Mark Wahlberg Blamed as “The Worst Video Game Movie of the Century” Draws Fire

The article argues that video game movies remain notoriously difficult to adapt well, despite games increasingly offering cinematic stories and high production values. It uses Sony’s 2022 film adaptation of Uncharted as a central example of Hollywood’s recurring failure to translate beloved game franchises to the screen. The piece says that while the Uncharted series had long been seen as a strong candidate for a movie, the final result missed much of what made the games popular.

At the center of the critique is the casting. The article says the film arrived during a period of “Tom Holland fatigue,” making Holland a poor fit for Nathan Drake, the adventurous treasure hunter originally introduced in the 2007 PlayStation game. It argues that Drake’s character is more akin to a larger-than-life action hero, while Holland’s performance comes across as youthful and uncertain. The article also says the film mishandled Victor “Sully” Sullivan, Drake’s mentor and partner, by casting Mark Wahlberg rather than a more recognizable older figure with a rugged, weathered presence.

The piece then looks back at the film’s long and complicated development history. It notes that Wahlberg was once attached to play Nathan Drake himself when filmmaker David O. Russell was involved in the project in 2010. That earlier version reportedly had a very different vision, including Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in supporting roles as Drake’s family members. The article suggests that while the concept would have been strange, it at least reflected a bolder creative direction than the final movie.

Over time, however, the production changed substantially while Wahlberg remained attached. By the time the film was completed, the article says, the project had gone through so many revisions that it felt like an entirely different entity from its original concept. This, the piece argues, helps explain why the final movie felt generic, hollow, and disconnected from the source material.

The critique also targets the writing, direction, and action scenes. According to the article, the script is forgettable, the stunt sequences only loosely recreate moments from the games, and the overall direction is competent but uninspired. Instead of capturing the energy, personality, and scale of the franchise, the movie is described as safe and flat.

The article closes by contrasting Hollywood’s failure with fan-made Uncharted projects, which it says often capture the spirit of the games more successfully. It specifically points to a viral fan film starring Nathan Fillion as evidence that audiences understand the material better than studios do. The piece concludes that viewers would be better served by playing the games themselves than watching the film, though it notes Uncharted is streaming on Hulu.