Is The Tom Holland & Mark Wahlberg Starrer 'Uncharted' Worth A Watch?

After the whole Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg situation where Wahlberg gave him a massager that the "Spider-Man" star mistook for something to get his rocks off, fans were eagerly waiting to see their on-screen chemistry in "Uncharted".

The movie does not disappoint in its moments of comedy, decent stunts, and acting prowess. What it fails at, is to give itself and its protagonists any sense of purpose. But then again, who said you always need a purpose to make a movie, or watch one?

Unlike many hit movies that are later turned into games, "Uncharted" began its life on PlayStation 3 in2007, as "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune." More sequels followed, "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves" in 2009 and "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception" in 2011. The final installment was "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" that came on PlayStation 4 in 2016.

More spin-offs came later, with one having Chloe Frazer as the protagonist. The game series has been critically acclaimed and is a commercial success, having sold more than 41 million units on the whole.

According to Lucas Pope, the former Naughty Dog developer, this franchise has drawn inspiration from the "Gears of War" series. The sheer interest in the game naturally pushed it to turn into a movie, and producer Avi Arad indicated his interest in 2008 itself, entering into talks with Sony for the same. 

When talks of 'Uncharted' first began to make rounds, Mark Wahlberg was signed on, but he was to play Nathan Drake. As the years passed, a carousel of scriptwriters, directors, and even cast members joined and left, moving on to do other projects. Before Ruben Fleischer finally helmed the project, the movie was to be directed by Shawn Levy but he left to do "Free Guy".

Even after the star cast was announced, the movie suffered several production delays because of the pandemic. Finally, "Uncharted" has released this Friday, February 18th, with Tom Holland playing Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg taking the slightly comic role of his mentor, Victor Sullivan. Sophie Ali plays Chloe Frazer while Antonio Banderas and Tati Gabrielle Hobson play the baddies, Santiago Moncada and Jo Braddock.

It was made on a $120 million budget and it's best described as "Pirate's of the Caribbean" meets "Indiana Jones" meets "National Treasure", minus Johnny Depp, Nicholas Cage, and Harrison Ford, of course.

The movie starts with a young Nathan Drake and his older brother, Sam, trying to steal the first map made after the Magellan expedition. The Drake brothers are shown to be orphans and descendants of Sir Francis Drake. They are caught and Sam, being older, is being sent to juvie, but he escapes, and that's the end of his role, other than in photos and handwritten postcards that we see throughout the movie.

Holland is typecast as a thief with a golden heart, who likes to steal, but not cheat. Sullivan or Sully has no such qualms about double-crossing people, but even he does not let his team down. Chloe Frazer is conflicted, she likes Drake but does not trust anyone. Then again, she's hardly shown to be trustworthy herself.

The movie is full of stunts, in a very PlayStation-like action. There's a scene in which Holland falls from a plane, and they show the ground fast approaching with his eyes as a POV, with his hands floating about in the air the way you'd play "Uncharted", or "Fortnite", or any such live-action game on the PlayStation.

The movie is likely to appeal to the gamer in you, but for the person who gets their kicks on a gaming chair, it might be a little too tame.

Here's the trailer...

So what's the verdict? It's watchable, and Tom Holland makes it all look good. He's ripped, we love the parkour, but heck, we've seen "Spider-Man", you know. Here, Holland is good but he's mortal, not a superhero. But he plays his age and has slick bartending skills, so we'd be happy to have him serve us one.

Mark Wahlberg holds up his slightly-aging I'm-a-shameless-thief demeanor well, and if nothing else, his cootchie-cooing with Mr. Whiskers is nigh well adorable.

Sophie Ali does okay too, and Antonia Banderas looks a bit too suave to play a baddie. Tati Gabrielle might be the next Cruella, though, because she is entirely believable as the vamp, and did not deserve the end she got.

Overall, as we said, 'Uncharted' is watchable, but forgettable. It leaves you with a pleasant taste of nothing.

On Rotten Tomatoes, it gets a 39% on the Tomatometer but 89% on the audience score. Oh, and Tom Holland in Timothée Chalamet-like hair is a bit unnerving, no?

Meanwhile, word to the wise. Once the credits roll in, wait a bit to see Wahlberg sporting a 'stache, and Holland rising up to the occasion.