Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is your every day, up-from-nothing, teen getting by as a bartender when one night he is approached by Sully (Mark Wahlberg), a man who has a strange interest in Drake. Sully enlists Drake – after some convincing – to help him steal an old Spanish cross up for auction, said to be the key to unlocking a great fortune of lost gold. Eventually placing his trust in the stranger, the two plan their heist, and with that their globetrotting adventure is off to a thrilling and high stakes start. 

Uncharted is the long-troubled action-adventure film inspired by the Play Station series of games by the same name. After over a decade toiling in pre-production hell, Ruben Fleischer directs the script written by Rafe Judkins, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway. Released by Columbia Pictures, the franchise-starting-hopeful runs a clean 116 minutes and contains in its run most all of the hallmarks that make this genre of film so enduring and fun. That being said, Uncharted, while still enjoyable, seems more preoccupied with including these genre staples and fails to really create an identity of its own. 

Leading the film is Holland, no stranger to action given his involvement in the MCU. He performs well in the set pieces, and while there is not a huge emotional range for the actor to traverse, the few charter beats that are present are well played. The script fails many of its characters, but none worse than Drake who has one foot on each side of the threshold from being a teen heartthrob explorer or an adult action star. He drinks, and he (steals from someone who) smokes, and he tells dirty jokes, but he is being held back by a script that wants to capitalize on his broad family appeal. Uncharted is clearly heavily inspired by Indiana Jones, and while Indy’s initial two outings are technically rated at PG, the whip-snapping archeologist was a huge reason for the addition of the popular PG-13 rating into the MPAA system. Looking at some similar films that have come after the Spielberg catalyst – The Mummy (1999), Tomb Raider (2001, 2003, 2018), or The Da Vinci Code (2006) – Uncharted keeps its star riding with the training wheels still attached almost afraid to embrace some of the freedoms which its PG-13 rating allows it. Notably, there is very little gunfire in the film, the script almost going out of its way to avoid such encounters safe for a few moments late in the film, and those seemingly self-imposed restrictions do allow for the script to explore and push its characters to discover alternative solutions to predicaments that would otherwise be resolved with firearms. 

Opposite Holland, for most of the film at least, is Wahlberg’s Sully, an ineffective role that teeters between mentor and sidekick. Sully’s role suffers not only because, like Drake, the screenwriters seem unsure of how to handle him, but even more egregiously is that Wahlberg just seems bored throughout. He brings very little energy and enthusiasm to the screen, maybe it is in an attempt to play the cool, calm, and collected partner, but if so, those motivations do not shine through, and it comes off as wholly apathetic. His chemistry with Holland, however, does have some bright moments. While the quips and banter back and forth do not always land and the jokes can be quite cumbersome in their setup, the way the humor tracks and builds on itself is there which shows a structural understanding on behalf of the writing team even if the actual execution falters. 

Filling in for Wahlberg for much of the latter half of the film is Sophia Ali in the role of Chloe. Ali brings a great bit of life and charm to the film, and the longer sequences where she is working in close quarters with Holland are some of the most engaging and fun moments of the film. Comparable, almost, to a Bond Girl type arc, she also has the smarts, cunning, and ability to break that mold and form her own path in the narrative, one we become just as invested in as we are with Drake and Sully. She outshines Wahlberg in almost every way as a sidekick and partner to Holland as well as adding a lot of narrative excitement to the backstory of some of these characters and to the tangled relationships they find themselves in currently. 

It is never enough to just be hunting treasure as there always needs to be an antagonist force that adds a greater sense of urgency and danger to the situation. In Uncharted, that role is filled by Braddock (Tati Gabrielle) who leads the small task force of goons and is bankrolled by Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas), who claims his family are the rightful heirs of the lost fortune. The genre is not known for its multidimensional and deep, morally conflicted villains and Uncharted continues that tradition to an almost laughable extent. There are a few moments of plot necessity where there needs to be an opposing force, but by and large, the adventure has all the elements present to be exciting on its own terms without needing to involve some of the most empty-headed henchmen in recent memory. The script does allude to a greater family plotline that is resolved by being ignored and just as quickly written off as it was introduced. 

One of the highlights of Uncharted is its action sequences. They can quickly be dismissed for being so over the top and absurd, but because the film maintains that lunacy throughout all of the major set pieces, we quickly accept them as part of the world of the film. Uncharted opens in medias res of the airdrop sequence that was heavily used to promote the film. While we are spared the record scratch audio cue, the film cuts back fifteen years prior and spends the next hour or so leading up to the aerial stunts which, ironically enough, is when the film finally finds its footing and leads into a very solid final act which is firmly centered on Holland’s Drake and allows the actor to really break out and show his chops as a modern action star. 

Uncharted is a summer blockbuster in winter. Sit back, relax, and enjoy almost two hours of popcorn, soda, candy, and just mindless fun. The puzzles are not quite as robust as they could have been, but the film understandably does not want to linger too long in places where the audience cannot play along and may have things solved well in advance of the characters. It moves at a rapid clip but is not so involved with itself that we are ever at risk of falling behind or missing any crucial details over the sound of our own munching. Is Uncharted the film that will solidify Holland’s place in our culture when he’s not wearing the Spidey Suit? Probably not. But it is a clear step in the right direction for the newly minted star that has been an adrenaline shot to the Box Office in an otherwise quiet winter. It is only a matter of time before the stars align on the right project that will catapult the Brit to meteoric heights, and while Uncharted certainty has its stumbling moments, Holland handles the material with grace and ease as the frontman of the long-troubled flick, finally splashing down onto cinema screens.