**Uncharted overdid the action, cheesy performances, and selfish betrayals while leaving the story behind.** Uncharted mixes National Treasure, Tomb Raider, and The Other Guys into a disappointing cocktail that leaves a bland taste. Several sequences and setpieces were lifted directly from the games, which is a fabulous treat for fans of the series, but that is about where the similarities end. Although a fantastic actor, Holland was a younger choice than many expected for the role, making Uncharted Nathan Drake's origin story. Unfortunately, this was less origin and more Mary Sue, as Drake already had all the knowledge and skills to navigate this outrageous movie. The CGI was obvious, and the stunts and action were so unbelievable for a character that started the movie as a bartender that it made it difficult to enjoy. All the characters were so unlikeable and duplicitous, with almost every interaction ending in another "surprising" betrayal. Mark Wahlberg's performance didn't fit in the movie either. He felt like he was just playing himself with goofy quips and fast-talking rather than trying to play a character in this universe. I was hoping for so much more, but this franchise-launching film was dead on arrival.

_Uncharted_ was perfectly predictable. I had a general idea of what to expect going into the film and got most of everything I wanted. While it is not groundbreaking cinema, it does offer so very great action set pieces that are pulled straight from the games I grew up loving. The story is very reminiscent of an adventure Nathan Drake would take during the games and the environments were diverse and engaging. My one big critique is the performances. While they were fine, I did not really think the casting was done in terms of the characters themselves but more for the star power. Tom Holland plays a character that is an edgier Peter Parker, he still has the charisma of Nathan Drake but there is something about him that still feels naïve and less sure of himself. I understand this is early in Nathan Drake's career, but it still felt to overly Spider-Man for me. There is really not much to say for Mark Wahlberg either, he plays pretty much the same character as every one of his other films. Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, and Antonio Banderas all do a fine enough job in their roles but never do anything that make their performances stand out. Overall, this movie is fun if you sit back, relax and enjoy some great action and exploration. It is not great, but it definitely passes the time and is good time. **Score**: _68%_ | **Verdict:** _Good_

This movie was pretty much what I expected or rather hoped for. It was a fun adventure/action rollercoaster plain and simple. This is one of those, rare nowadays, movies that are meant to entertain plain and simple. Two hours of adventure, action and twists barely held together by a rudimentary story and no woke rubbish or bullshit preaching. The latter is probably what rendered it a 40% rotten “critics” score on woke tomatoes while the audience gave it a 90% fresh score. As almost always a rotten score on woke tomatoes is an indication that it is a movie worthwhile watching. The story, as can be seen from the movie blurb, is a treasure hunt a la Indiana Jones. It starts off by introducing the main character, Nathan, in a few brief scenes where Nathan bungles up a heist being perpetrated by his brother after which they are involuntarily separated. Quick forward to present time and the main story takes off with Nathan being persuaded by Sullivan to embark on a hunt for an immeasurable treasure. Not exactly the newest or freshest of stories but if it works don’t fix it. Pretty much everyone in this movie is a self-centered scoundrel with little to no care for anyone except themselves. Thus the action and treasure hunting is regularly interrupted by twists and betrayals. No one will claim that this movie has an elaborate and intelligent story. It does not have to. It is just meant to hold the action together. I quite liked the main actors. Sullivan did a good job of being the blasé, self-centered scoundrel, Nathan of being the somewhat naive wannabe treasure hunter and Braddock was quite cool, and sexy (hey, I’m a guy), as the baddie. Antonio Banderas was Antonio Banderas although I was saddened by his premature exit from the hunt. Overall the action was nice although the scenes in, and out of, the airplane was the usual unrealistic Hollywood action. Although that was overshadowed with the ship carrying helicopter scenes towards the end which was taking unrealism to new levels. But I didn’t really care because it was fun silliness. The moment they started to carry those ships away I started to hope that the writer would go for the silly and obvious stunt involving black powder. Yes unrealistic but there is no denying the coolness factor. As far as I am concerned this was two hours well spent. The ending scene clearly suggested that the producers hoped to make a sequel. I would definitely watch it but with all the people lamenting the fact that someone dared to make a movie simply for entertainment without a profound (and boring) story or bullshit preaching in it that might not happen. It did make about four times its budget at the box office though so maybe.