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The movies superstar edition review4/9/2023 Uncharted 4 is a stunning video game because it lets players do the running, jumping and treasure hunting themselves – it’s nowhere near as much fun to watch Holland and Wahlberg throw goons off the side of a virtual pirate ship. Video game adaptations have come a long way in recent years, but dramatizing a title that already plays like a movie presents a very particular type of challenge. Even in moments where we’re encouraged to marvel at Uncharted’s beautiful locations, some obviously animated environments detract from the spectacle.Īgain, though, this seems like an inevitable plague of the project. This near total absence of imagination is made worse by an over-reliance on CGI, which often takes away from Holland’s excellent stunt work – the airborne sequence, for instance, is not so much impressive as it is downright ridiculous. Ironically, the events of Uncharted are very charted. It borrows too much from the plot of the fourth game and recycles tired tropes from more established action franchises like Mission: Impossible and Pirates of the Caribbean. Uncharted does nothing to push the boundaries of its genre nor subvert the expectations of returning fans. Tom Holland takes to the seas in Uncharted (Image credit: Sony Pictures)Īnd therein lies the second dagger in the movie’s heart. Instead, we get Mark Wahlberg doing his best Mark Wahlberg impression great for the movie’s humor, but less brilliant for the master-apprentice dynamic between its two main men.īoth leads, then – while undoubtedly charismatic and confident in their respective roles – are fatally miscast, which wouldn’t be a problem if Uncharted told a totally different story. ![]() Here, though, we don’t get the same character. The father figure to Nate, Naughty Dog’s version of Sully is a world-weary explorer who exudes old-school charm – sometimes wise, sometimes wrong, always cool (like Paul Newman in The Color of Money). While it’s undeniably enjoyable to see Holland wear the character’s iconic henley-holster combo, it all happens far too quickly in a story that supposedly charts his origins.Īnd then there’s Wahlberg’s Sully. It doesn’t help, either, that the movie dances to the beat of Drake’s final video game outing. We’re supposed to believe that this is Nate’s first globe-trotting treasure hunt, yet he is often the one pointing Wahlberg’s Sully and the similarly experienced Chloe (Sophia Ali) in the right direction. But there’s very little learning done here.Īlthough we first meet Holland’s character as a bartender, it doesn’t take long before he’s flipping, fighting and falling his way across various countries on a dangerous quest for lost gold. Rafe Lee Judkins’ script is billed as an origin story, predating the first entry in the game series (2007’s Uncharted: Drake's Fortune), that finds Nate ready to learn the tricks of the trade. None of that would matter, of course, if Uncharted really did center around a younger, more inexperienced protagonist at the beginning of his swashbuckling career. Tom Holland pursues Sophia Ali in Uncharted (Image credit: Sony Pictures) He puts his choreography skills and boyish enthusiasm to excellent use in some impressive fight sequences and equally daring stunts – but he is not the Nate we know. Still, Holland attacks the role with all the energy we’ve come to expect from the superstar. ![]() To his credit, Holland reportedly gained 18 pounds of muscle (while simultaneously training for Spider-Man: No Way Home) in an effort to better match Drake’s in-game physique – and he certainly looks bigger than ever – but fears that the young British actor wouldn’t possess the same rugged charm as the famed treasure hunter were justified. It’s understandable, then, that fans of the game series voiced their doubts about the decision so intensely. Uncharted’s fan-favorite hero is a hunky, stubble-laden adventurer with a Bond-like hardiness – Holland, through no fault of his own, is the antithesis of that description. Unfortunately, Holland’s casting as Nate – the dashing virtual protagonist of every mainline Uncharted title – instantly became the unwelcome cloud hanging over this long-awaited movie adaptation. But we’ll come back to all that later – let’s first address the elephant in the room.
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