Uncharted

JPV852 5/9/2022 4:30:40AM 8.4

Good adventure-thriller in the vein of Tomb Raider. Visual effects for the most part were decent and liked seeing Tom Holland in a lead role other than Spider-Man (where he excels) and he's good here. Now this is coming from someone who has never played the game but I thought as video adaptations go, it was fairly entertaining though nothing exceptional. **3.5/5**

Per Gunnar Jonsson 5/16/2024 3:21:17PM 8.4

This movie was pretty much what I expected or rather hoped for. It was a fun adventure/action rollercoaster plain and simple. This is one of those, rare nowadays, movies that are meant to entertain plain and simple. Two hours of adventure, action and twists barely held together by a rudimentary story and no woke rubbish or bullshit preaching. The latter is probably what rendered it a 40% rotten “critics” score on woke tomatoes while the audience gave it a 90% fresh score. As almost always a rotten score on woke tomatoes is an indication that it is a movie worthwhile watching. The story, as can be seen from the movie blurb, is a treasure hunt a la Indiana Jones. It starts off by introducing the main character, Nathan, in a few brief scenes where Nathan bungles up a heist being perpetrated by his brother after which they are involuntarily separated. Quick forward to present time and the main story takes off with Nathan being persuaded by Sullivan to embark on a hunt for an immeasurable treasure. Not exactly the newest or freshest of stories but if it works don’t fix it. Pretty much everyone in this movie is a self-centered scoundrel with little to no care for anyone except themselves. Thus the action and treasure hunting is regularly interrupted by twists and betrayals. No one will claim that this movie has an elaborate and intelligent story. It does not have to. It is just meant to hold the action together. I quite liked the main actors. Sullivan did a good job of being the blasé, self-centered scoundrel, Nathan of being the somewhat naive wannabe treasure hunter and Braddock was quite cool, and sexy (hey, I’m a guy), as the baddie. Antonio Banderas was Antonio Banderas although I was saddened by his premature exit from the hunt. Overall the action was nice although the scenes in, and out of, the airplane was the usual unrealistic Hollywood action. Although that was overshadowed with the ship carrying helicopter scenes towards the end which was taking unrealism to new levels. But I didn’t really care because it was fun silliness. The moment they started to carry those ships away I started to hope that the writer would go for the silly and obvious stunt involving black powder. Yes unrealistic but there is no denying the coolness factor. As far as I am concerned this was two hours well spent. The ending scene clearly suggested that the producers hoped to make a sequel. I would definitely watch it but with all the people lamenting the fact that someone dared to make a movie simply for entertainment without a profound (and boring) story or bullshit preaching in it that might not happen. It did make about four times its budget at the box office though so maybe.

Nathan 10/14/2022 5:50:40PM 8.4

_Uncharted_ was perfectly predictable. I had a general idea of what to expect going into the film and got most of everything I wanted. While it is not groundbreaking cinema, it does offer so very great action set pieces that are pulled straight from the games I grew up loving. The story is very reminiscent of an adventure Nathan Drake would take during the games and the environments were diverse and engaging. My one big critique is the performances. While they were fine, I did not really think the casting was done in terms of the characters themselves but more for the star power. Tom Holland plays a character that is an edgier Peter Parker, he still has the charisma of Nathan Drake but there is something about him that still feels naïve and less sure of himself. I understand this is early in Nathan Drake's career, but it still felt to overly Spider-Man for me. There is really not much to say for Mark Wahlberg either, he plays pretty much the same character as every one of his other films. Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, and Antonio Banderas all do a fine enough job in their roles but never do anything that make their performances stand out. Overall, this movie is fun if you sit back, relax and enjoy some great action and exploration. It is not great, but it definitely passes the time and is good time. **Score**: _68%_ | **Verdict:** _Good_