Posted at 10:30 a.m.
The transposition of a video game franchise into a film is always a delicate operation, and rarely successful. The bar is all the higher for Uncharted, whose opuses were brilliant video game successes, accumulating an immense capital of sympathy for 15 years thanks to its breathtaking action, its endearing heroes and its exotic environments. The step to take towards the cinema seemed natural. Did Drake jump over the chasm?
From the outset, the spectators will be divided into two categories, according to their familiarity with the universe. The uninitiated should find the result rather banal: a race towards an unoriginal treasure, good guys, bad guys, fights, betrayals… in short, a very conventional adventure film, but despite everything well paced and endowed with a good visual invoice. Tom Holland (Nathan Drake) and Mark Wahlberg (Sully) had quite a challenge to take up and are doing honorably, even if it remains winded. Antonio Banderas, he forces the note of the antagonist a little too much.
Fans of the game will have a different reading thanks to the explicit and rather convincing tributes to the work, but often accompanied by downsides: journeys to distant lands (too few), puzzles to solve (too simple), fights and shootouts ( very wisely dosed), infiltration phases. The incredible acrobatic scenes spice things up a bit, only really (and literally) taking off in the last part of the film. The exercise is not easy, because it is necessary to condense in 120 minutes the spirit of titles on which we play several tens of hours.
Fans could also wince over the unfinished maturity of the characters, while Nathan and Sully have perfectly predefined attitudes and faces in the minds of fans. It’s a prelogy, it’s true: we see them in their youth. Tom Holland is doing well, because even if his face doesn’t really match that of the pixelated Drake, his incarnation comes close. Nevertheless, he seems embryonic, not climbing much, hardly evoking his ring, sporting no characteristic clothing, with a humor falling a little flat…
In short, the set seems a bit generic compared to the label of the franchise and struggles to rise to the height of a IndianaJones, the natural ascendant of Nathan Drake. Let’s not close the door definitively, however: a post-credits scene offers a glimpse of the sequel and a Nathan-Sully duo more in line with expectations. With a more thrilling scenario and a more daring staging, we are ready to give them a second chance.
Adventure movie
Uncharted
Ruben Fleischer
With Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg
116 minutes