"Uncharted" - Film Review
Uncharted is a swashbuckling, treasure-hunting quest starring Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland that’s based on characters from the video game series of the same name. Despite its beloved source material, this adaptation feels disjointed. It attempts to pull inspiration from too many of the similar franchises that came before it without treading a path of its own.
Nate Drake (Holland; younger Nate is played by Tiernan Jones) grew up in Boston in an orphanage with his brother, Sam (Rudy Pankow). The two have an ancestral link to Sir Frances Drake and extensive history, code-breaking, and pick-pocketing knowledge. While attempting to steal the first map of the world made by Magellan, the two are apprehended and, because this is Sam’s third strike, he is kicked out of the orphanage. With a promise to return in the future, Sam gives Nate his necklace, a ring belonging to their ancestor, Sir Francis Drake, before disappearing out of the window.
In the present day, Nate is in New York City and hasn’t seen or heard from his brother in the last ten years, except for a smattering of postcards. He works as a bartender and uses his pickpocketing skills to supplement his income. Even though Nate hasn’t seen his brother since that night at the orphanage, he’s still hopeful that the two of them will reunite and solve the mystery of Magellan’s missing fortune.
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Also after Magellan’s fortune is Sully (Wahlberg), who tracks down Nate to the bar he works in. Sully worked with Sam before he disappeared, and believes that Nate has the knowledge required to piece together where Magellan’s fortune is hidden. Convinced that Sully might be able to get him answers about his brother’s whereabouts and intrigued by finishing the mystery he started with his brother, Nate agrees to help Sully. The two of them acquire an artifact that’s critical to their quest, then meet up with fellow treasure hunter Chloe (Sophia Ali) in Barcelona to search for the next clue. Hot on their tail after the fortune is Jo Braddock (Tati Gabrielle), a mercenary hired by Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas). Moncada’s family funded Magellan’s voyage all those years ago, and he believes the missing fortune is his birthright.
The set-up of the movie, while not particularly something to write home about, is decent. The linking of ancestral ties to historical figures, a globetrotting treasure hunt, and the resolution of the mystery of Nate and his long-lost brother, Sam, all serve as an excellent foundation. With all of that in place, it should be easy to create the sort of harmless blockbuster that is effortlessly enjoyable. Where this adaptation fails is in its script and in the lack of chemistry among the actors.
Sully is supposed to act as a father figure to Nate, who lost his parents to an unknown fate and was abandoned by his beloved older brother, but Sully spends the entire movie using Nate purely for his knowledge or actively double-crossing him and leaving him to die. And yet, their conversations are written as buddy banter that’s reminiscent of the schticky, gotta-have-the-last-word wisecracks that Marvel has been overusing for years. As a veteran of Marvel movies, this sort of dialogue comes naturally to Holland, and his performance does have a breeziness to it that matches his leading-man status.
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Chemistry is important in every type of relationship, not simply the romantic ones. Uncharted hinges on the bond between Nate and Sully. The decision of the filmmakers to eschew the original game’s version of how the two meet is ultimately a weakness for the film. In the video games, Sully meets Nate when he’s much younger and living on his own in Colombia, trying to steal a relic from a museum. Intrigued by Nate’s skills and a desire to help him, Sully suggests the two become a team. In the movie, however, Nate and Sully meet when Nate is in his mid-twenties, and Sully only wants to work with Nate because he thinks Nate is the key to finding the fortune he’s after. The script is ultimately a mess because it’s written as though the two of them have had a years-long, banter-filled relationship, not one that is maybe a week old by the end of the movie. The audience is left with a character they care about (Nate) partnered with a guy who betrays him at every turn, at least until the very last moment. Even then, there’s no real sense of camaraderie between the two, but there is a forced resolution created to set up the inevitable sequel.
Ultimately, the focus on Nate and Sully is what makes the rest of the film fall flat. Adventure movies are made by their swashbuckling, roguish leads – the Captain Jack Sparrows, the Indiana Joneses, and the Han Solos. They’re no-nonsense tough guys with a heart of gold and they’re who Sully is supposed to be, but he leaves Nate to die no less than three times. There is no heart of gold in him, despite what Uncharted tries to prove in the last few minutes. While Wahlberg is particularly stiff and bland as Sully, the problems with his character are not the result of his portrayal. The filmmaker’s choice to reconfigure Nate and Sully’s relationship doomed the movie before casting even began.
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The negative effect of Sully’s character on the film is particularly glaring when Nate shares the screen with fellow treasure hunter Chloe. While not perfect, there is a liveliness between the two of them that carries the movie to its highest moments. It’s unclear whether Nate and Chloe had enough chemistry to be the main focus of the film. The script shies away from Chloe’s character in favor of Sully at every chance it gets, but there is enough between Nate and Chloe to make the audience wish they could have seen that movie instead.
Ultimately, Uncharted fails to provide the most basic principles of an adventure movie. It is underwhelming and overloaded, without the charm of its clearly Spielberg-ian roots. Forgoing the main aspects of its source material for a less-inspired story, Uncharted fails both its loyal gamer audience and newcomers to the world of Nate and Sully.
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