As one of the movies that barely escaped development hell, there’s a lot of hype surrounding the upcoming Uncharted adaptation. As the movie features a cast including Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg and is based on such a beloved video game franchise, there’s the expectation that the film will break the video game movie curse, as it could be the first great movie based on a game franchise.
As the games are best known for already being extremely cinematic, it’ll be hard for the movie to go wrong, as most of the hard work has already been done. However, though there are a lot of sequences that can be borrowed from the games, there are just as many that can’t, or shouldn’t, be adapted.
Can’t Be Adapted: The Rooftop Chase In Nepal
The rooftop chase, taken from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, is one of the best action sequences in the series, as it sees Drake and Chloe jump from rooftop to rooftop as they’re trying to evade a helicopter shooting rockets at them. Though its a great level in a video game, it just couldn’t work in the movie.
There’s concern that it coils get too Fast & Furious-like, as those movies completely defy gravity and all sense of logic. In fact, this scene would actually suit a Fast & Furious movie perfectly.
Can Be Adapted: The Relationships
Uncharted is looked at as one of the greatest video game series of all time, and one of the few that actually takes the narrative seriously with equal amounts of attention paid to the story and the gameplay. As one of the best PlayStation protagonists, one of the things that elevate the series above other video games is Drake’s relationships with other characters, whether it’s him and Sully, him and Elena, and even Sully and Elena, as they developed a great bond by the end of the fourth game.
With Holland and Wahlberg in the main roles, the relationship could be just as impactful as the games. Wahlberg is a two-time Academy Award-nominated actor, and there’s a big enough age difference between the two actors that the mentorship could be hard-hitting.
Can’t Be Adapted: The Desert Walk
In Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Drake gets stranded in the middle of the desert in Rub ‘Al Khali after he fell from a plane. What follows next is an incredible, cinematic 15-minute trek through the sand. It isn’t the most exciting gameplay, as the player can’t even run, but it’s a wonderful example of how stylist the series is.
However, ironically, the sequence wouldn’t translate well to the big screen, as it’d be too much of a big segment and would completely destroy the pacing of the movie.
Can Be Adapted: Young Drake
The studio has already cast Drake as a much younger character than he is in the games, as Tom Holland is currently 24 and he doesn’t even look that. But there could very much be flashbacks to when he was much younger.
Drake’s Deception sees a flashback to Drake at the age of 16 when he first meets sully, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End sees a flashback that goes even further back in time when Drake escapes from Boarding school. They are two incredible chapters in the game, and though Uncharted is one of the upcoming video game movies that could be great, adding these scenes could make it even better.
Can’t Be Adapted: The Clock Tower
When it comes to set pieces, A Thief’s End is surprisingly lacking for an Uncharted game, but the big one comes when Drake and Sully visit Madagascar, and Drake has to climb a giant mechanical clock to reach the top.
It’s an epic chapter in the game as the clock tower entirely collapses while Drake tries to avoid giant cogs from killing him. If there was ever a sequence so epic that it’s impossible to film, it’s this one.
Can Be Adapted: The Train
As the first Uncharted was more of a simple duck, cover, and shoot third-person game, it was Among Thieves that first proved that the series was the best thing on the PlayStation. The biggest moment comes in the middle of the game in which Drake is working his way to the front of a train from the very back.
The chapter is full of thrilling gunfights, all the while hanging off the side of the train in the middle of the jungle. It could make for a very Michael Mann-type action scene in the movie, which would be absolutely jaw-dropping.
Can’t Be Adapted: Lazarevic And The Shambhala Guardians
The climax of Among Thieves sees the gang finally finding Shambhala, the lost city, and Lazarevic has done a very villain-type thing by drinking the blue resin, which supposedly makes people who drink it invincible. When he does drink it, he turns in to a basic video game boss, and giant blue guardians appear to protect the Tree of Life.
This is when the game becomes more video-gamey than story-based, and though giant CGI beasts have been covering the big screen as of late, it just couldn’t possibly look right.
Can Be Adapted: The Exploration
It’s no secret that Uncharted is a must-play if you love Indiana Jones, as if Drake had a whip and wore a fedora, Naughty Dog would surely have a lawsuit on their hands. One of the biggest similarities between the two properties, besides stealing treasure from other countries, is the exploration of beautiful environments.
The Uncharted series has visited Madagascar, Panama, and Tibet, among others, and all the environments look beautiful. The movie will undoubtedly be a globetrotting affair too, and hopefully, it looks as cinematically gorgeous as the games.
Can’t Be Adapted: Drake’s Mass Murdering
One problem about the games that has been raised countlessly by gamers and critics is how Drake is essentially a mass murderer. He has killed literally thousands of people, whether they’re pirates, assassins, or giant blue guys.
Obviously, this happens in a lot of games, but the biggest problem with Uncharted is how Drake is such a charming and charismatic protagonist who has no remorse about how many people he has killed. The idea of Holland roaming around freely slaughtering henchmen with a machine gun can’t happen, otherwise, it’ll raise the exact same issues.
Can Be Adapted: Playing Crash Bandicoot
At the beginning of A Thief’s End, Drake can be seen playing Crash Bandicoot, a series that was also created by Naughty Dog, and it’s one of the games that deserve the Netflix treatment.
It would be great and it would totally send the fans into a frenzy if Holland or even Wahlberg was seen playing the PlayStation 1 game. If there’s any Easter egg that should be thrown into the movie, of which there’ll surely be many, this is the one that must make it in there.