The Uncharted Movie Is Finally Out on Thursday, Here’s What to Expect

The Uncharted Movie Is Finally Out on Thursday, Here’s What to Expect

As it makes the move from highly successful videogame franchise to the silver screen, this is Uncharted‘s chance to reach a whole different entertainment space. After a long, long wait in Australia, Uncharted is theatrically releasing on Thursday but will it be met with the same fate here as it has in other markets?

PlayStation owners have had many outings with series protagonist Nathan Drake, uncovering ancient and modern mysteries, stealing artefacts, hanging from ledges and sneaking in a quip for every bad guy they shoot.

It’s Indiana Jones, it’s The Mummy and now it’s also following in the cinema footsteps of similar game-to-movie success Tomb Raider.

From the very first Uncharted game, the series was known for impressive action sequences, and we’re expecting those to be a strong focus of the movie.

Uncharted release date Australia

After a long, long waitUncharted will release on February 17. Unlike some other movies (looking at you, Dune) Australia will get the release of Uncharted on the same date as our U.S. friends. But Uncharted launched in 15 markets on February 11 and generated around $30 million in its opening weekend. Despite the cash, reception of Nathan Drake’s latest adventure hasn’t been too crash hot.

Uncharted global reception

As at the time of writing, the Uncharted movie is sitting at a “rotten” 50 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, the film review aggregation site. Of course, aggregation sites are total bullshit, a copout that boils discussion down to metrics and allows fans to isolate themselves from meaningful critique. But that doesn’t negate that critics are skewering this thing.

I’m still going to see it and if you’re still keen, here’s everything we know.

Uncharted movie trailer

The first official Uncharted movie trailer dropped in October.

We then got a verrrrrrry long teaser clip when Tom Holland joined Sony on stage at CES 2022. Aside from the whole thing being awkward, and Holland pretty much carrying the entire presentation, the clip gave us a pretty good idea of what to expect from Uncharted.

We got another Uncharted trailer last month. It was distributed with the blurb: “In a race for $5 billion, be careful who you trust”.

Here it is:

 

Uncharted movie cast

In the big-screen adaptation, Tom Holland is taking on the role of Nathan Drake, with his spidey sense replaced with the power of sheer luck. The humour will be roughly the same, though. Combine this with the fact that Mark Wahlberg will be playing Sully and you’ve got two actors that look a lot younger than their parts.

Adding extra confusion to the mix, Tom Holland reckons much of the film pulls inspiration from Uncharted 4, the last game in the series (more on the plot below).

Uncharted Tom Holland

Tom Holland’s performance has already been praised by Nathan Drake voice actor Nolan North: “He’s enthusiastic, he’s so athletic, he’s an amazing dancer, he actually did a lot of the stunts. His physical intelligence is off the chain.”

Holland himself previously admitted he was worried about his own performance, saying, “It was an important lesson learned, because, at times, it was less about land a mark and go through this scene and more about land a mark, stand like this and see my bulging biceps… It was a mistake and is something that I will probably never do again.”

Our bet is Holland is just being characteristically humble and self-reflective as he was during that awkward Sony CES presser.

Uncharted Mark Wahlberg

As I mentioned above, Mark Wahlberg is playing Victor “Sully” Sullivan in Uncharted. A seasoned fortune hunter who is Nate’s mentor and father figure, basically. Wahlberg was originally set to star as Nathan Drake when the film was in development in 2010. Instead, they gave that to Holland.

Sullivan first appears at the beginning of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune when he rescues Drake and Fisher from a pirate attack at sea with his seaplane. It’s the opening scene of the first game. 

Meanwhile, Antonio Banderas will be playing a supporting role and Sophia Ali will be playing Chloe, Drake’s kinda-sorta-not-always love interest. Funnily enough, Ali was also in a short movie called Drake’s Bell, in which her part was literally called “Love Interest”. But most people will remember her from Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. Dahlia Qadri.

Uncharted movie plot

Here’s the synopsis from Sony:

Street-smart Nathan Drake is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor “Sully” Sullivan to recover a fortune amassed by Ferdinand Magellan and lost 500 years ago by the House of Moncada. What starts as a heist job for the duo becomes a globe-trotting, white-knuckle race to reach the prize before the ruthless Santiago Moncada, who believes he and his family are the rightful heirs. If Nate and Sully can decipher the clues and solve one of the world’s oldest mysteries, they stand to find $5 billion in treasure and perhaps even Nate’s long-lost brother…but only if they can learn to work together.

Uncharted movie director

Ruben Fleischer is the director for the Uncharted movie.

Fleischer has run the gamut of different jobs and genres. He has executive producer and director credits on The Bold TypeSanta Clarita DietZombieland: Double TapThe MuleSuperstoreVenom and Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage.

Fleischer is completing the project after it lost six directors across its entire production timeline, actually.

The film entered development in 2008, with film producer Avi Arad stating that he would be working with Sony Pictures to develop a film adaptation of Uncharted, but the film entered a complicated production process, with various directors, writers and cast members attached at various points. Several filmmakers, including David O. Russell, Dan Trachtenberg, Neil Burger, Seth Gordon, Shawn Levy and Travis Knight were initially signed to direct the project.

We’re pretty happy with Fleischer, though.

Uncharted games

The Uncharted movie seems to be a bit all over the place in terms of what game it’s based on. While it’s very much an origin story for the main character Nathan Drake, it pulls one of the most iconic scenes directly from the third game (Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception). It almost looks shot-for-shot like the same scene.

Holland revealed that much of the Uncharted movie is actually based on the fourth game.

“Lots of the inspiration from the film has come from that game in particular,” Holland told IGN.

Now, not to be a prude, but that really splices up the timeline. It’s an origin story about a young Drake, with much of the film inspired by the fourth Uncharted game, that also includes the most iconic scene of the third game (and possibly the entire franchise). That’s one big Uncharted stew.

Uncharted has a release date of February 17 in Australia. While you wait, why not check out all the other sci-fi, horror and fantasy films releasing in Australia this year. This article has been updated since it was first published.