I am now slightly more convinced that the existence of an Uncharted movie, based on the popular video game, would be an OK thing, especially after watching geek culture darling Nathan Fillion yuck it up in this surprisingly well-written Uncharted fan film.
Fillion, as you might expect, plays the everyman action hero of Nathan Drake, complete with that just-a-little-too-tight blue henley shirt. He’s whisked away to a bad guy’s compound, questioned, and punched up a bit by some thugs, but not before he gets in a few good cracks that I won’t spoil here. Let’s just say there are some hair-raising moments to be seen.
I’m honestly shocked at how good the actors portraying Sully and Elena are. Besides Fillion’s obvious skills, the actor playing Sully is a little less heavy in the face, but he manages to capture that trademark old man attitude and chomp on a cigar the size of a redwood tree.
“I’ve wanted to do this ever since the first Uncharted came out in 2007,” director Allan Unger said on Instagram.
“This is something I’ve wanted to do, but more importantly, something I’ve wanted to see for a long time,” Fillion also said on Instagram. “If you’ve ever pinned a towel around your neck for a cape, or donned a fedora and nearly put your eye out with a homemade whip, this is for you.”
Honestly, I’m just kind of thrilled it works at all. The film closes with a scene of Nate, Elena, and Sully poring over the clues to yet another lost treasure they’ve found, slowly working out the details of how a massive pile of gold supposedly went missing, only to determine that Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was behind it all. It’s that dumb, yet endearing “aha!” moment every Uncharted game or National Treasure movie has behind it that makes us love these somewhat murderous goofballs.
Director Allan Unger is mostly known for directing Gridlocked, an old school cheesy action flick about a former SWAT leader and a movie star doing a ride-along until a police facility is attacked. Not the stuff of legends, but it did get bought up by Netflix, for what it’s worth.
Sony has been trying to make an official Uncharted film adaptation for about a decade now, with a number of writers and directors jumping on and off of the project. The current attempt involves Spider-Man actor Tom Holland playing a prequel role.
Daily Dot’s review of Uncharted 4 says it’s “a breathtaking end to a landmark series.”
