Uncharted
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” got the globe-trotting adventurer shape and structure so effortlessly, and breathlessly, that it has hamstrung every film in the genre that has come afterwards. That’s true for even films such as the “Tomb Raider” movies, and now “Uncharted,” which have stories in their video games to pull from. Part of the reason the “National Treasure” films worked is because it combined a wild high concept adventure with Nicolas Cage and a game cast that could sell it. The “Tomb Raider” films do what they can because of the women at their centers. Unfortunately, “Uncharted”- based on one of the most popular recent video game franchises- feels like a pretender to the throne. It’s fine, but it’s often forgettable, as well.
The movie adaptation of “Uncharted” starts with a fictional narrative surrounding Magellan’s trip around the world, leading Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) on a world-wide adventure to find a treasure the explorer’s crew kept hidden from the benefactors who sent them on the voyage. Drake has been compelled by the stories since his older brother, Sam, first told him about it when they were in the orphanage together as kids. Sam eventually ran away, but always wrote his brother, who’s turned into a small-time thief. Those impulses are part of what lead Victor Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg), an adventurer and con man who’s been searching for Magellan’s treasure for a long time- and even knew Sam- to come recruit Nathan. On the other side, we get Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas), a descendant of Magellan’s benefactors, who sees the fortune as a birthright. Time for the race.
I have no doubt that Playstation’s “Uncharted” series is probably a lot of fun to play as a first-person adventure. That type of story-driven video gaming has been solid business since the days of Pitfall Harry and Link going after Zelda. Adapting such a story to film- or even television- requires an investment in character more than action and spectacle, however, and I’m curious what happened throughout all of the different iterations of this production over the years. No doubt it was Playstation wanting to respect what was one of their flagship franchises, but if this was the version of the franchise they went with, I feel like they did it a disservice. This isn’t to say “Uncharted” the movie is bad- it’s just uninspired. It feels as though we’re watching a video game more than a story, and a movie that desperately wants to be the new Indiana Jones series than something that stands on its own.
Suspension of disbelief is crucial to a good adventure movie. Regardless of how crazy the narrative feels, the audience needs to sense that there’s a certain level of reality to the world, though. I’m fine with the set piece which takes Drake, Sullivan and their partner, Chloe Frazer (Sophia Ali) to “heaven” and “Hell” at an old church in Spain because it’s just plausible enough to be really engaging in how it leads us on the adventure, even if it does resemble similar sequences in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and “National Treasure.” The climactic scene regarding the discovered ships of Magellan’s trek, and even the areal battle involving them, is bonkers in that high-concept manner of speaking because it gets so crazy, even if the sequences defies many laws of physics. The sequence that opens the film- and we return to later- which has Drake hanging off of cargo containers coming off of a plain starts the film off on a sour note. The visual effects are just not believable here; we do feel like we’re watching a story scene play out in a video game instead of a moment with a character we are supposed to care about. Starting out with this sequence is intended to be one of those cold opens to get you hooked before you find out how the protagonist got there, but it doesn’t really give us anything about the character, and honestly, very little in the movie which brings us back to this moment does, either. It’s not Holland’s fault- Drake is a blank personality- and unfortunately, the dynamic between he and Wahlberg is flat; whatever sense of comedic timing is supposed to exist between these two simply doesn’t. At least Banderas is having fun, and Ali and Tati Gabrielle as Braddock- the women on both sides going after the treasure- do what they can with their roles. Even Ramin Djwadi’s music for this film feels completely flat- you would not know someone of his talents wrote this score, and when an adventure can do that to a composer as talented as he is, you’re just not going to cut it.
Director Ruben Fleischer is not an untalented director- he can do something gonzo like “Venom” and something comedic like “Zombieland”- but sincere seriousness may not be his speed. And I think “Uncharted” wants to be taken seriously as a big-screen adventure. That it falls short has to do with both its own execution, and the long shadow its so obviously chasing.
