![]() It’s a bold move, considering the number of video game film adaptations that have crashed and burned, but with the charismatic Holland as its star, it just may pay off.When Tom Holland boarded the project to turn the long-running video game series Uncharted into a movie in 2017, the film had been in development hell for nearly a decade.Īfter cycling through directors, scripts, fears of the so-called “video game curse” at the top of too many people’s minds, the tides turned. You can’t say that the makers of Uncharted lack confidence, since the film ends with the sort of cliffhanger that basically promises a sequel. ![]() Sully’s longtime treasure hunting associate Chloe Frazer (a charismatic Sophie Ali) more than keeps up with the guys when it comes to physical derring-do, and Moncado’s blade-wielding henchwoman Braddock (Tati Gabrielle, fearsome) is a homicidal villainess who could give James Bond a run for his money. Refreshingly, it’s the female characters who are the most badass. The film features plenty of photogenic real-life locations and some genuinely exciting action sequences, including the aforementioned airplane scene - which opens the film and is reprised later on - and a breathless battle involving airborne 16 th-century sailing ships. As made evident by his many shirtless scenes, the actor clearly buffed up for the role, the better to perform the numerous high-octane stunts that include falling out of an airplane and a lengthy parkour-style foot chase. This star vehicle doesn’t exactly feel like a stretch for Holland, since his Nate, an expert pickpocket, is basically a more larcenous Peter Parker minus the web-spinning - at one point, he apologizes to a bad guy he’s just sent plummeting to his death, which is exactly what Peter would do. (Or maybe the actor was just annoyed at disappearing from the story for long stretches of time.) Wahlberg’s Sully looks and behaves disgruntled so much of the time that you begin to wonder how these two went on to form a long-running partnership. More problematically, Nate and Sully, mutually supportive in the games, here come across like a bickering couple on the verge of divorce. Or wittier exchanges than Sully constantly teasing Nate about his gum-chewing and Nate responding in kind about Sully’s habit of leaving too many open apps on his cell phone. Or more interesting villains than the ruthless Santiago Moncada, played by Antonio Banderas in a performance that can best be described as detached. Still, it would have been nice if screenwriters Rafe Lee Judkins, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway had come up with something more interesting than this generic adventure in which Nate and Sully team up to first commit a robbery at a high-end auction house and then head to exotic locales in search of Ferdinand Magellan’s lost treasure of gold. Director Ruben Fleischer knows his way around this sort of material, having previously helmed such movies as Venom and Zombieland, and he understands that the target audience isn’t particularly interested in deep characterizations or sophisticated dialogue. Resembling the love child of Tomb Raider, Raiders of the Lost Ark and National Treasure, Uncharted definitely feels like a video game adaptation, so rapidly segueing from one elaborate action set piece to another that your fingers may start twitching while watching it. The Mansion Tax Effect: Luxury Home Sales Stall in Los Angeles
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