Anna Blackburn takes a closer look at Tom Holland’s newest action adventure film.
Witty. Adventurous. Predictable.
Tom Holland’s newest action adventure film, Uncharted, hit cinemas last month, but failed to impress critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film acquired a score of 41% on the Tomatometer, but audiences gave it a 90%, which begs the question: why the gap?
The first film from Sony PlayStation Productions, which is based on the Naughty Dog video game, stars Mark Wahlburg, Tom Holland, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, and legendary Spanish actor, Antonio Banderas, in their competing search for the lost fortune of Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan. This was Tom Holland’s first experience in the role of executive producer and the filming for Uncharted began just days after he finished on the set of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
While the film truly embraced the impressive stage-combat skills of the most recent Spider-Man actor, the fight scenes lacked that feeling of real danger and risk which is a key element to keeping the audience in suspense. In addition to this, the film moved too quickly so that you never really got to feel for any of the characters. The deepest insight we experience into the lives of the characters is Nathan Drake’s (Tom Holland) connection to his lost brother, Sam (OuterBanks star Rudy Pankow).
“...the fight scenes lacked that feeling of real danger and risk which is a key element to keeping the audience in suspense.”
The film had a similar structure to Netflix’s Red Notice which stars Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson, and Gal Gadot in a more adult-like quest for priceless treasure. Not to mention the similarities in setting, where both films follow the characters from a famous European city out to tropical islands. It was also quite presumptuous to add a post-credit scene, because, while post-credit scenes are currently a popular way of setting up the next film, it seemed like a scene of predictable suspense after an already disappointing end to the film.
Overall I would give this film a 6 out of 10. The film is a very surface-level action adventure, however there are many witty one liners, video game easter eggs, and classic references to classic treasure hunt films Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean. Despite its thin plot and action sequences which constantly had me in a state of ‘as if’, the film was light-hearted and fun to watch. Films often get called out for lack of depth, however it's nice to watch a film which doesn’t force you to use too much brain power.
I would recommend this film to those who love action films and Tom Holland, however I wouldn’t recommend it to treasure hunt film-buffs. There are plenty of other, far more epic films which would better satisfy your inner-explorer.