Uncharted is a series of action-adventure video games in which the player takes on the role of the treasure hunter Nathan Drake (and Chloe Frazer in Uncharted Lost Legacy). Each Uncharted game is known for its riveting action, thought-provoking puzzles, and incredible, cinematic storytelling. That’s why it was no surprise when a live action film was released in 2022.

The Uncharted movie was unfortunately met with a less-than-savory reception upon release. However, it really isn’t that bad of a movie. In fact, it’s actually quite fun.

One of the biggest complaints from critics was that Uncharted felt a bit too much like other treasure hunting films. They said that after the likes of The Goonies and Indiana Jones, this one brought nothing new to the table. To that, I say “who cares?” We get seemingly dozens of superhero flicks each year, why not have some new treasure hunting films to enjoy. Movies like this are fun. It’s always entertaining to see heroes and villains solving clues, dodging gunfire, and double-crossing each other. There hasn’t been a solid treasure hunting flick in a while; why not enjoy it?

An issue with the movie is that instead of adapting the actual story in the original video game, it used its own original story, but with scenes and elements from the games. As a fan of the video games, this is quite frustrating. Seeing Uncharted 3’s iconic airplane scene without the Uncharted 3 story is rather jarring. There are even main characters who don’t appear in the movie whatsoever.

That being said, while I wish the movie just stuck to the source material, I did enjoy the story they created for the movie. Not knowing who could truly be trusted led to a lot of suspense. The action was surprisingly creative, like battling on top of pirate ships that are being hoisted by helicopters and swinging through the air. I cared enough about the characters that I wanted to know where they ended up and felt concerned for them when they were in danger.

Another rather noticeable drawback of the movie is the casting choices for the main characters. Nathan Drake, Sully, and Chloe all feel much younger than they should be. It’s distracting. It would have made more sense to have Mark Wahlberg play Nate than old man Sully. The characters just didn’t feel like their source material counterparts because of it.

What I will say about that, though, is that despite the cast not fitting the characters they play, it’s still a fun cast. Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg are both extremely charismatic, and getting an adventure flick with them in the starring roles is pretty entertaining. Antonio Banderas plays a shockingly great villain, and Tati Gabrielle is simply devilish. They all work together to form a pretty solid cast for a movie, even if they don’t fully match what you’d expect to see in Uncharted.

Is it a faithful adaptation of the video games? Absolutely not. Is it as fantastic as classic treasure hunting adventure movies? I suppose not. Is it a lot of fun? Definitely. That’s all it needs to be. As a fan of the source material, of course I’d want it to match that more, but I still had a good time seeing the film. It still works well as an exciting blockbuster. It really isn’t as bad as some folks claim.

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