After absolutely crushing the box office and winning over audiences and critics with Spider-Man: No Way Home just before the holidays, Tom Holland is back with Uncharted, a live-action adaptation of the award-winning video game series. However, this time around, the critical reception isn’t so warm. As the first reviews for Uncharted roll in, there’s an immediate sense that the film attempts to do exactly what it showed in the trailers: Put a modern spin on films like Indiana Jones and National Treasure.
Unfortunately, just like in the games, sometimes you don’t always stick the landing, and that appears to be the case as Holland and co-star Mark Wahlberg struggle to make Uncharted work despite the games being loaded with cinematic moments to pull from.
While not all of the Uncharted reviews are harsh, the majority aren’t exactly feeling the film. Here’s what the critics are saying:
Owen Gleiberman, Variety:
“Uncharted” is a lively but thinly scripted and overlong mad-dash caper movie, propelled by actors you wish, after a while, had more interesting things to say and do.
David Ehrlich, IndieWire:
Perhaps the film’s Walmart approach to its action would’ve been more forgivable if the “Uncharted” games weren’t so frequently suffused with Spielbergian flair, just as the film’s archetypal characters may have been less underwhelming had the games not managed to establish 10 times the pathos with none of the same flesh and blood.
Jeffrey Vega, IGN:
Uncharted is a simple, safe, but ultimately pretty effective introduction to treasure hunter Nathan Drake. Fans of the beloved PlayStation games might be surprised to see how much has changed to fit an Uncharted story in a single movie’s runtime – it squeezes in a new origin story while reenacting action sequences from multiple games – but it all makes for a decently fun sampling of what Nate and Sully have to offer on the big screen.
Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue:
It’s not perfect and there are moments where the movie lags but not even Mark Wahlberg could stop me from having fun while watching Tom Holland come into his own in this take on Nathan Drake’s origin story.
Hoai-Tran Bui, /Film:
Far from the great heights of the classic “Indiana Jones” movies, “Uncharted” is closer to “National Treasure” without the weirdo energy of Nicolas Cage, mixed with “The Goonies” without the childlike irreverence of Amblin. It’s glossy, witty, and franchise-ready. Which would be fine if the jokes were good!
Frank Scheck, THR:
It would have been nice if screenwriters Rafe Lee Judkins, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway had come up with something more interesting than this generic adventure in which Nate and Sully team up to first commit a robbery at a high-end auction house and then head to exotic locales in search of Ferdinand Magellan’s lost treasure of gold. Or more interesting villains than the ruthless Santiago Moncada, played by Antonio Banderas in a performance that can best be described as detached.
Marshall Shaffer, Playlist:
The film’s script, the product of six credited writers, feels like a “frankensteined” effort of unrealized sequels to series such as “Indiana Jones” or “National Treasure.” Like the figures portrayed on screen, there’s a grail just evading their grasp. But unlike the characters, the film itself never recaptures that elusive glory.
Todd Gilchrist, The Wrap:
The only thing [Tom] Holland seemingly cannot do is generate chemistry with Wahlberg as Sully, a counterpart and proxy brother with whom Nathan should be irresistibly clashing; instead, he limps through their interactions like scripted awards-show presentation banter.
Uncharted opens in theaters on February 18.