It’s kind of difficult to nail down every problem that exists with making a quality movie based on a video game since very few have yet to be made. It’s almost as bad as trying to make a movie based on a comic book, there’s simply too much there and not enough time to get it all in. Think about it, a game like Uncharted takes hours upon hours to finish and finally get to the end, while a movie is expected to end after a couple hours of run time and have a decisive ending, or at least an enticement to expect a sequel. But if the movie isn’t all that great people might walk out of the theater hoping the sequel never comes. it’s rough trying to create a movie based off of a game without taking it OUT of the game and creating a live action film that has elements of it and isn’t kept to the same standards. Think of Peter Berg‘s film Battleship. Despite not being hailed as one of the better movies made based on a game, as it was barely able to feature anything remotely like the game, it was still entertaining since it took itself off the board and decided to roam. Uncharted has a much better chance of this right from the start since it has fewer constraints.
If the director handled it correctly and the writers were able to keep the story engaging and not so dogmatic it could work.
There is an idea for this film already, and it’s playing around with the idea of a young Nathan Drake.
Actor Tom Holland is actually the one that’s being credited for coming up with this idea so perhaps he’s the one that wants to play the role. Whatever the case talks have been going on for this movie for some time and haven’t really come to a head quite yet. The idea of creating a movie based off of a game is great but it’s not entirely realistic all the time since the transition can kill the movie immediately if things aren’t done right. Certain aspects need to be given more attention than others and for an origin story the legwork really needs to be done when it comes to talking to the creator and seeing what they have to say about it. Fans are likely going to be divided on it no matter what since some people are purists and want to see everything done exactly while others will forgive a lot in favor of seeing what it does to the story. But despite being a video game that’s being made into a movie it still pays to do the proper amount of research in order to get everything that needs to be accounted for nailed down.
Some folks think The Rundown was an inspiration for Uncharted.
If you watch the movie you might get a good idea of why this makes sense considering that Dwayne Johnson, then billed as The Rock, and Sean William Scott were both kind of perfect when it came to the movie and the whole idea of going after a lost treasure was a big part of what Uncharted came to be about. Honestly anyone should be able to look at the game and assume that it pulls heavily from other movies and games since it has roughly the same theme and adventures in a way that you’d see in Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. In fact Nathan Drake has been likened to Lara Croft a few times and even nicknamed “Dude Raider”. As suggestive as that sounds it was made out to be more of an honorific since he’s been the leading man in the series and is obviously the guy who’s story is going to be told in the movie. The Rundown was a simple enough movie that could have easily paved the way for Uncharted since it wasn’t too challenging and went from point A to B in a kind of zigzag patter that was simple enough to follow.
The whole issue behind video game movies is that they either follow the game too close or they don’t follow it at all and fans tend to notice in a big way. So far in cinema history only a few movies based on video games have ever hit that delicate balancing point that allows them to earn the kind of accolades that will go on to make them one of the best movies ever made. With Uncharted it remains to be seen if the film will even hit production status or if it’s going to stay put in developmental limbo for a while. Something seems to indicate that those in charge don’t want to be responsible for a massive blunder if such a thing happens.
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