Joshua Pruett, Special to the Herald

Naughty Dog fans around the world were somewhere between the very large range of happy and disappointed when “Uncharted” hit theaters on February 18, 2022. “Uncharted” (2022) sees Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) and Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) set off to find long lost pirate treasure using their cunning skills in thievery and Drake’s immense historical knowledge.

Review

Uncharted is one of my personal favorite game franchises, it’s well known for not only its great gameplay mechanics, but also it’s phenomenal storytelling. In fact, that’s something all of Sony’s best games have in common. I went into the film with average expectations. Making a live action adaptation of anything is almost always underwhelming in comparison to the thing it adapted. The biggest reason? Art is created in the medium originally chosen for a reason.

I will say, however, that I wasn’t disappointed with the film. In fact, I think it had a lot of good elements. The story loosely followed the Drake brothers’ origin, told a cohesive story of a long lost treasure and ended it all in a very “Uncharted” way. However, with the good, there must come the bad. The writing falls very flat. Nathan and Sully’s dynamic felt dull, Chloe Frazer, portrayed by Sophia Ali, felt like an almost insignificant part of the plot, and the story of the treasure itself wasn’t exceptionally interesting. In addition, despite having all of the elements, it rarely feels like the world of “Uncharted.” I think some of that could have been fixed with musical cues alone. 

Let’s be honest though, attempting to adapt puzzle solving, fast paced shooting action and an interesting story of treasure and thrill with twists and discovery was never going to hit the same marks as it does in the games. But maybe that’s okay, after all, that’s what makes the games so unique.

Rating

All things considered, I must inform you that “Uncharted” is overwhelmingly average. Which, in all fairness, is better than many other video game movies perform. I had fun watching it, and despite not living up to what could have easily had much more potential, it was about what I was hoping it would at least be. So, my final Uncharted score is a 6/10.

Categories: Arts & Entertainment