Review: Tom Holland carries Sony's uninspired 'Uncharted' adaptation

Uncharted
3 out of 5 Stars
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writers: Rafe Judkins, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway
Starring: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali
Genre: Action
Rated: PG-13 for violence/action and language

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) – Synopsis: Nathan Drake is recruited by Victor “Sully” Sullivan to find Ferdinand Magellan’s lost treasure.

Review: The Uncharted video game franchise is known for its cinematic cut scenes and thrilling game play. I played an entry or two, but I honestly couldn’t tell you which because I’ve long since forgotten the storylines. If there were storylines. I mean, I was just hunting for treasure or something. Right? It was all button mashing for me.

“Uncharted,” the movie, looks to establish Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) as a hard-luck orphan hardwired for adventure. He’s troubled and more than a little rudderless since Sam, his older brother, was kicked out of the orphanage for trying to steal a map of Ferdinand Magellan’s route around the world.

Sam promised to return. He never did. A decade later, all Nathan has is an impressive collection of postcards that his brother has sent him from his adventuring around the world.

So, when Victor Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg), a treasure hunter who claims to know his brother, approaches Nathan in hopes of having him help find Magellan’s lost treasure, it doesn’t take much to get Nathan to agree.

What follows is nonsensical action and what I can only describe as parkour slapstick. It’s not nearly as graceful as a Jackie Chan film but it works well enough and helps to distract from the fact that the story is utterly absurd. You might like it, but I challenge you to find any sense of logic in it. It is completely inconceivable that Magellan’s treasure, as hidden in the film, has yet to be discovered.

This, like “Moonfall” a few weeks ago, is a film that is far more about the spectacle of the stunts and ridiculous set pieces than it is about anything else. Does it look cool? Usually. Does it make sense? No, not really.

Most importantly, does Drake prefer women to gold? You'll have to see.

The good news is that "Uncharted" is far better than most video game movies. The bad news is that it pales when compared to the original Indiana Jones trilogy and the later Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible films that it clearly wants to emulate.

I wasn’t bored. I wasn’t entirely engaged. It did allow me to spend Valentine's Day with Holland. Finally Zendaya and I have something in common. I wish Nathan Drake didn’t feel like Peter Parker because they aren’t remotely the same character. I’d like to see Holland take more risks like he did with “Cherry” (good performance, bad film). That was never going to happen with “Uncharted.” So, we’re given a mediocre and fairly generic movie that will likely entertain the masses just enough to guarantee a trilogy of films that milk Holland’s popularity for al it is worth.