Uncharted (2022)

As Tom Holland's star ascends it is only natural that Hollywood would find him the perfect vehicle to capitalize on all his talents. Sony, the studio that turns Holland into a megastar as Spider-Man, looking for a way to jump on the franchise/shared universe train that is the Golden Ring the studios are all searching for would naturally attempt to exploit their popular video game IPs. Uncharted feels like perfect corporate synergy.   

In light of all these goals we get Uncharted, a rollicking adventure story based on a popular video game that sets Holland as the charming hero who gets to do all the things he does well; be funny, charming, handsome and often half naked. Holland has great screen presence, impeccable comic timing, and has the face and body of a matinee idol. Yes the camera spends a lot of time on his ass and the movie ensures he is shirtless or in a wet t-shirt as much as possible. It's like a focus group outlined all they wanted from a Holland movie and they wrote a script around that. Holland has star magic and the whole movie he is delightful and hopelessly watchable. His charisma is a big part of what smooths over a lot of the film's weaknesses.

Overall Uncharted is simplistic fun. A lot of it doesn't make sense if you think too hard from its wild goose chase clues that run the characters around in needless circles, to the characters that show up just in time with little explanation. Uncharted is the sort of film you need to turn off your brain to allow yourself to enjoy this adventure. Uncharted kinda pieces together ideas from other popular franchises and even mentions most of them by name (Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean get shout outs in the script). It may be over referential and self-aware, it may be focused more on set pieces strung together than plot, it may have a lot of easy fixes when the writers clearly wrote themselves into a corner, but Holland and the rest of the cast make it all almost fun enough that you want to forgive the film its shortcomings. 

I'll give it props for focusing on the relationship between the friends (Holland and Wahlberg) and not playing into needless romances. While Ali's character could be read as a love interest the film never really commits to this and Gabrielle's is an ex but never rekindles that spark. Romances often feel shoehorned into stories like this so it is refreshing when the film realizes it doesn't need that. 

So Sony might be on to something here. They can start a string of light if somewhat silly movies (the easily marketable kind) and build up the talented star they have on their pay role. I had a good time despite myself although I'm not sure its the sort of film I would get much out of if I watched it again. Still I'd likely buy a ticket to the sequel. 

Uncharted 

Starring: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, Antonio Banderas, Steven Waddington, Rudy Pankow, Nolan North, Pilou Asbaek

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Writers: Rafe Lee Judkins, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway