Uncharted (2022)
When did you decide to become Indiana Jones?
Do you like video games? Do you like video game movies? Do you like movies that everyone else seems to hate for no apparent reason that you can understand when you actually watch the movie yourself outside of the fact that they don’t like a specific actor or feels it’s somehow assaulting their childhood? Well, if you answered yes to some or all of these questions, you might want to make sure people aren’t looking at you funny for talking out loud - that happens to me all the time - and then get ready for a treat. Keeping on the newer releases band wagon I’ve adopted lately, we check out another one that I wanted to watch that was from a bit further ago but I just remembered was on streaming the other night. Maybe it’s not the dream cast, but let’s see what kind of fun treasure hunting action we can get into with Uncharted.
A boy grows up getting into shenanigans with his brother at an orphanage until his brother has to bail to avoid going on a different kind of “adventure” with the cops. This leaves the younger alone to grow up with his hands solidly in the game of pick pocketing from the well-offs and keeping fresh his history lessons when a mysterious man enters his place of work, pitching a big mysterious score. He also pockets all of the brothers already stolen things, leading to him going to get them back, and further getting drawn in to the pitch - going after a legendary treasure from an ancient explorer that’s rumored to still be out there somewhere, simply lost until it’s found. Oh, and the chance of meeting up with his brother again. Thus begins a solid adventure story of puzzles, traps, and double crosses meant to entertain, complete with plenty of action elements that feel completely out of a game.
The characters are pretty good here. I mean, there’s a lot of depth to them in a complicated sense more so than necessarily a building stand point. Truth be told, there is still evolution to the characters - they learn as they go on, but it never feels like it changes the character so much you wouldn’t recognize them as much as it just feels like the characters remember things from earlier on and develop from it. There’s a decent number of characters as well - with three “good guys” and two “bad guys” as it were, with an additional two goons that get some good screen time as well. None of them are just amazing good either - they all exist in that grey realm of crime-doers that may have good hearts.
The actors do an absolute great job here. Chemistry between people is off the charts, and it’s genuinely enjoyable to watch them banter back and forth and interact, even when that interaction is backstabbing or fighting. Line deliveries are on point, and you get a good breadth of quirky fun and also serious plays coming out of folks. There’s some hamming it up, and those usually help add to the energy of the movie. I’m torn saying that this is the strongest part of the movie, as I really do enjoy the adventure treasure hunting plot beats, but in the end I do think that most people would be able to get on board with saying the acting is one of the stronger points for sure.
Remarkable similarities in looks, but no relation.
The sets are pretty fun as well, as you’d come to expect from adventure flicks. We get some slight ruin-puzzle action, although it’s more sewers than ruins. We get jungles, buildings, and even some air-borne action stuff. The costumes that I usually lump in with these are also pretty good - with some variety even though it’s mostly modern attire falling into my usual disinterested fold. That said, they get pretty good and accurate at times, so that’s probably a bonus for folks looking forward to that. I think the fanciest outfits we get are really just some tactical gear on the bad guys part, but they still manage quite well to set people apart visually so there’s no confusion.
The action scenes are well done. Acrobatic stuff, quite becoming of the actor most all know as Spiderman, as well as minor gun fights and plenty of hand battles. It’s a bit like a Jackie Chan movie at times, plenty of times working in the environment to make moments a bit more exciting and memorable - be it swinging from ropes or hanging from light fixtures. It also doesn’t over-cut during the scenes, so you have the time to process it and not get lost in all the moving parts. On the more parkour side, we get plenty of moments with hops and skips - but it never goes to crazy into with things like building flips and super-long range daring jumps. Helps ground it a little bit, at least until we start getting into parts you’d expect to see out of fast and furious anyways.
The last part of this is where I go into the whole adaptation part - which here is only partial surprise to my audience. I haven’t played any Uncharted games - but I did watch one once. From what I saw of it, I wouldn’t say this is a horrible adaptation, but I’m sure if I was hardcore into the franchise I’d find all sorts of things to pick apart that would make my fan-rage burn bright. That said, I’ve seen far worse things (like that Halo tv show). The characters feel fitting enough to me from what limited amount I know of them, and the overall action and humor bits feel like they fit in fine - including the airplane scene feeling like it’s a straight up quick time event from one of the games that I did see. In summation for here - hardcore fans might find more to pick apart than loose fans, but if approached with an open mind both should find plenty to enjoy about it.
We get some Jackie Chan stunts up in here.
I like this movie. It was fun, had exciting moments, had twists and turns, and the acting was a blast. That said, you can call most every twist and turn if you’ve seen a few movies here and there - not that it really hurts the enjoyment fact that much - but some might still surprise you. The real stand out star in my mind is the acting, followed pretty dang close by the classic adventure movie feel. I think plenty will get a few laughs and have a good time with this one.