‘Uncharted’ Review

Stars: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, Rudy Pankow | Written by Rafe Judkins, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway | Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg do some modern-day swashbuckling in this action adventure movie based on the popular treasure hunter video game series Uncharted. Pacily directed by Ruben Fleischer (Venom), it’s an entirely watchable popcorn movie that gets the main components right but doesn’t quite achieve its full potential.

Holland plays Nate Drake, a petty thief who uses his job as a flashy cocktail-making bartender to practise his pickpocketing skills. However, his life changes when he’s recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Wahlberg) to help him find a fortune in gold that once belonged to the explorer Magellan.

Aside from the lure of a treasure worth billions, Nate is also swayed by Sully’s promise to help him find his long-lost brother Sam (Rudy Pankow), who used to be Sully’s partner until he mysteriously disappeared. The pair travel to Barcelona to begin the hunt for Magellan’s gold, but they soon realise they have competition in the form of powerful billionaire Moncada (Antonio Banderas) and his knife-happy mercenary Braddock (Tati Gabrielle).

Blockbusters like this demand attention-grabbing set-pieces and on that note at least, Uncharted delivers, with a pair of truly spectacular action sequences, both of which were heavily featured in the trailer. It’s safe to say that while everything else in the movie might be entirely forgettable, you’ll remember the sight of Nate desperately climbing some crates that are hanging from an airplane and the sheer jaw-dropping spectacle of a pirate ship battle that takes place in mid-air thanks to a couple of impressively resilient helicopters.

In fairness, Fleischer delivers on the ground-level action sequences too, with Holland (or his stuntman) displaying a nice line in Parkour-esque athleticism, bouncing off walls as he’s beating up bad guys. Wahlberg, by contrast, isn’t quite as bouncy, but he still gets his licks in and there’s idle fun to be had by counting all the objects that get used as weapons.

Holland and Wahlberg both have movie star charisma to burn, though it’s fair to say that Holland has his turned up to eleven here, while Wahlberg’s is only on a medium setting. Incidentally, as an amusing side-note, the film has been in development for so long that Wahlberg was originally attached to play Holland’s part, back in 2010.

The supporting cast are equally good, with Gabrielle and Sophia Ali (as Nate and Sully’s fellow fortune hunter Chloe Frazer) both making strong impressions and comfortably holding their own in the action department. Banderas is good fun too and his sheer presence provides a welcome nostalgia hit.

The film’s biggest disappointment is the banter between the two leads, which feels very by-the-numbers, like it’s there because it has to be, rather than feeling organic or convincing. It’s also frequently repetitive and the jokes at each other’s expense (e.g. Drake mocking Sully for having too many apps open on his phone) never really land.

On a similar note, the film falls short on the puzzle-solving element, which is one of the key genre requisites. There are puzzles, sure, and they get solved, but they’re extremely dull and are basically variations of which-key-goes-in-which-lock rather than anything challenging or exciting. That’s also something of a betrayal of the source material, and fans of the games may well feel cheated as a result.

There are other problems too, such as the occasional moment of dodgy CGI (if you were feeling charitable, you could see it as a nod to the games, but there’s a very obviously computer-generated Tom Holland at one point) or little nit-picks like the fact that the location apps on the films prominently placed smartphones apparently still work despite spending several minutes underwater.

One issue really stands out though, and that’s the film’s shocking lack of respect for historical artefacts, with priceless objects getting smashed up left, right and centre, in a way that would make Indiana Jones weep hot, salty tears. It comes to something when the villain has more concern for the artefacts than the heroes (admittedly, that’s more about the money, but still).

Ultimately, this is perfectly enjoyable multiplex fodder that gets enough right to be worth your while, but you can’t help wishing a little more effort had gone into the script. Either way, there’s a mid-credits sting that seems to assume a sequel is a done deal, so hopefully Uncharted 2 will take note and get in a crack team of script polishers.

*** 3/5

Uncharted is in cinemas now.