Fast paced, fun and action-packed, UNCHARTED delivers plenty of treasure and a very enjoyable big screen quest.
Proving there’s much more to him than Spiderman, Tom Holland takes on the role of Nathan Drake, a very clever young thief. He’s recruited by adventurer Sully Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg at his likeable best) and they’re off on a very dangerous trail of a fortune that’s been missing for 500 years.
Holland has a blast in the role its very infectious in all the right ways. Bouncing off cars like Jason Bourne and hanging outside a cargo airplane like OO7 did in “The Living Daylights” he brings a perfect blend of humor and danger to Drake.
This is Wahlberg’s best role since “All the Money in the World” and his Ying/Yang chemistry with Holland sparks the movie.
Antonio Banderas makes a perfect baddie as Santiago Moncada, inheriting his father’s vast wealth by whatever means possible and on the same global search as our heroes.
Sophia Ali is Chloe, a free-lance treasure hunter who often finds herself ahead of Drake and Scully. Are they a trio? Are they not? There are enough double and triple crosses to keep us all guessing.
Tati Gabrielle brings real style and something special as Braddock, the chief badass in Drake’s way for most of the film. I haven’t seen Gabrielle in anything previously, but she’s a standout in the large cast. You can’t take your eyes off her as she rains mayhem down on Drake & Scully.
I thought this was a heist film, but it explodes quickly into a globe-trotting adventure mashup of Indiana Jones & James Bond. Mix in plenty of Robert Langdon style puzzle solving and it’s a winning mix.
Adaptions of video games are more miss than hit, but Director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad) steers this big old pirate ship perfectly into exciting waters.
I loved the animated sequences of a plane flying over a map that harken back to “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Ramin Djawadi (Game of Thrones) builds a wall-to-wall adventure music score that keeps all the action rolling.
Holland’s a movie star. When he’s bounding through the air, swinging Tarzan like across a massive modern art lighting fixture or carrying on a fist fight 30,000 feet up, he gives off that same effortless likability Harrison Ford did in Raiders. He’s impossible not to cheer for.
I’ve read a lot of fanboys of the video game on which the film is based complaining about accuracy or changes, but I’ve never played the game, don’t care at all about it, approached the film as a new experience and had a great time.
With a budget of $120 million and over $400 million at the box office, I’m sure I’ll see more of Holland as Drake.
UNCHARTED gets a big, gold-plated B.
Stay through the credits for a couple extra fun moments with our adventurers, including the set up for Uncharted 2.
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