Each week, I will look at a movie that is currently in theaters or available to stream and give some reasons why people should watch it. This isn’t necessarily a film critique, rather, an overview of what I think is enjoyable about the film, and why it’s worth seeing. This week, we’ll be looking at the popular video game adaptation, Uncharted.
To preface this, again, I prove to be uncultured, as I have not played the video games. This has happened a lot lately with novels becoming movies so it appears all I do is watch movies. I want to talk about Uncharted though, because for those that have not played the games and hear criticisms of it- often those criticisms come from those that played the games and think something was not portrayed accurately, or the way they think it should have. You can have a great experience with this movie, and maybe especially if you haven’t played the games, as we know it’s hard for adaptations to live up to their gaming predecessors. Here, what stands out to me, is Tom Holland. I’ve mostly seen Holland in just the Spider-Man movies, but Holland’s charisma is a wow factor in my opinion. Whether his Nathan Drake character is on screen with Mark Wahlberg’s Sully, or Sophia Ali’s Chloe, his character lights up the screen with witty dialogue and skilled action when those sequences arise. It doesn’t take someone to play the games to realize that the relationship between Nathan Drake and Sully is critical, and from what I saw, it worked. The movie has a good balance of exploration and action. Although it might not be anything groundbreaking, there are a couple of nice twists to reshuffle the deck, and the different settings, which can be broken down primarily into thirds, offer the sort of back drops that make it feel like real treasure hunting. The path to a quality action-adventure movie has been charted, and this one doesn’t stray far from the path.
Uncharted is currently showing in theaters everywhere.
