Movie Review: Uncharted Goes To Charted Territory
When it comes to Uncharted, I went to see it because of Tom Holland. It is official. He is an A-Lister, and Uncharted marks him as an action hero, which is different from a super-hero. With Spiderman: No Way Home being one of the biggest movies ever, it is hard not to want to pull for TH. Yet, when it comes to Uncharted, you might not need a little THC to love it more… if you know what I mean.
While the film has heart, especially via Tom’s performance as Nate, a young thief grieving over a disappeared brother, the movie felt as clunky as a video game. Okay, I am a gamer, and one thing I both love and hate are the scenes spliced between moments of the game that, in essence, tell you back-story or have something like the villain and the hero confronting each other. Those scenes feel like little rhinestones tossed at you like diamonds because they are intriguing enough as a story, but not, necessarily, when you are in a game about to finally put Joker in Arkham. There were times when I felt exactly like that; like I was watching emotional scenes from a video game and wishing to press skip so I could get back to the action.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer and written Matt Holloway ,Uncharted is not a bad movie, but you cannot watch it and say you did not expect better. It has the starpower of not only Tom, but also Mark Wahlberg as Sully; another thief that plays a sort of guide/ bully to Tom’s Nate. Moreover, Tati Gabrielle as Jodie, aka The REALL VILLAIN, was fun, and while Sophia Ali’s Chloe Frazer put all her effort to make her a memorable, love interest, it never lifted off. If anything, every bit of this movie feels like a film reel for a potential, other film because you want to see Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg travel the world looking for lost gold and fighting off one-note bad guys, particularly because they are charming actors. Yet, somewhere, between script and editing, the film does not launch to all that it can be, but does enough to mark that Tom Holland could 100% go the Tom Cruise or even Brendan Fraser route of leading thematic, action movies that do not have him in a costume.
In between gorgeous cinematography and pretty, acrobatic fight scenes, I kept thinking of Brendan Fraser in The Mummy. His role as Rick is one of the most memorable action heroes of all time, and I would even compare it to Indiana Jones. Something about these characters/ their actors stands out as rustic, relatable aficionados. They come off like professors you can hang with at the local, off-campus bar while also being the ones that happen to find the ark of the covenant. I mention this because Tom Holland DEFINITELY gave off that vibe. He just did not get a script worthy of elevating it. Uncharted comes out February 18 In Theaters.
