For young Nathan Drake, life began hard. An orphan at a young age, he had to learn to lie, cheat, and steal to get his way. Influenced by his older brother, Sam, Drake becomes obsessed with explorers and history’s greatest tales of lost cities, buried treasure, and global escapades. When Sam disappears, Drake is forced to grow up fast in a world of delightful intrigue.
Cut to 15 years later, Drake (Tom Holland) is a charismatic bartender living his best life in New York City, while grifting and stealing from unknowing patrons. One night, he meets Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg), who recruits him to recover gold lost over 500 years ago, supposedly buried by Ferdinand Magellan. Sully claims to have known Sam, and might just have information that could bring the two brothers back together again. But first, a heist needs to take place at a luxury auction where our villain, Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas) is bidding on a valuable artifact that just might be the key to Sully’s treasure. Hijinks ensue quite quickly, as Drake and Sully race against time to solve puzzles and find one of the world’s most valuable treasures, but only if they can learn to work together.
‘Uncharted’ is a hack job of similar film franchises before it, with ‘National Treasure’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ to name a few. What started as a video game produced by Play Station became a movie that just doesn’t hit all the notes it desperately tries to. While entertaining as an action-flick on the surface, there is no new material here that we haven’t seen before. Holland and Wahlberg have little to no chemistry, although both manufacture some laughs along the way. The plane sequences and eventual treasure discovery are well worth the price of admission, that is to say if you completely suspend your disbelief in gravity and the laws of physics.
There are some bright spots in an otherwise messy action-adventure. Banderas is a formidable villain that becomes one to be reckoned with. His is the charisma that Wahlberg tries to play off as his own throughout much of the movie. Rounding out the cast are Sophia Ali and Tati Gabrielle as renegades with agendas of their own. Every scene with these three characters makes the overall experience charming and enjoyable.
Unfortunately, their appearances aren’t enough to save the day.
Ticket rating: 🎟🎟1/2
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