by: Brandon Kennedy, Staff Writer
Two of my favorite things when it comes to entertainment are movies and video games. Well what do you get when you combine one of the best game franchises with a world renowned film director who excels in the buddy-cop genre, and to top it all off you have Tom Holland as the lead? You get the film Uncharted.
Uncharted isn’t the first feature film about a PlayStation video game franchise, but in my opinion it is one of the coolest. Tom Holland plays Nathan Drake, a younger version of the main character than fans of the video game are familiar with. He’s just a kid who is trying to make ends meet. Mark Wahlberg plays the character Victor Sullivan, better known as Sully. The reason for the two characters meeting is regarding Nate’s long-lost brother, who had been formerly hired by Sully. The two of them meet and set off on a world-faring adventure looking for gold, and Nate is the only one who can figure out the secret.
Regarding the two characters of Nate and Sully and their dynamic throughout the film, I’d say their dynamic personally is one of the better takes on a buddy-cop story. The twist is that Nate really can’t trust anyone because multiple times different characters stab each other in the back. The film really takes a nosedive because when the character Chloe Frazer, played by Sophia Taylor, betrays Nate and Sully. Sully does some betraying of his own and it is made clear that everyone in this movie, other than Nate, is a really bad accomplice.
Nate’s the only character with a genuine loyalty to anyone. I admire that quality in a person and it makes me like his character a lot more. I’d say the dynamic between all the characters in the film is important. Heck, there’s even a cool cameo from Nolan North who voices Nate in the video games, a cool nod to the plotline’s origin.
Now obviously the film is titled Uncharted, and Uncharted means to explore unexplored places and see unseen things, and the movie has that in spades. The movie is like Tomb Raider meets Indiana Jones meets National Treasure and it’s really cool. I really enjoyed the scenery and the storyline as it reminds me that those types of movies aren’t really made all too often anymore, so when one comes around you really need to appreciate it.
Another cool thing about the film is the idea that it explores ancient history and it makes you wonder if things actually happened like it did in the film, or if it’s just clever writing to explain things in a cool way. Mysterious I guess is the word I’d use to describe it, and I’m a really big fan of the mystique that the film gives off about ancient history. The characters really do seem to be good with keeping and retaining information about the history which, for all of us college students, we wish to have the ability to do.
The last thing I’d like to mention are some of the parts of the film that weren’t my favorite. Now for a film called Uncharted you’d expect some skepticism, as for many fans of the story it really can’t compete with the video games. For example, in the first Uncharted there was a sort of paranormal moment in that game towards the end and in the second game it was more action based. The third was more of the game and in the fourth game the treasure at the end just caused the main characters to get greedy with their desire for it.
In this film version however, it’s more like Uncharted 4, yet without all the greed of the characters. The characters want the treasure but it’s less paranormal and more, “I want to be rich.” Now having said that, I found that Uncharted is a good film. Heck, it’s even selling tickets more than the last video game movie Sonic did. All in all, I have to say if you’re indecisive about seeing it, I’d go see it. In my opinion this is one for the history books, and for the explorer in you.