Uncharted Movie Review

“Uncharted” is a movie based off a popular video game. But it is also similar to a particular Wall Street security. It is very Derivative! But all of the other movies that it borrows from are fun adventurous thrill rides. So another name for this movie might be “International Goonie Pirates of the DaVinci Treasure Code Island”…

Nathan Drake (played by Tom Holland) is a guy who is part good guy and part grifter. He was an orphan as a boy and he idolized his brother Sam. But now he is on his own. He works as a bartender. He is very charming and personable, but at the same time he is a sneaky little devil. He can swipe a Diamond bracelet or a Platinum credit card with any effort. But his real dream is to find the lost gold of Magellan Expedition.

Nate meets up with Victor “Sully” Sullivan (played by Mark Wahlberg) at the bar. Sully says that he once knew Sam (Nate’s long lost brother). He tells Nate that he and Sam were really close to locating the Lost Gold. He just needs one more artifact to get the key to finding it. There will be a huge auction at a swanky place, and that is why he needs Nate to help. A man named Santiago Moncada (played by Antonio Banderas) plans to buy a jewel-encrusted cross. But Sully knows that it is a key to the treasure.

There is an auction house heist, and of course it goes awry. Nate and Sully are confronted by Jo Braddock (played by Tati Gabrielle). She is a talented, and deadly, treasure hunter and mercenary. She was hired by Moncada to keep that cross safe — at any cost. Nate and Sully are able to sneak away with the cross and they head to Barcelona. They meet up with Chloe Frazer (played by Sophia Ali), who was once Sully’s partner. They slither through various church anterooms and catacombs, looking for the treasure.

But all they find is a map, and does this map lead to the treasure? They assume that it does, so they all head off to the Philippines. Or they might all go together, if there had not been a double-cross. But before too long there is a different double-cross, and that one is much more deadly. It is also in mid-air, on a huge cargo transport plane. Then all hell breaks loose while Nate and Sully and Chloe and Jo all fight to survive. The scene is actually where the movie starts, so now that gets back up to this point — you understand the stakes that are involved.

But there are more adventures to attend to, and Nate is able to uncover just one more clue left by his brother Sam. It leads him to two old crusty ships of the Magellan Expedition. But will he find the Lost Gold along with the ships? Will Sully find a way to find Nate? Will Jo Braddock and her sneaky band of thieves zero in on the location of the ships and the Gold? Will there be a whopping finale of two helicopters raising two old sailing ships and having a navel battle in the air? It is based on a video game, right?

“Uncharted” is adapted from a popular video game of the same name. Many movies based off of video games have a bad reputation when adapted onto the big screen. But the biggest saving grace here is the amiable actions of Tom Holland. He is charming and personable (but that bears repeating) and also toned and buff in this role. Game purists might mock that his age is a little too young for the ‘real Nathan Drake’. But you can tell those type of people they can Alt – Control – Delete themselves!

The set pieces are wonderfully large and full of action. The plot can sometimes muddle and meander to the next great action sequence, but it does get there. There is nobody really to root for, except for Nathan Drake. All the other characters seem to be various shade of despicable. But, if you have any ‘action adventure’ type movie in the past couple of decades – you have probably seen about two thirds of this one already!

“Uncharted” is a fun roller coaster of a movie, built from the left-over outlines of other roller coasters. But with this one you can relax while you watch, and you don’t need a Playstation controller in your hands…