Uncharted

I'd heard enough reviews of this warning that, while this was inspired by the games, it was by no means a direct adaptation of one of the games. I'm fine with that anyway; if I want to see the story of a video game, I'll play the damned video game. That left the issue of whether this captured the SPIRIT of the game. I.e., does it get that roguish, devil-may-care spirit of Nathan Drake and the games as a whole. And the answer is yes. And no. Visually, the movie is exciting. It never lags or has pacing issues, the action is filmed well, and they keep the story to the race for this treasure. There's very little in the way of subplots, and thankfully no corny romantic interests. This is a lean, mean, action machine, and I'm good with that. If you're looking for solid, if brainless, escapism, you've come to the right place. The casting is fine; not who I would've chosen for virtually ANY role, and I don't mean that in a "they're not adhering to the game" mentality, because they're not trying to. This is a younger, more inexperienced Nathan Drake than the game's seasoned pro. And that's not to say Tom Holland or the rest of the cast is bad; I quite enjoy Holland, and the ladies did fine enough. Mark Wahlburg kinda sleepwalked through this, but I also am not a big fan of his, so fine, whatever. But overall, the cast did a fine enough job, even if they wouldn't be my first picks for these roles. But that speaks to the downside of this movie, in that it SAYS Uncharted on the tin, and these characters have the names, and there's scenes ripped from the games ... but if you called this "Treasure Hunt" and the hero was John Smith, and his partner was Fred Jones, and his nemesis was Susie Black, it wouldn't impact the movie in the slightest. That's fine for those who haven't played the game, even if it makes the movie feel a bit generic. But for those who have, this movie just feels ... off. Like a dollar store, cliff-notes version of Uncharted. It's a bar band cover of your favorite song. It hits all the beats and says all the lyrics, but it does so in a perfunctory way. When I see Tom Holland in an MCU movie, I see Spider-Man. When I saw him in The Devil All The Time, I didn't see Tom Holland, I saw his character. When I saw him here, I saw Tom Holland playing Nathan Drake. It's entertaining (if you don't stop and think about how some of the dots don't actually connect), and the cast is mostly enjoyable, and the story is mostly fun (even if they over-used the double-cross plot device way too much -- seriously, there's like half a dozen double-crosses in this movie). But it feels like cosplay. There's a lack of a beating heart to this movie. I don't know how or why, because all the pieces are in the right place, and I did enjoy it, and I didn't regret seeing it. But if I ever see it again, I also won't feel compelled to give it 100% of my attention. It's good, but it's also just good enough.