Review Roundup For Uncharted Movie--Here's What The Critics Think

Just wowzerz. Can the bovine brigade get a break already? I mean the flops just keep coming but at least this one really is a Movie-Game. lol :P

Anyway, I suppose to be fair VG to movies rarely go well so don't take it too serious folks.

The Story.

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Review Roundup For Uncharted Movie--Here's What The Critics Think

Reviews for Sony's big action movie based on Naughty Dog's video game have begun to appear online.

By Eddie Makuch on February 15, 2022 at 6:37AM PST

After years of development and a revolving door of different directors and actors, the Uncharted film is finally releasing in US theaters on February 18. Ahead of that, reviews for the action film starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg have begun to come online, showing what critics think.

As mentioned, it's been a long time coming for the Uncharted movie. In fact, it's been in development for so long that Wahlberg, who plays Sully, was originally lined up to portray Nathan Drake before the delays.

Here at GameSpot, our Uncharted review scored the game a 7/10. Reviewer Phil Hornshaw said, "Uncharted is a lot of fun a lot of the time. It might not do much that the games haven't already, but fans will enjoy a new Uncharted tale that at least brings its own flashy, death-defying treasure hunt into the fold."

The movie's story doesn't follow that of any of the games. Instead, it tells an origin story of sorts for Drake that shows how he went from a bartender to a globe-trotting archaeologist-adventurer. It does borrow elements from the games, of course, including an adaptation of Uncharted 3's famous cargo plane scene, among other elements.

In addition to Holland and Wahlberg, the film stars Antonio Banderas as the villain Moncada and Sophia Ali as Chloe Frazer. The film was written by Iron Man writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, and was directed by Zombieland and Venom director Ruben Fleischer. The director has already teased that a movie version of Jak & Daxter could be his next film.

Uncharted actually already opened in more than a dozen international markets, making $21 million before its debut in the US.

You can see a sampling of review scores and excerpts below, and more critical consensus here at GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

Uncharted

• Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
• Written by: Art Marcum, Matt Holloway
• Starring: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Tati Gabrielle, Sophia Ali
• Release Date: February 18 (in theaters only)

GameSpot -- 7/10

"Uncharted is a lot of fun a lot of the time. It might not do much that the games haven't already, but fans will enjoy a new Uncharted tale that at least brings its own flashy, death-defying treasure hunt into the fold. For audiences who aren't acclimated to the franchise, Uncharted serves as a good entry point that at least has some excellent moments, even if the characters don't pop here quite as much as they do on your PlayStation. Uncharted is what you'd expect an Uncharted movie to be, for all the baggage that entails, but you'll have fun on the journey even if it doesn't hit as hard as some of Nate Drake's other adventures." -- Phil Hornshaw [Full review]

The Guardian -- 2/5

"The lovable rogues bop around from glamorous location to glamorous location and the whole thing runs smoothly enough, with some spectacular touches. Holland gives it his all, but the rest of the cast look a little less committed. An efficient, soulless hologram of a film." -- Peter Bradshaw [Full review]

IGN -- 7/10

"Uncharted is a safe but serviceable sampling of a new globe-spanning adventure. As a young Nathan Drake, Tom Holland is fun to watch and has good chemistry with Mark Wahlberg's Victor Sullivan, even if their antagonists are pretty forgettable and the story never thinks outside the treasure chest box. This should be effective in introducing the world of Uncharted to people who are meeting Nate and friends for the first time, although the changes it makes can be inexplicable and jarring to those of us who’ve spent many games with these characters." -- Jeffrey Vega [Full review]

NME -- 2/5

"There are spectacular scenes showing two old-timey pirate ships being towed through mid-air by helicopters--a visual so outlandish it almost belongs in a boat-based Fast and Furiousspin-off. It's surely not much of a spoiler to say these flying pirate ships form part of Uncharted's enjoyably daft climax, which almost justifies its existence as a passable popcorn flick. But sadly, the journey to get there is filled with a lot of plodding nonsense." -- Nick Levine [Full review]

Empire -- 2/5

"There are moments when it jolts into life: a well-executed, lengthy single shot tracking Drake as he freefalls from an aircraft; some Goonies-esque underground map-syncing. But only the final 20 minutes, with a pirate-ship battle that takes to the skies, lives up to the giddy, inventive spectacle of the source material. Otherwise, Unchartedplods around an all-too-familiar map." -- Nick De Semlyen [Full review]

Time Out -- 3/5

"There still hasn't been a truly great film based directly on a video game, and the characterisations here are more likely to annoy than delight the hardcore fans, but the jetsetting and sunshine here is a welcome break from more serious action movies, and Holland will just about hold the interest." -- Helen O'Hara [Full review]

Detective Pikachu was good

If websites like GameSpot and IGN who slaps an 8/10 on whatever crap gives this movie a 7/10, I dare not even think about how crap this movie is.

So a video game movie adaptation sucked, shocking!

Lets be real, the real movie is on youtube since 2018 and is only 14 minutes long.

I am going to see it even if it was a 1/10

Secret police leading the way to smear PlayStation after the Horizon great reviews and heavy dunking Halo Infinite received 🤣🤣🤣

Of course because we all know you're a...

Lolol I kid, I kid. :P

This spoiled me. I'll either watch a Nathan Fillion Uncharted movie or not go watch at all.

It amazes me that studios keep trying to make video game movies to this day. I guess I never really paid attention to the box office stats. Do any of these movies bring in good money? Max Payne? Hitman? Prince of Persia? The Resident Evils? Monster Hunter? Doom? I thought they all would have been bombs but maybe there's enough of a reason to try if they keep popping up now and then.

@poe13:

RE's and TR's did get sequels with RE's getting many sequels so I'm guessing those did make money. The others, dunno.

I watched the movie last Saturday. I wrote a brief review at the OT:

Last movie you watched

Movies don't flop based on critics reviews. lol

Audience reviews and $$$ mean a lot more in cinema.

Unfarted.

@Jag85:

Nice!! You're right in there with the pro's. ;)

Everybody knew this movie was gonna be shit. Why don't you man up and post some CrossfireX reviews. You know MS paid a billion to keep that god damn tire fire exclusive. LOLOLOL!

Looks like it's doing very well in international markets so far, outperforming recent MCU movies (except for Spider‑Man) in the territories it released:

Tom Holland’s ‘Uncharted’ Kicks Off at International Box Office With $21.5 Million

Ahead of its domestic debut on Feb. 18, Sony’s big-screen adaptation of its popular video game series opened at the international box office to a solid $21.5 million from 15 overseas markets.

“Uncharted” had the biggest start in the United Kingdom, landing in first place with $6.4 million. The movie also touched down in Spain with $3.5 million, Russia with $4.5 million and Ukraine with $1.3 million. In the Middle East, “Uncharted” collected $4 million, including $1.3 million from Saudi Arabia and $1.2 million from the United Arab Emirates. Compared to pandemic-era blockbusters, “Uncharted” is tracking 12% above “Eternals,” 18% above “Black Widow” and 21% higher than “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” at similar points in their theatrical rollouts.

It was a genius move on Sony's part releasing Uncharted right on the heels of Spider-Man: No Way Home, riding the wave of its record-breaking success with another Tom Holland movie.

It's a movie that's been in development hell for years, went through multiple directors attached to the project, criticized for their casting choicesbfor the leads, and Sony Pictures is opening this in the middle of February--a month where most studios dump movies that have little to no chance of being profitable. Did anyone honestly expect this to be a good movie?

Hollywood is out of ideas.

This is a reality check. The developers get up themselves thinking they're all that when it comes to story telling with their movie games in the games industry, then they get hit with a truth slap when it doesn't actually translate to TV/Film.

This is why movie games don't make much sense to me. I can get quality content from people who know what they're doing from streaming services. I don't need unskippable horse-shit stories from video games when I'm just trying to "play" a game.

@hallenbeck77: If anything, this is the right time to release Uncharted. Sony just had a record-breaking smash hit with Spider-Man: No Way Home (one of the all-time highest-grossing movies), and many of its casual fans are looking forward to watch another Tom Holland movie. So releasing Uncharted right on the heels of Spider-Man is the right move.

Not surprising. I mean. We could have had this:

What was so hard about doing what made sense?

A reminder that games that are praised cinematics and other movie like features are mediocre at the very best.

Because people who know little or nothing about Uncharted wouldn't watch an action flick w/ Nathan Fillion.

Come on. It looks like we're watching some high school teenager playing Nathan Drake. Of course it's not going to go well.

Not terribly surprising to be honest. The trailers have all looked very mediocre and I’m not really bought into Tom Holland as Nathan Drake. Just doesn’t seem to feel quite right.

@Jag85: If the studio had faith in the movie, it would have been scheduled to open during the summer with a heavy advertising campaign behind it, not dumping it in the dead middle of winter with the bare minimum of promotion. They're hoping it can coast on Spider-Man's success--which, if it wasn't for covid, probably would have made much more if it kept its original summer release date. This is more of an act of despairation than a calculated decision.

Fair point...

Is it just me or Mark Wahlberg looks much closer to Nathan than Tom Holland?

@SecretPolice:

Yeeeeah, I don't think any of us were hoping or expecting the movie to BE good. It was dead on arrival, basically. No real loss here.

I was told by Mods that movie threads are not allowed in SW, but maybe they've had a change of heart. Doesn't bother me. Anyway, Sony gave me a free ticket, but it's only redeemable at Regal Theaters which is too far. 😞

@HalcyonScarlet:

That "reality check" doesn't really apply here since the producers didn't even bother following the story the way Naughty Dog made it. It's no less than a fan fiction work with a top notch budget. Of course it was going to fail. That doesn't make the storytelling any less great than it was in the games.

I don't understand the popularity of Uncharted 4. Why it's the most known game in the series now and why the movie takes most of its inspiration from that game according to Mr. Holland. It was the second worst one!

Sony delayed both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Uncharted because of COVID. Yet despite releasing in the Winter, No Way Home smashed box office records, surpassing Infinity War in all territories outside China, which currently has a ban on Hollywood movies. If No Way Home released in China, then it would've easily surpassed Infinity War or even approached Endgame numbers. Clearly, the Winter release didn't hurt No Way Home, but it's the China ban that had a bigger impact.

When I watched No Way Home, the Uncharted trailer came on before the movie. Clearly, Uncharted was being promoted to the audiences who went to watch No Way Home. It's a smart calculated decision to release Uncharted right after No Way Home to capitalize on Tom Holland's current popularity following No Way Home. And it looks like the release strategy is working, as I already showed in my earlier post:

In international markets outside North America, Uncharted is currently tracking ahead of nearly every pandemic‑era MCU movie, with the exception of No Way Home.

i kid you not - my wife saw an advertisement for this the other day and said something along the lines of "they're making a movie about this? isn't that that game you used to play that was basically just a movie? Like you'd fall and it would just put you back on the ladder?" - SW gold material, I thought.

I'm not interested in this tbh - jokes aside i'd rather play the medium than truly just watch it. Exceptions are when there's a really deep back story or world to build that the games skim over. Then I'm interested

I'd rather watch hot chick tomb raider than Tom Holland doing this movie its just my preferecne im skipping this one

@Jag85: Because there's nothing else out right now to compete with it. People came out not to see a Tom Holland movie (outside the MCU, he's not a box office draw), but to see a Spider-Man movie--a character that is reconized around the world, and has been around for 60 years. Uncharted is based on a video game series that is relatively unknown to those ouside the gaming community. This movie isn't going to come ANYWHERE near the numbers that an MCU movie will.

Movie games only get a pass because it’s gamers that are “playing” them. When people that actually care about something more than “teh graffix” critique the work, see how shallow these stories actually are. This movie seemed off as soon as we saw the casting. I’ll probably watch it though. Being able to consume an Uncharted story without being bothered with QTEs seems like an OK way to burn a Saturday night

Im not an uncharted fan by any stretch, but I'm rooting for a quality movie. I do like when they visit gaming worlds in cinema, but often the stories and essence of the game itself don't translate the way they do in the game.

Also, I heard the movie has only 15 percent less gameplay than the games.... Lol, had to.

Topics on movies have been posted here before and immediately closed for not being gaming/system wars related.

Yet SecretPolice is allowed to keep this open.

Wow, it's almost as if the bias that I mentioned in his thread the other day is real

Didn't Uncharted drop QTEs after the first one?

Yeah the only real QTE thing would be fight with Talbot at the end of U3.

Most of the haters here probably couldn't beat Uncharted 2's final boss on the first couple tries

It's a video game movie based on a movie game, I am sure everyone had managed expectations going in. I didn't think the casting was right either it's like the brain dead executives thought let's just slap some big names on the cast and let that do the rest.

I can refreshed your memory if you wish. The entire series is riddled with QTEs. Even UC4 had boss fight QTEs. Not sure what y’all are talking about…

And the people who came to see the Spider-Man movie will recognize both its leading actor Tom Holland and the Uncharted trailer that played right before the Spider-Man movie...

And again, the numbers speak for themselves:

Tom Holland’s ‘Uncharted’ Kicks Off at International Box Office With $21.5 Million

Compared to pandemic-era blockbusters, “Uncharted” is tracking 12% above “Eternals,” 18% above “Black Widow” and 21% higher than “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” at similar points in their theatrical rollouts.

Of course it won't come anywhere close to pre-pandemic MCU levels. But it's currently tracking above pandemic‑era MCU movies (Eternals, Black Widow, Shang Chi) in international markets. Its total box office would probably end up being slightly less, but not by much. The numbers point to the Uncharted movie becoming a potential box office hit for Sony.

This already was an interactive movie.

Pointless.

@getyeryayasout: At least it's Netflix and not Paramount+; they've done a good job with The Witcher series.