REVIEW: Uncharted (2022) – Geeks + Gamers

Uncharted is a 20 year old game that has nearly taken the world by storm. The video game series was created by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Entertainment, with three games to date. Today’s review will cover Uncharted 5: A Thief’s End which released in 2017 on Playstation 4

Nathan Drake is a treasure hunter and professional adventurer. He was once part of the “Siege” team, which included Victor Sullivan, Sully’s son Sam, and Chloe Frazer. Nathan became an international hero after he helped defeat a group of mercenaries led by Rafe Adler in Syria.

UNCHARTED REVIEW (2022)

Reviews of films

A dumb-fun action picture may be just what moviegoers need in an age rife with politically controversial blockbusters. Uncharted was launched in theaters this weekend, with the goal of merely entertaining fans and providing a vacation from reality. While reviewers panned the film for its basic narrative and hollow characters, audiences overwhelmingly praised it.

Uncharted succeeds at what it sets out to achieve, but it fails miserably at being an adaptation. Sure, there are the spectacular action set pieces that were ripped straight from the games, but the primary characters and the games’ heart were kept intact. The majority of fans liked the movie and believed it was decent for what it was attempting to be. Fans of the games, on the other hand, will be outraged and turned off by this film’s lack of devotion to the original characters. For the most part, the film’s brainless action, cheap comedy, and predictable narrative were enough to pull them in and make them like it.

Nathan Drake, a modest bartender moonlighting as a thief, is followed in Uncharted until an old acquaintance of his brother, Sully, approaches him with an opportunity for adventure. Together, they’ll seek for Magellan’s Gold in the footsteps of Nathan’s brother Sam. Moncada and his henchmen impede them at every step, as do the continuous betrayals of individuals Nathan should be able to trust the most.

Uncharted manages to combine the historical intrigue of National Treasure with the over-the-top action of the Pirates of the Caribbean films in a fun and exciting manner, despite an empty storyline. This movie isn’t attempting to be the next Da Vinci Code or even a full-fledged National Treasure. It accepts its simplistic premise and does its best, concentrating instead on entertaining action and lovable people. It excels in this area, being precisely what it aspires to be. That is understandable, but it may not be for everyone. Nonetheless, in today’s Hollywood, dumb-fun films like this succeeding is critical to returning the pendulum to political neutrality. Then, once again, Hollywood’s primary objective would be entertainment.

The question must constantly be asked: Is the film too woke or political? Both yes and no. Yes, in the sense that every modern-day picture must be as woke as possible in order to get studio money. The wokeness is limited to a few throwaway phrases and isolated situations, while the broader tale and characters are mostly unaffected by politics. All of these few awake minutes were focused on female empowerment. The film’s primary villain, for example, is portrayed as a petulant daddy’s son who can never escape his father’s shadow. He’s in his fifties, yet he still relies on his father as if he were a college dropout. Furthermore, while never revealing any specific reasons for her supremacy, his second-in-command is presented as being wiser and better than him in every manner. All of this reduces his intimidation and makes it difficult to be concerned about him as an adversary. Finally, the arousal was distracting and irritating, but otherwise unimportant.

Despite Antonio Banderas’ incredible skill, his adversary ended up being one of the worst aspects of the plot when he might have easily been the greatest. The movie can’t figure out what kind of character he is. Is he the shrewd, imposing, ruthless, and selfish businessman eager to regain the riches that rightly belongs to him? Is he the whining daddy’s boy that tries anything to spite his father out of a juvenile desire? The film can’t pick between the two, continuously moving him between the two, making it difficult to feel scared by him or concerned about his being the first to achieve the gold. Even though Antonio is a fantastic performer, he couldn’t save this inconsistency of a character.

Braddock, Banderas’ main henchman, is easily the weakest character in the film. The audience is continually reminded that she is fearsome, clever, and a badass, yet they never see her do anything really terrifying. Instead, she makes irrational judgments and often makes mistakes. Her combat scenes were the only aspects about her character that were somewhat credible throughout the movie. The choreography expertly depicts her using a variety of strategies to counteract her male opponents’ height and strength advantage. She basically broods and whines about everything else.

When Braddock’s character was forced to take command of a crisis, the authors had a chance to rehabilitate her character, but they completely ignored it. It might have gone a long way if the authors had depicted her trying to keep control of her troops, turning to incredible guile, intimidation, and tact to convince them to follow her. The audience finally got a glimpse of her as the crafty badass they’d been promised she was. The henchman, on the other hand, just shrug and obey instructions. They needed to be able to dispute her authority and be given a compelling reason to continue to obey her. As a result, she comes out as an evil Mary Sue that everyone adores and obeys for no apparent reason.

Chloe’s presence seemed more like a last-minute shoehorned addition to the tale to extend the length, with no plot or character development. She wasn’t really offensive, but she wasn’t particularly excellent either. Her portrayal was uneven and shallow, resulting in a general lack of interest in her scenes. When her scenes came up, it seemed like the authors took a day vacation and let the intern do their job.

Sully, starring Mark Wahlberg, was a disaster, but for strange reasons. The viewer is continuously taught not to trust him and that he is a secretly horrible guy, yet it is diametrically opposed to Mark Wahlberg’s entertaining and appealing performance. Despite being the least like his game counterpart, Mark’s performance was praised by many fans. Given the story’s discrepancies, this is quite astounding. When you have Mark’s charisma, it’s difficult to turn into a grouchy old guy. He wasn’t a very likeable character, but he was entertaining anyway.

Tom Holland was a bad choice for the role of Nathan Drake in the game. Even yet, fans of his Spider-Man will certainly appreciate his Nathan, since he is virtually the same character. If anybody was hoping to see the real Nathan Drake on television, they will be disappointed. Nathan’s storyline was meaningless and unfulfilling, with little to no reward. Despite just providing Nathan Drake easy riddles before having him do some really idiotic things, the film attempts to persuade the viewer that he is a genius. As a result, his characterisation was erratic, making it difficult to connect with him the majority of the time. His childlike charm and wit are endearing, but he comes off as more Spider-Man searching for treasure than Nathan Drake.