Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

So, I’m not what you would call a video game expert. I’ve played video games in the past like the ‘Crash Bandicoot’ games; I’ve played ‘Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force’ on my home computer; and I’ve even reviewed the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 video game via YouTube to satisfy my Spider-Man curiosity.

In some way, I can say the same thing about the ‘Uncharted’ movie that came out this year with there being a Spider-Man influence in it, which I’ll talk about shortly. I’ve never played the ‘Uncharted’ PlayStation video games created by Naughty Dog (They also developed the ‘Crash Bandicoot’ games).

I more or less stopped playing video games by the time the ‘Uncharted’ series came along. But I wanted to see what this film adaptation of ‘Uncharted’ was like and whether it stood well on its own merits. Although, I’ve heard that this film adaptation isn’t an exact faithful one to the video games.

For one thing, Tom Holland’s casting as Nathan ‘Nate’ Drake doesn’t match to the age he’s meant to be in the video games. Same thing for Mark Wahlberg as Victor ‘Sully’ Sullivan, I think. But I can get past those aspects of this film adaptation as long as the story and the characters kept me interested.

And I have to say, I enjoyed ‘Uncharted’ as a film. I found this a worthwhile film to spend watching two hours of at the cinema. It’s very entertaining and the performances of the cast are enjoyable throughout. Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg truly shine in their performances as their characters. 🙂

Do I think this is an excellent film? I…wouldn’t go that far. There are things I would’ve preferred to be different in the film, including a certain character lasting a bit longer and the relationship between two characters handled differently. But on the whole, ‘Uncharted’ was a very fun action-packed flick.

It’s certainly one of Ruben Fleischer’s better efforts as a director compared to him directing the 2018 film ‘Venom’. It’s also interesting that Avi Arad is one of the producers of this film, having produced a number of ‘Spider-Man’/Marvel superhero films over the years, including some of the latest ones. 🙂

It probably explains why Tom Holland was cast in the lead role of ‘Uncharted’, especially with Sony/Columbia Pictures being the production companies for the film. Speaking of which, I enjoyed Tom Holland’s performance as Nate Drake and it was nice to see him in a different live-action film.

It’s a contrast compared to when he’s usually playing the ‘MCU’s version of Spider-Man in the movies. Most of the other films I’ve seen featuring Tom Holland are him doing voice work such as ‘Dolittle’, ‘Spies In Disguise’ and ‘Onward’. It’s so nice to see him in the flesh in a different film here.

With that said, I don’t know if this is like Peter Parker being in the ‘Uncharted’ film as opposed to Nate Drake being in the ‘Uncharted’ film. Tom Holland can’t seem to lose the Peter Parker aspect in him, despite all the swearing he says. Much like how David Tennant can’t lose the Tenth Doctor in him. 😀

It was nice to see Mark Wahlberg act alongside Tom Holland in the film. And it’s good to see him in a decent role compared to seeing him in the ‘Transformers’ films ‘Age of Extinction’ and ‘The Last Knight’. His character sprouts a moustache at the end of the film, which matches to the video game. 😀

The film also features Antonio Banderas (who I’ve seen in the ‘Spy Kids’ films and ‘Dolittle’) as Santiago Moncada, a ruthless treasure hunter and mostly the film’s villain. I was disappointed when he got killed off in the film to be taken over by Tati Gabrielle as Jo Braddock, Moncada’s mercenary.

There’s also Sophia Ali as Chloe Frazer, a fellow fortune hunter who is an associate of Mark Walhberg’s Sully and she shares a relationship with Tom Holland’s Nate. There’s not really much of a romance between Nate and Chloe, but that’s something that might be saved in a potential sequel. 🙂

Speaking of which, the film’s mid-credits scene seems to hint at that, with there being more ‘Uncharted’ films to look forward to. This is especially the case when Nate’s long-lost brother ‘Sam’ might not be dead as presumed in the film. The sequel might also explore that particular angle more.

Overall, I found ‘Uncharted’ a fun action-packed film to check out at the cinema. It certainly has an ‘Indiana Jones’ aspect to it, especially with the treasure-hunting and puzzle-solving throughout. I’m sure you’ll find this film worthwhile, even if it doesn’t really match to the video games it’s based on.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂