Film: Uncharted

 

GENRE: Adventure
RATING: PG-13 for some violence and language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 56 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Tom Holland (Spider-Man trilogy; Onward; Current War)
Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, 2 Guns); Sophia Ali (Grey’s Anatomy)
DIRECTOR: Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland; Venom)
WRITERS: Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (Iron Man; MiB: International),
Rafe Judkins (Chuck)
PLOT: Nathan Drake teams up with a treasure hunter to find lots of gold and learn more about his missing brother.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: Low expectations; just wanted some fun.

STORY STUFF: Of course, people will compare this adventure to Indiana Jones or at least Jungle Cruise. I’d say it falls in between but closer to the latter. While there are some fun action pieces and eureka problem solving, there are many ridiculous plot holes and conveniences throughout. I often found myself thinking, “So, you’re telling me in all this time, no one . . .“  But, it’s a fun ride regardless of poor choices and defiance of physics. It’s a video game movie. What more can you really expect? At least they didn’t totally blow it like Assassin’s Creed.

ACTING STUFF: Holland is his charismatic self. He plays well with Wahlberg who’s seems to just have fun being along for the ride. Ali plays it hot and cold so I didn’t really find myself rooting for her at all. The bad people played by Antonio Banderas and Tati Gabrielle (who has terrible peripheral vision) are nothing to write home about. Just watch this for Holland and Wahlberg.

ARTISTIC STUFF: The production design is well done. While I’m sure there were visual effects that slipped by me, the plane cargo in the air chase scene was pretty heavy handed. Tom Cruise would have insisted on doing it himself if this was Mission: Impossible.   

VERDICT: Three and half stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You like to see Tom Holland do action stuff.      
UPCOMING REVIEW: The Batman