Thursday, May 12, 2022

Uncharted

Despite its title, Uncharted takes us on a journey of well-trod treasure hunting involving Nate Drake (Tom Holland) being pulled into a search for the legendary lost treasure of Magellan which he and his brother once fantasized about finding as kids. Teamed up with various untrustworthy and unscrupulous hunters, each after the treasure for their own reasons, Uncharted follows the basic path of the genre with various clues needing to be solved to move the characters to the next step on their journey to the treasure.

Holland brings the same boyish charm from the Spider-Man films, often getting himself in over his head despite knowing more than any of the other hunters (including Mark Wahlberg, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, Antonio Banderas, and various unamed thugs) seeking the treasure. Nate is no Indiana Jones, or even Benjamin Franklin Gates, but Uncharted was more amusing than expected.

Falling firmly into the category of dumb fun, the film is based off the video game series of the same name, and many of the scenes have the feel of a video game including the opening action sequence miles above the Pacific Ocean. Like much of the genre, it falls into its own traps with somewhat ridiculous clues leading to perfectly undisturbed locations including the treasure itself which apparently could have been found easily without all the hubbub as the tomb is far from locked down and anyone with a boat or rappelling cord and a little luck could have become the most wealthy person on the planet.

The film is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K including some minor featurettes such as deleted and extended scenes, audio commentary, and a music video. No doubt fans of the game may get more out of the movie than others as the script feels like it contains references and Easter eggs that others won't recognize. Far from a good film, Uncharted isn't without its charms (mostly thanks to the casting of Holland) by providing some wacky (and increasingly unbelievable) adventure leading to the film's inevitable climax. For the right audience, it may provide you with a couple hours of B-movie entertainment as long as you don't try to make sense of the actions of any of the characters and ignore the very large plot holes characters stumble around along the way.

  • Title: Uncharted
  • IMDb: link

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