Sony has finally begun showing off some footage for its upcoming highly-anticipatedUnchartedmovie adaptation starring Tom Holland. No, that footage is not publicly available. But there are plenty of audience reactions to parse through, and that’s just as good, right? Hey, sometimes it’s best to take whatever scraps are tossed from the table.
As part of a promotional sizzle reel meant to get fans at CinemaCon 2021 all hot and hyped about their upcoming projects, Sony added in a few precious morsels ofUnchartedscenes to sweeten the pot. Naturally, they’re all out of context and not exactly indicative of the film as a whole, but audience reactions appear to inspire some optimism, even afterHolland claims he made some mistakesin his performance. Hey, maybe the young star is just being too hard on himself.
RELATED:The Uncharted Movie Feels Redundant After Uncharted 3, 4
According to those who got to enjoy that sneak peek at Sony’s panel, many of the scenes included in the sizzle reel were heavily reminiscent of theUnchartedgames themselves. That may not be surprising to those who understand what the word adaptation means, but the pleasantly unexpected part actually seems to come from the fact that the scenes appeared to be taken directly from the games, rather than simply inspired by them. So unliketheSuper Mario Bros.movie, it seems there will be a lot more faithful homages and quite a bit fewer dinosaur cyberpunk dystopias.
One such segment depicts Holland’s Nathan Drake hanging perilously off a piece of cargo in a plane before being thrown off into a freefall, desperately trying to cling to any falling debris he can. Another is far less adrenaline-filled, showing an atmospheric shot of Drake standing in a dark cave with a pirate ship off in the distance. Fans particularly familiar with the series will recognize the latterfromUncharted 4: A Thief’s Endwhile anybody with a passing knowledge ofUncharted 3: Drake’s Deceptionshould instantly remember the iconic scene being recreated in the former. According to those in attendance at CinemaCon 2021, theUnchartedscenes were well-received by the audience, hinting that the film’s cinematography and action scenes may be at least worth the price of admission. Even Nathan Fillion is excited.
Other bits include Mark Wahlberg’s Victor “Sully” Sullivan attempting to entice Drake into going on an adventure, with a promise that he’ll see things he’s only read about in books. If anyone was somehow still unsure whether theUnchartedmovie would be an origin story, that right there should be enough to hammer the point home. But the fact that a scene like that is included alongside recognizable set pieces like those previously mentioned suggests that the film plans on doing a bit of mixing and matching from the events of the games as part of Nate’s origin story rather than going through his whole career.
The positive reactions from the audience are certainly worth a little extra hope among those who may still be tempering their expectations. After all,video game movies are tough to makeand don’t exactly have the best track record. But there’s always room for some optimism, andUnchartedmay just be worth a good chunk of it.
