Uncharted

I am not a gamer and I do not know anything about the world-building or the characters in the popular Uncharted gaming franchise but I finally had the chance to see the movie adaptation last night and I thought it was a lot of fun.  Fortune hunter Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) recruits Nathan Drake (Tom Holland), bartender, pickpocket, and younger brother of his former partner Sam, to help him locate the long lost treasure of Ferdinand Magellan.  They form an uneasy partnership with Chloe Frazer (Sophia Ali) and attempt to stay one step ahead of Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas), a descendant of the family who financed Magellan's voyage, and Jo Braddock (Tati Gabrielle), a mercenary hired by Moncada.  Drake faces many physical challenges as the search for clues takes him from Barcelona to the Philippines but his biggest challenge is deciding who to trust.  The characters are very thinly drawn, especially the villains, but Holland and Wahlberg, who is very hit or miss with me, are incredibly charismatic and I really enjoyed their chemistry together and the physicality of their performances.  The treasure hunting plot is one that we have all seen many times before (there are even references to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Pirates of the Caribbean, which are better movies, in the dialogue) but I was still really engaged with the story and I think a lot of that has to do with Holland.  Despite some of the sub-par CGI, I found the action sequences to be very exciting, especially Drake hanging out of a cargo plane and Magellan's ships being airlifted by helicopters.  There are flaws but I enjoyed this movie much more than I thought I would and I recommend it for a fun night out.

Note:  As the post-credits scenes (there are two) suggest, there is definitely the possibility of a sequel and I would probably watch it.