The new Uncharted film has seen solid box office sales, despite it not being a hit with critics.
In the live-action adaptation of Naughty Dog’s globetrotting adventure series, Tom Holland steps into the shoes of charming hero Nathan Drake. However, despite many lauding Holland’s portrayal of the lovable rogue, the film itself appears to have fallen flat.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently sits at 51 percent, with the critics’ consensus being that Uncharted is “promisingly cast but misleadingly titled” and it “mines its bestselling source material to produce a disappointing echo of superior adventure films”.
Meanwhile, The Times says the Uncharted film wastes Tom Holland’s talents in a “tedious game adaptation”, while Empire only gives it two out of five stars. One of its sticking points? Well, in Empire’s words, “scenes start to feel like cutscenes that you wish you could skip.
“Antonio Banderas makes for a colourless villain, with monologues about ‘diversified investments’ so inert that even his goons look bored”.
And, alas, there are several reports of that glorious Nate and Sully dynamic that we cherished in the games just not being there at all. Along with this lack of chemistry between its two male leads, Uncharted has also been called up for its lack of female development (something that the games did particularly well, especially with Chloe Frazer’s character arc from Among Thieves to The Lost Legacy).
The Independent writes: “The only roles for women – Sophia Ali’s Chloe Frazer, who is from the games, and Tati Gabrielle’s Braddock, who is not – are both written as slight variations on ‘cool, emotionless action girl'”.
That being said, these reviews don’t appear to have harmed ticket sales for Uncharted.
According to Variety, Uncharted “opened at the international box office to a solid $21.5m from 15 overseas markets”. That’s not bad going.
To accompany the film’s release, a novelisation of its story has been written. In a nice little Easter egg of sorts, the audiobook of this novelisation will be read by Nathan Drake’s video game actor Nolan North.
In addition to this, North also has a cameo in the Uncharted film, where he shares a scene with Tom Holland’s Drake.
While the film maybe isn’t up to the same calibre of other adventure romps such as Indiana Jones, those who know and love Uncharted will likely still feel it is worth checking out – even if just for a playful trip down memory lane.
Ahh, remember that time we shot down a helicopter from inside a tank while riding on the back of a train. Good times!
