Uncharted

Stuck in Development Hell for over 10 years, and based on the long-running Sony PlayStation franchise, Uncharted joins the long list of video game adaptations that should be home runs on the silver screen, but instead end up merely being mediocre. (Past victims to this curse include Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill.) Here is a movie that somehow ends up feeling more shallow and less character-driven than the game that inspired it.

The problem with adapting something like Uncharted is that in the original video game, the storytellers have hours to tell their story and develop their characters.  And because a player spends hours at the controls of the main character, they feel a connection with them and the supporting cast by the time it's done.  Trying to cram that experience into a narrative that runs just under two hours is not going to quite be the same to the fan base.  But there are deeper problems than inherent ones here.  There's the casting, the overly green-screened action set pieces that seem as artificial as anything seen in the past few Fast & Furious movies, and the weak adventure that is supposed to hold everything together.  But before all that, I got a bad feeling from the moment its hero, Nathan Drake (played here by Tom Holland), walked on the screen.

Nathan is intended to be a world-weary explorer and treasure hunter.  The kind of guy who brings to mind Indiana Jones, and is capable of swashbuckling heroics, charming the ladies, and being a bit of a con man on the side.  To say that Holland does not exactly fit that description would be an understatement.  He comes across as a kid more often than not.  Yes, this is intended to be an origin story, and takes place before the games do.  Still, Holland just cannot sell this kind of character.  He seems out of place, and often looks like he's cosplaying as an adventurer who knows all the angles, rather than playing one.  Holland can also be charismatic, but he just seems off here, and never connects with his co-star, Mark Wahlberg, who plays Nathan's mentor, Sully.  We don't sense the bond that's supposed to be there, and Wahlberg, talented though he is, just can't bring his character or his material with Holland to life.

The two join up in order to find some lost gold.  Apparently Sully was partnered with Drake's brother, Sam, whom Nathan has not seen since they were kids in a pointless prologue that opens the film.  Wanting to know more about his brother, and drawn in by the treasure itself, Nathan begins what is supposed to be a globe-spanning adventure as our heroes, who are eventually joined by a third fortune seeker named Chloe (Sophia Ali), race against some bad guys who are led by Antonio Banderas, and are complete non-entities when it comes to villains in these kind of movies.  Think of the kind of villains Indiana Jones (the film's obvious inspiration) found himself going up against, and you'll have to agree some crooked treasure hunters (one of whom speaks with such a heavy Scottish accent, no one can understand what he's saying) is underwhelming.

Uncharted races its characters through ancient tunnels and caverns, long lost crypts, and across not one but two improbable action scenes that take place in the air, and look so heavily green screened, we're watching effects, not actors or stuntmen.  The only memorable action scene in the film is one that takes place within a Papa John's restaurant (I kid you not), and that's because it's probably the most blatant use of Product Placement I've seen on the big screen in a while. (The fact that Nathan is constantly chewing Bubble Yum gum seems subtle in comparison.) But for all of its sense of adventure, nothing clicked with me.  Not the performances, not the characters, not the comedic banter, and surprisingly not the exotic settings, which range from Spain to the Philippines.  There is a cold feeling here, when it should be transporting audiences to far off places and amazing sights.  The film is mechanical and workmanlike, while the games feel lived in.

The film has had a troubled history, with various directors, cast, writers and scripts being thrown at it since 2008.  Watching Uncharted, you get the sense that you are watching a product, not a movie with a soul.  It's lost all identity, and is now just a brand name to bring in an existing audience.  They will come to see their favorite characters brought to life, and will walk away with an empty shell of an experience. 

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