Sic parvis Magna.
Latin for “Greatness from small beginnings.”
For this long-awaited adaptation, the Latin expression associated with the acclaimed video game series is all too untrue. I won’t lie that I found Ruben Fleischer’s “Uncharted” mildly entertaining at best. Still, the reality is that the film butchers any of the humanity and heart that each game contains. It’s understandable how hard this movie must’ve been to dream up, considering it was in development hell for over ten years, but the final result tarnishes the game’s name with no greatness, big or small, to be found.
I’m not a diehard fan of the Naughty Dog games by any means, but I’ve played all four installments once (on the hardest difficulty, no less), and they’re pretty excellent, even if the first one shows its age a bit. They are tentpoles of the adventure game genre. So, I have been excited to see a film version of these games for quite some time. When news broke that Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg were the film’s Nathan Drake & Victor “Sully” Sullivan, I became skeptical.
Truth is, they aren’t even the worst offenders of the movie. Holland is solid and adequately demonstrates the spirit and snarky humor of Drake the best he can, even if he can’t quite shake the “Spider-Man” schtick in every scene. At the same time, Wahlberg does his trademark Marky Markisms which is nothing like the video game character. Still, they aren’t to blame here.
I found the movie’s absurd lack of character development and originality within the story utterly distasteful. The crux of the film’s plot revolves around Nathan Drake trying to find the long-lost treasure of Castilian navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano with Sully. They think the treasure can lead to Drake’s older brother’s whereabouts Sam, who disappeared trying to find it. Like the games themselves, the plot is not a complex puzzle box.
However, the film offers no surprises or exciting content. “Uncharted” strings together its plot without any semblance of the factors that make movies work — characterization, tension or intrigue. None of the story beats are earned, and it feels completely indistinguishable from any other adventure movie. Everyone’s motivation is simply “for the treasure,” which makes it incredibly hard to root for any of the characters since they’re all so flat and one-dimensional, including Holland’s Drake.
The action scenes, which are cherry-picked from the games, feel completely lifeless as they are lazily thrown together by quick cutaway editing that hides the film’s poor choreography and blocking. It’s such a shame since the games are inherently cinematic, with some of the most breathtaking chase sequences and shootouts in video game history. This material should’ve been placed in the hands of a creative team who could handle the insane action and couple it with a story that has heart. Director Ruben Fleischer doesn’t bring an ounce of creative identity to the film. “Uncharted” ends up being an implausible, globe-trotting adventure movie chock-full of CGI action and void of potential.
Granted, there’s a mediocre adventure in the film because it is mindless. Viewers forget about everything by the time the title slams its way onto the screen after the big third-act action scene. However, this type of thinking will only work for a casual, donkey-brained audience member who just wants to see Tom Holland solve puzzles, bartend and slam into things. 
Needless to say, “Uncharted” is a letdown. It works fine in its own little bubble, but as an adaptation of some of the most fun adventure games you could ever play, there is no treasure to be found. A few years ago, the fan film starring Nathan Fillion & Stephen Lang as Drake and Sully is exponentially better.