound like much, but when you have a film that loses steam for that long, it can make those stretches feel like 30+ minutes. Uncharted suffers from this wound near its climax, slowing way down for only about that long, but feeling like it added on another half hour. Given that the story is fairly generic in terms of the treasure hunting genre, it feels like it didn't need to spend all this extra time when the path in front of it was quite clear. 

"But did you see Spider-Man? Or have you been in this cave the whole time?"

"You saw Spider-Man, right?
I mean you had to of..."

The slow down prevents it from feeling as fast and breezy as I found the first, fantastic hour to come across, but when I remove my issues with the pacing, the rest of what's left is more enjoyable than I would have expected. To be fair, I had my expectations set very low, but even still I came away having had a good time. Tom Holland proves that he was a good casting choice in the main role (shut up, trolls) given that this is clearly a prequel to the games and all the pre-established relationships we've seen there. Coming off a wildly successful film, Holland shows he can be just different enough to make you forget Peter Parker and think of Drake as a different character. In ways they share a venn diagram of similarities, but there's substance here to establish Drake as his own hero on Holland's resume. Wahlberg, once attached as the main hero himself to this franchise, now plays Drake's friend/mentor, Sully. Despite feeling miscast when compared to the game itself, he earns his keep by bringing many of Sully's favorite elements while making him distinctly younger in the process. Should there be multiple films in this franchise (which, based off box office earnings, it's likely) their chemistry will take them far as Holland and Sully likely both age into the roles they're playing. The rest of the cast is "fine" but feels one note. I particularly enjoyed Sophia Ali's Chloe, but I have a sense that's more based on my affection for the character than her crushing the role. For now, she's a competent 3rd star. 

The rest of what's left is the action and the humor, both of which are solid, with bright spots and moments of being average. Our action has particularly satisfying melee/parkour combat that is surprisingly not hyper edited, while any big action setpieces are obvious greenscreen-heavy examples. Everything looks generally okay, but one can't help but hope there's some extra budget next time around for the greenscreen-i-fication to die down. What's here is so preposterous that you can't get the Mission: Impossible realness you're looking for, but there's just enough fakeness where I can't help but think "Damn, we're in 2022. Can't we make this stuff look real yet?". The writing here mimics the games well, with a key emphasis on "mimic". It never feels wildly natural when quips are coming left and right - almost as if they know they need to be doing this - but it's likely just a chemistry thing that I could see easily getting resolved in the next film.

Uncharted is definitely not the trainwreck I feared it could be. Nor is it the insanely forgettable actioner I anticipated. Instead, it's a very solid, "good" start to a likely franchise. If we're comparing quality then it has a long ways to go to emulate the games, but as its own thing I would eagerly get in line for the sequel both as a huge fan as the game franchise and a starting fan of the film franchise(?). 

CONS

• Didn't need to be 2 hours and hits a point where it stalls out for ~10 minutes before the big climax
• Some writing feels like forced quips, even if they work more often than not
• Story is pretty generic and I was kind of missing the fantastical elements the games introduce
• Lots of greenscreen. Most looks good, some does not
• Starts off with a good soundtrack/original score. I'm not sure what happened
• Specific cameo was awkward IMO

PROS

• Emulates the spirit of the games well without trying to copy any single one in particular. This original "prequel" is interesting as a setup to what us gamers already know
• Holland proves to be great as Drake and will likely age into the role gracefully. The same can be said of Wahlberg as Sully
• Their chemistry helps to elevate the film and will only get better with time
• Funny in a breezy way. Never had me rolling on the floor, but I didn't find much fell flat with my packed audience
• Action is mostly exciting. The melee combat was a particular highlight while the finale is bonkers in a good, fun way (and makes me want a videogame level of it)

Rath's Review Score | 7.5/10