When I first watched Uncharted, I had one main question: Can a video game adventure actually work as a movie?
My answer is yes, but with a few reservations.
Released in 2022, Uncharted stars Tom Holland as Nathan Drake, Mark Wahlberg as Victor “Sully” Sullivan, Antonio Banderas as Santiago Moncada and Sophia Ali as Chloe Frazer.
The movie is built around a simple idea: find a legendary lost treasure before the bad guys do.
That gives us everything you’d expect from this type of adventure movie—ancient clues, secret maps, betrayals, impossible escapes, beautiful locations and plenty of action.
My take?
Uncharted is not a perfect adventure movie, but it is a fun one.
It doesn’t always take itself seriously, and that’s probably one of the reasons I enjoyed it.
Tom Holland Works as Nathan Drake
Tom Holland was an interesting choice for Nathan Drake.
If you have played the games, you may have imagined someone older and more experienced in the role. Holland’s version of Nathan is younger and still learning how to handle the dangerous world he has entered.
At first, I wasn’t completely convinced.
Nathan is supposed to be clever, confident and comfortable around danger. Holland’s version feels more like someone who has suddenly been thrown into an adventure much bigger than he expected.
But as the movie continues, the casting starts to make more sense.
Holland brings a lot of energy to the character.
He is naturally good at physical comedy, and that helps because Nathan spends much of the movie getting himself into ridiculous situations.
He isn’t an unstoppable action hero.
He gets hurt.
He makes mistakes.
He falls.
A lot.
That makes some of the action more entertaining because you aren’t watching someone who seems completely invincible.
Mark Wahlberg Brings the Attitude
Mark Wahlberg plays Sully, Nathan’s experienced partner and, depending on how you look at it, sometimes his biggest problem.
Sully is more experienced than Nathan and knows how the treasure-hunting world works.
He also knows how to manipulate people.
That’s one of the interesting parts of their relationship.
Nathan wants answers about his missing brother, Sam.
Sully has information that Nathan wants.
That creates a partnership based partly on trust and partly on necessity.
Wahlberg gives Sully a relaxed attitude that fits the movie.
He’s the kind of character who can be standing in the middle of a dangerous situation and still make a joke.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes I thought the movie leaned a little too heavily on the jokes.
But overall, the chemistry between Holland and Wahlberg is one of the better parts of the film.
The Story Is Simple, and That’s Fine
The basic story revolves around Ferdinand Magellan’s lost treasure.
Nathan is recruited by Sully to help find it before Santiago Moncada and his team can get there first.
The search takes them around the world.
They follow clues.
They solve puzzles.
They betray each other.
They team up again.
Then somebody betrays somebody else.
It’s not exactly complicated.
And honestly, I don’t think it needs to be.
Uncharted is trying to be an old-fashioned treasure-hunting adventure.
It isn’t trying to become a complicated mystery that requires you to take notes.
You can sit down, watch it and enjoy the ride.
That’s one of its biggest advantages.
The Action Is the Main Attraction
If the story isn’t particularly deep, the action needs to deliver.
Fortunately, it does.
The movie has several large action sequences, but one of the most memorable involves Nathan hanging onto cargo falling from an airplane.
It is completely ridiculous.
It is also fun.
That’s something I noticed throughout the movie.
Some scenes made me think, “There is no way a real person survives that.”
But instead of ruining the experience, it made the movie feel like the video game that inspired it.
The characters survive situations that would probably end very badly in real life.
Cars crash.
People fall from enormous heights.
Objects fly everywhere.
And somehow Nathan keeps going.
That’s part of the charm.
The Video Game Influence Is Obvious
One thing the movie does well is capture the feeling of playing an Uncharted game.
You have the treasure hunt.
You have ancient civilizations.
You have puzzles.
You have characters racing toward the same objective.
You have spectacular locations.
And, of course, you have ridiculous action sequences.
The problem is that the movie sometimes feels like it is trying too hard to remind fans of the games.
Instead of simply telling its own story, it occasionally feels like a collection of moments designed to make fans say, “That looks like something from the game.”
I understand why the filmmakers did it.
But I think the movie could have been stronger if it had trusted itself a little more.
The Relationship Between Nathan and Sully Is More Important Than the Treasure
For me, the treasure itself isn’t the most interesting part.
The relationship between Nathan and Sully is.
Nathan doesn’t fully trust Sully.
And Sully doesn’t exactly give Nathan a reason to trust him.
Sully is keeping information from him, while Nathan is trying to find out what happened to his brother.
That gives their partnership some emotional weight.
Nathan isn’t only chasing gold.
He’s chasing answers.
That’s why the treasure hunt matters to him.
If the movie had spent a little more time developing that relationship, I think the emotional side of the story would have been much stronger.
Chloe Frazer Is Fun to Watch
Sophia Ali plays Chloe Frazer, another treasure hunter who becomes involved in the search.
Chloe is smart, confident and difficult to trust.
She also has a habit of keeping important information to herself.
That makes her relationship with Nathan interesting because neither one completely knows what the other is planning.
I liked Chloe because she isn’t simply there to support Nathan.
She has her own motivations.
She also gets involved in some of the movie’s biggest moments.
Still, I wanted more from the character.
She has enough personality to carry a larger role, and the movie could have spent more time developing her history with Sully and Nathan.
Antonio Banderas as the Villain
Antonio Banderas plays Santiago Moncada, a wealthy man determined to find the treasure.
Banderas is always watchable, but I don’t think the villain is the strongest part of the movie.
Moncada has the resources and motivation to be a major threat, but he isn’t particularly memorable compared with some other adventure-movie villains.
The movie’s other villain, Jo Braddock, played by Tati Gabrielle, is much more physically threatening.
Braddock feels like someone Nathan genuinely needs to worry about.
She is dangerous, efficient and willing to do almost anything to complete the mission.
The Movie Doesn’t Take Itself Too Seriously
This is probably what surprised me most.
Uncharted could have tried to become a very serious action movie.
Instead, it knows that some of the situations are ridiculous.
Nathan gets thrown into dangerous situations and somehow finds a way out.
There are jokes during serious moments.
Characters argue while people are shooting at them.
And the treasure hunt becomes increasingly crazy.
For me, that works.
If you try to judge every scene by real-world logic, you might have a frustrating time.
If you treat it as a fun adventure, it becomes much easier to enjoy.
My Biggest Problem With Uncharted
My biggest complaint is that the movie feels too familiar.
We’ve seen this type of story many times.
A lost treasure.
A mysterious map.
A race against another team.
Ancient clues.
Double-crosses.
A villain who wants everything.
It works, but it doesn’t feel particularly fresh.
The movie also moves very quickly.
That keeps things entertaining, but it means some characters and relationships don’t receive enough development.
I wanted more time with Nathan and Sully.
I wanted more information about Sam.
I wanted Chloe to have a larger role.
And I wanted the treasure hunt itself to feel more mysterious.
The Movie Is Better When You Stop Comparing It to the Games
This is probably the most important thing I would tell someone before watching it.
If you are a huge Uncharted game fan, don’t expect the movie to perfectly recreate the games.
It doesn’t.
The timeline and character relationships are different.
Nathan is younger.
Some events are rearranged.
The movie is basically using familiar characters and ideas to create a new adventure.
Once I accepted that, I enjoyed it more.
Trying to compare every scene with the games makes it harder to appreciate what the movie is actually doing.
Is Uncharted Worth Watching?
Yes, especially if you enjoy action-adventure movies.
It isn’t a movie I would recommend because of its deep storytelling.
I would recommend it because it is entertaining.
The movie has enough action to keep things moving, Tom Holland brings energy to Nathan, Mark Wahlberg works well as Sully, and the locations give the story a proper international adventure feel.
It is also relatively easy to watch.
You don’t need extensive knowledge of the games to understand what’s happening.
You can simply start the movie and follow the treasure hunt.
My Final Take
Uncharted is a fun popcorn movie that doesn’t try to be more complicated than it needs to be.
The story is familiar.
Some of the characters could have been developed better.
The villain isn’t particularly memorable.
And some of the action is completely unrealistic.
But I don’t think those things completely ruin the experience.
Tom Holland makes Nathan Drake likable, and his chemistry with Mark Wahlberg gives the movie some personality.
The action is entertaining.
The treasure hunt is easy to follow.
And the movie has enough humor to keep the serious moments from becoming too heavy.
Would I call it one of the greatest video-game adaptations ever made?
No.
Would I watch another movie with this cast?
Absolutely.
For me, Uncharted is best viewed as a fun adventure rather than a serious treasure-hunting epic.
If you want something deep and emotionally complicated, this probably isn’t the movie for you.
But if you want to sit down, eat some popcorn and watch Tom Holland run, fight, fall off things and chase a legendary treasure around the world, Uncharted does the job.
My rating: 7/10.
Not perfect.
Not groundbreaking.
But definitely entertaining.
James
