The first official Uncharted film trailer has been released, promising a wealth of thrills and spills familiar to those who’ve played the franchise.
Let’s begin with the thrills and spills. At just over two-and-a-half minutes long, the trailer is not short on cinematic scale sequences. There are a handful of moments that’ll be familiar to fans of the franchise. We begin with the infamous cargo plane sequence over the Rub’ al Khali from Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, a sequence that flawlessly mixed frantic, action-packed gameplay on a vast, cinematic scale. The most significant difference in the film adaptation’s take comes from the fact the plane is flying over an ocean, instead of the largest body of desert in the world.
The film will also incorporate a sequence adapted from the Italian art heist in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. At another moment in the trailer, Nathan discovers the ruins of an old pirate ship, which harks back to The Fancy, Henry Avery’s ship in Uncharted 4, while Chloe and Nathan can later be seen running over rooftops and jumping from a bell tower.
Let’s move on to the film’s cast. We begin with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, who’ll play younger versions of the game series’ heroes Nathan Drake and Victor ‘Sully’ Sullivan respectively.
At the beginning of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Sully meets Nathan as a fifteen-year-old, and at around the same time, we learn more about Nathan’s childhood in an orphanage and his relationship with Sam, but little else is known about Drake as he approaches adulthood.
Looking at the trailer, the film will have Nathan meet Sully while working as a bartender (a scene entirely unrelated to the source material), where they share quips and later bond over their pursuit of historical treasures. Holland makes a strong impression as Drake, from his spot-on costume design to his charisma, as well as Nate’s iconic ring engraved with the words “Greatness From Small Beginnings.”
As one of the most significant secondary characters in the Uncharted franchise, Sophia Ali will be taking on the role of British treasure hunter Chloe Frazer, a close ally to Nathan and Sully. While Frazer later took the lead role in The Lost Legacy in the games, the trailer reveals the first time Nathan and Frazer meet, where she states that Sully has no friends other than herself.
Nathan’s brother, Sam Drake, appeared far later into the franchise, with Troy Baker voicing the character in his debut in Uncharted 4, before later making another appearance in the Chloe Frazer spin-off one year later, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. However, it’s likely the film adaptation could be introducing Sam to the party a lot earlier than the video games. He is referred to on various occasions throughout the trailer.
At this stage, we know very little about Antonio Banderas’ villain. It’s hard to even say whether he’ll be playing a brand-new villain, or portraying a reworked version of one of the video series’ wealth of iconic bad guys. His motivations, quite predictably, are connected to a mysterious treasure, one that he and his family have spent their lives devoted to finding.
He’s seen climbing from a bright red sports car and making some sinister-sounding conversation with Nathan at an art gallery, while Tati Gabrielle plays a character listed on the film’s IMDB page as Braddock. By appearances, she’s the head of his muscle, which includes a Scottish henchman with an accent so strong Nathan fails to understand a word he says.
It’s suggested that Sully has a connection to Nathan’s rogue brother and that their quest to find a treasure will lead them to Sam at the same time. Holland’s Drake is later seen burning a postcard from Sam promising a “whole world you haven’t seen yet”, which places Sam somewhere in Spain. This all suggests that Sam will make an appearance in the film.
The Uncharted film wrapped filming in October 2020, following extensive periods of development hell since its conception in 2008. Uncharted is due for cinematic release on February 18, 2022.
