The critics and audience scores of Uncharted are contrasting, so why is there a significant divide? Prior to its official premiere, Uncharted has garnered mostly negative reviews from critics. Surprisingly, upon its worldwide release, the film has performed well and received impressive audience feedback. Additionally, Uncharted has a successful box-office run, even surpassing opening day projections.
The Uncharted film serves as a prequel to one of Sony’s best-selling video game franchises while attempting to capture its essence. The onscreen adaptation tells the story of a younger Nathan Drake (Tom Holland), teaming up with his eventual mentor, Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg). The duo’s primary goal is to locate the lost treasure of Ferdinand Magellan, amidst a violent race against Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas) and Jo Braddock (Tati Gabrielle).
Despite critically acclaimed source material, Uncharted is currently tagged as Rotten, with only a 40% critic approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. On the other hand, the movie enjoys a 90% audience score with more than 2,500 reviews at the time of publishing. This divide in scores might be due to the difference in expectations from each side. Since Uncharted has been such a long-running production, dating back to 2008, critics may have anticipated something different and original. An action-adventure game translated to film arguably feels like a rehash of established cinematic franchises like Indiana Jones and National Treasure.
Additionally, critics question the compatibility of the cast while emphasizing the movie’s inability to be compelling. According to Rotten Tomatoes critics, for a project based on a top-tier video game series, Uncharted falls flat in both its idea and execution. It is disappointing that not even Uncharted's Hollywood A-listers, a decade of troubled development, and an expensive budget can save it from critical disappointment.
On the other hand, the game’s existing fans are less cynical. After all, Uncharted is still an entertaining big-budget production, and both fans and even those unfamiliar with the games can easily process the movie. This is because Uncharted tries to stick to its source material in the most faithful yet accessible manner possible. Not to mention, it stars some of the most promising actors today, and also features outstanding set pieces that amplify its action-adventure aura that might have overpowered some of the weaker areas of the film.
Similar to other video game movies, Uncharted has employed changes and creative differences from its source material, which might also be a factor in its score disparity. Nevertheless, compared to other adaptations, it has fared well, especially in the box office. Not only did the cinematic risks pay off, but its future is also glowing. The post-credit scenes of Uncharted already hint at possible sequels or even a film series, despite a huge divide between the critics and audience’s opinions.