"Uncharted" Movie Review, an action and adventure film starring Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas and Sophia Ali. A seven stars movie worth seeing in the cinema. See in this review what we liked, what we didn't like and the final verdict for the movie Uncharted.
Uncharted Movie Review 2022
What we liked about the movie Uncharted
The Pace: It seems to be my starter, but the pace is exactly what one would want in an action/adventure movie. Like National Treasure, our "heroes" move through each of the locations in a rapid-fire motion, trying to race the clock and the bad guys to the clues in hopes of obtaining the prize. It balances touching moments with the high-speed thrills of the action and keeps you entertained for much of the movie.
The Puzzles: Puzzles are a staple of the Uncharted franchise, alongside the traps that litter them to bar entrance to the vault. While maybe not as intricate, layered, or maybe as deadly and pressing, this film has designed some fun clues and tests for Nathan and his "squad" to figure out that are adventurous and fun. Like Indiana Jones with a modern skin, the movie does a fine job of bringing the fun of the games with the cleverness of the traps, and keeping in time to the pace of the movie and the general audience rating.
The Music/Sound Editing: A minor like for some, the music of the movie is something like Pirates of the Caribbean, where it adds that spirt of adventure and excitement in the background. Uncharted has two types of music to set the mood, the orchestral pieces being the primary one that take both mood and amplitude and fill the speakers with that spirit of adventure as we dove into the quests at hand. Meanwhile, the quieter moments and a certain select scenes, jump into the modern-day element and spice up the mood with some toe tapping, upbeat, techno songs or maybe a little smoother jazz to mix things up, or go towards the sentiment. Great works in the sound department, Hollywood's arsenal of sound effects is set to bring all the action to life. Sprung traps, breaking bones, powerful booms, and weapon unloading, all have that added emphasis, once more pulling you more into the moment and feeling you are in the moment with them, well as much as you can be given the limited experience.
The Story: It's not the most complicated, and it's not the most extensive, but for an adaptation of a video game... it again works. Uncharted took the highlights of a game's story, mixed a little more of the character moments, brought the treasure hunts in, and led to the adventure at hand. All those things added up together quite well and brought a complete tale into a two-hour run time, which is always the challenge. This should be good for the general audience, while also nodding to the nostalgia factor of the games baked in. Thus, the story is decent for a summary movie.
The Action: Again, the video game makes it more involved and complex, with plenty of moments to immerse and blow our minds with traps and stunts. This movie did okay mirroring it, bringing the elements of chase moments, parkour, gun play, and close combat fighting that held enough elements to be fun and worthy of the theater. The stunts are adequate to be performed in real life, they have some personality to them, and still hold the fast pace you expect in the adventure element of the movie. As such, the versatility and creativity are very Drake like to me, never getting too out there, but still holding ground to the versatility and improvisation that the treasure hunter is. Again, not the worst transition to the big screen and quite enjoyable.
The Acting: Casting the legendary roles of game characters becomes increasingly challenging in the modern era given the struggles of fandom vs. The art of the movie director. While not an exact match on a lot of levels, my time with the Uncharted series found these guys to be fitting fill ins for the character in terms of personality. Holland as Drake hits more of the flashy, main lead with issues role well, taking the chip on his shoulder and funneling it into the adventurous wonder and thief we know Drake to be. True, he is a little young acting compared to the design of the lead, but he makes up for it with the sarcasm and attitude he develops as the movie continues on. Wahlberg is well... Wahlberg, and by this point you either love his brand of line delivery, or you hate it. For me, the Ted like delivery of lines, minus most of the heavy language, alongside his timing with the dialogue works for me and I enjoyed the chemistry he has with Holland as he gets the quest going. Banderas achieves his levels well as the antagonist, continuing to refine his leader of a big organization and improve on not being quite as overdone. He's got the voice down pretty well, his mannerisms match well, and his chemistry with the secondary and tertiary characters is again believable. Everyone else is fantastic too, the female leads hitting their roles super well and adding some much-needed flavor to mix things up and enjoy the comedy that they wrote in.
What we didn't like about the movie Uncharted
Predictable: Whether you know the games, or you know the genre, the movie is not really that surprising or have any unexpected twists. The writing gives you all the big reveals to come, a bit too forced and emphasized, without using other tricks to throw you off the trail. Sure, the adventure element helps to keep these moments easier to handle, but there are still those moments from other movies that managed to throw that one punch that knocked you off your feet. So, if you are expecting a big twist or mind blown moment, dapper that down.
A Bit Rushed in Character Moments: Again, I have limited experience with this franchise, but my understanding is there are more connections and dives into the characters' psyche to paint them to new levels. However, this movie seemed to start scratching that itch, but not quite delivering on the full picture and could have hit a little more on some of the character. Holland's character they achieve well, but the rest of the group, has much more to learn, potentially leaving for the potential sequels they seem to be arranging. The promise is there, with just enough nods to make things work, but more is needed to really make the great characters I think they are looking for.
Harder Puzzles/A few More Stakes: Indiana Jones and other tomb raiding movements decorated the screens with those immense traps and some stakes to play the game by and get you deep into the sequence. While the traps were fine in this movie, Uncharted still needed more of the video game magic to trap the people in, and try to throw off the scent of the predictable story. Maybe a few extra characters, or taking the liberties to give some injury would probably have helped spice up the traps and puzzles a bit more to really give you that extra blow.
Banderas Needing More Menacing: He starts hitting the right notes, but Banderas needed a bit more time on the screen this time to really give the deadly finesse he was going for. As I stated earlier, he has smoothed out the rough edges, but there is still more to execute to really up his villain game, which means giving him more time. Maybe a little more gunplay, perhaps some strategy or solving skills of his own, or some other extra factor everyone else had to make him that villain belonging into this world. With a little more work, this role could have been quite the stab into the adventures of Drake.
The Suspense of Disbelief: My friend that accompanied me on this film stated it great, a little disbelief is fun, but too much leads to eye rolling moments that make the scenes a bit cheesier than grand. Uncharted really does this in this movie, with logic and rationale going out the window as they discover the chambers to find the ultimate prize. Riggings that survived nearly a millennium of docility, random room that were undiscovered despite the proximity to civilian centers, or how about the lack of damage from these traps are just some of the things that are a little too hyperbolic. Several other decisions they made are humorous or make for great spectacle, but you can't help but groan at times at how stretched they are. Fortunately, that adventure spirit is still there and again mitigates the cheese factor to still be fun and enjoyable, while fitting into the flow of the movie.
Verdict on the movie Uncharted
Uncharted may not be the best movie to come on the silver screen or the best adaptation of a game, but it's also not the stinkers other video game films have hit in the past. This version is fun, feeling very much like an adventure movie that has the spirit of fun and big thrills that we've come to expect. Puzzles are fun, the characters have great openings, and the acting makes for just a very entertaining spectacle that should be welcomed by many of the general audience. This is not a movie to hate, and it really does have the elements of the game that made that series fun, though I admit to far less details than the game. This tale does not hit the character feels to the full extent, it needs hard puzzles and some liberties to be taken to help throw the twists, and there are very bad stretches that while fun, can leave you huffing at how ridiculous they are. Yet, my buddy and I both really enjoyed the film and found it worthy of a theater visit, primarily for the spectacle of the scenes.
My scores for this film are:
Action/Adventure: 7.5-8.0 Movie Overall: 6.5-7.0.
Review by rgkarim
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