CinemaNerdz

Movie Review: Uncharted

Mike Tyrkus
Tom Holland in Uncharted

Tom Holland in "Uncharted." Photo by Clay Enos - © 2020 CTMG, Inc. All rights reserved.

As far as films based on video games go, Uncharted may not be scraping the bottom of the barrel, nor is it the crème de la crème. It instead proves to be a moderately entertaining adventure yarn that echoes better films that have come before, and will probably follow it.    

The plot follows the exploits of hustler/thief Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) after he partners with Indiana Jones wannabe Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to search for a fortune in gold lost five hundred years earlier by Ferdinand Magellan. Sully had been working with Nathan’s long-lost brother, but now needs Nathan’s help if he is going to lay claim to the treasure before another treasure seeker, Moncada (Antonio Banderas), who insists his family has the only legitimate claim to the fortune. 

After Nathan and Sully team up with fellow adventure Sophia Ali (Chloe Frazer) the film begins to check boxes that fit other franchises like the “National Treasure” films or satisfy fans of the game the film is based upon. While it all seems like a rehash of other films and properties regurgitated into something approximating something new, it does succeed in moving swiftly enough that you barely have time to notice how empty it actually is. 

Director Ruben Fleischer does the best he can with the routine adventure story that affords the story none of the wit or timing that made both his forays into the horror genre – Zombieland (2009) and Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) – as entertaining as they were. Screenwriters Rafe Judkins (who created television’s The Wheel of Time [2021]) and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (who penned the screenplay for Iron Man [2008]) provide very little beyond a standard action/adventure story for Fleischer to work from. That being said however, everyone involved seems all in on the adventure and that enthusiasm is infectious, to a point at least. 

Ultimately, it all ends up being an empty undertaking that instead echoes better films that have come before (and will more than likely come after as well). While Uncharted is far from being unwatchable, it is a rote video-game adaptation that does not have enough going for it to elevate it above mediocre. 

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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