The upcoming Uncharted film starring Tom Holland can draw plenty of inspiration from the Playstation video game series of the same title. The franchise's main titles include: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Slated for release in 2022, director Ruben Fleischer's adaptation of the games serves as a prequel. Holland plays the series' main character Nathan Drake, an ambitious, yet foolhardy, treasure hunter who believes himself to be a descendent of the English explorer Sir Francis Drake. Headlining alongside the Spider-Man actor are Mark Wahlberg, who plays Nate's mentor and partner-in-crime Victor "Sully" Sullivan, and Sophia Ali, who assumes the role of fellow fortune seeker Chloe Frazer.
Uncharted follows in the footsteps of many other movies adapted from video games such as Mortal Kombat, Assassin's Creed, and Tomb Raider. Although the aforementioned titles have failed to garner widespread acceptance from moviegoers, Uncharted may prove a more seamless transition to the screen given the video games' heavy focus on narrative, often resembling an interactive film more than a typical video game. 2022’s Uncharted is the first major film based on the games, having been in the works since 2008.
While the video games span over a decade in time, the Uncharted movie centers on a story absent from the Playstation series representing Tom Holland's Nate and Mark Wahlberg's Sully's first adventure together. The film's newly released trailer conveys that the duo team up with Chloe and set out to Spain with the goal of finding the famed explorer Ferdinand Magellan's lost treasure. If Uncharted is to stay true to its source material, these are the most essential elements from the video games that must be included in the movie.
Nate & Sully's Close Bond
In many ways, Nate and Sully's relationship represents the heart and soul of the Uncharted games. By the end of the series, the pair have chased fortunes across the globe together for more than 20 years. Uncharted 3 features a flashback sequence of a teenage Nate first met Sully, as the former was attempting to steal an astrolabe and Francis Drake's ring from a museum in Colombia. Sully came to Nate's aid when guards attempted to gun him down and the two remained together ever since. The Uncharted movie takes place soon after this time toward the beginning of the duo's relationship. The game provides insight into how Sully became a father figure to Nate, so it's up to the film to further capitalize on that angle. Holland and Wahlberg will need to establish a chemistry representative of a budding treasure hunter and a seasoned veteran in the business of swindling. Including notes of humor will be key, as lighthearted banter defines Nate and Sully's interaction during less action-heavy sequences.
Nate's Adventurous Spirit
The Uncharted games simply tell stories about adventure and discovery, which are themes embodied by the series' main character. Nate exudes a happy-go-lucky attitude even with dozens of heavily armed militants shooting at him. Narrowly escaping death over and over never appears to faze the fortune hunter, as Nate runs headfirst into one dangerous situation after another without a care in the world. Holland's four-year spell in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Spider-Man, including the upcoming No Way Home, underlines the actor's ability to play such a daring thrill-seeker. In a way, Nate's audacious outlook on life and daring attempts to secure an objective liken him to a modern superhero, making Holland a perfect fit for the role.
Characters' Exceptional Parkour Skills
The film wouldn't do the Uncharted games justice without countless instances of Nate and other characters scaling cliffs, swinging from ropes, and leaping across gaps. In the games, nearly every character possesses the uncanny ability to climb nearly anything in sight and jump ten times farther than the average human—all while under a storm of bullets. These scenarios fit better in a video game atmosphere and would be difficult to pull off such stunts in the film. As result, Uncharted's parkour sequences may have to cater more closely to realism, although they are entirely necessary to capture the true essence of the games. The movie's newly-released trailer depicts a scene similar to Uncharted 3, in which Nate falls out of an airplane and climbs a series of connected crates to get back on the aircraft.
Sully's Witty Sense Of Humor
Sully became a beloved supporting character in the Uncharted video game franchise due to his perfectly timed witty lines. Holland may be a fitting choice to play Nate, however, Wahlberg's casting raises some questions. His appearance in the trailer suggests Wahlberg's adaptation of Sully will largely differ from the games in that he seems more serious and blunt, rather than witty and charismatic. The limited sampling of Sully in the Uncharted movie leaves much to be desired, although the full-length film will have the final say.
Large-Scale Combat Sequences & Gunfights
The thrills of playing an Uncharted game go beyond marveling at its gorgeous visuals or completing a heart-pounding action set piece. Each entry in the series leans on its extensive fight sequences to drive home its air of peril on the quest for ancient treasure. Nate is a one-man show when it comes to combat, fending off hordes of enemies using anything from his fists to handguns, assault rifles, snipers, and grenades. It's unclear if every weapon from the games will appear in the movie, as the trailer only briefly shows Holland's Nate wielding a sidearm. Nonetheless, a wide arsenal of firepower is essential to representing the Uncharted video games at their best.
Puzzles
What would treasure hunting be without a host of puzzles and booby traps lying in wait? The Uncharted games made sure the path to ancient treasures was filled with obstacles by way of thought-provoking enigmas including but not limited to puzzles involving pictures, symbols light beams, and stepping stones, with deadly booby traps the result of a wrong move. Many of these puzzles require extensive climbing and/or jumping to solve, which would be interesting to see in the film. The trailer primarily emphasized the movie's action scenes, so the importance of puzzles remains unknown, although Fleischer and co. would be remiss to leave out one of Uncharted's most central elements.
Unique Global Settings
The Uncharted games feature beautiful scenery from across the world. Ancient city ruins, caves, jungles, snowy mountains, among other landscapes all feature in the games at some point. Drake's Fortune takes place off the coast of Panama, where the mythical lost city of El Dorado supposedly lies. Among Thieves set portions of its narrative in Turkey, Borneo, Nepal, Tibet, and the Himalayas. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception continued with multiple locations, beginning in London and subsequently taking Nate and crew to France, Syria, Yemen, and the Rub 'al Khali desert on the Arabian Peninsula. The Uncharted movie was filmed in Berlin, Germany, as well as the coastal areas of Spain, including Valencia and Xàbia. Additionally, some scenes were shot in a studio. The trailer shows evidence of the series' trademark standard of terrain, as temples, modern cities, coastal cliff landscapes, caves, and oceans surround Holland, Wahlberg, and Ali in the included scenes.
