Uncharted has been out in theaters around the world all week, though its domestic release arrives today. The movie adaptation of Sony’s hit video game franchise looks like it’s going to overcome middling reviews to become a box office hit, no doubt bolstered by the popularity of star Tom Holland.
But many fans of the PlayStation series have problems with Holland as swashbuckling adventurer Nathan Drake. Even in the first game, he’s experienced in treasure hunting, and though several of the games feature flashbacks to his youth, Holland has been criticized as simply too young for the part. Even Holland expressed his doubts over whether he was the right casting, saying he wasn’t used to playing a “cool” action hero.
Now director Ruben Fleischer has opened up on how the film’s hero differs from the games’. In an interview with Comicbook.com he said:
“Nathan Drake in the game is somebody who’s been at this treasure hunting thing for a long time. Whereas, our character, he’s an unassuming bartender who has a love for history, but, other than that, really no experience out there in the world, fighting, shooting, jumping off of planes, all the things that he learns how to do.
So, I think that the naiveté that Tom brings to the character is warranted because he’s not this veteran guy. He’s a guy who just yesterday was tending bar and then just got thrust into these extreme circumstances. So, what I love is that, for fans of the game, they get to see a different chapter in Nate’s life and see how he would go through these experiences which would lead him to become the Nathan Drake that they know and love.”
It’s perhaps worth considering that fans of the games simply want to see the character they know and love, rather than what’s essentially a different (but similar) hero. On the flip side, Tom Holland is currently one of the most bankable stars in the world, and Uncharted can now ride on the coattails of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
While it’s safe to say that critics aren’t impressed (the movie is sitting at 40% on Rotten Tomatoes) a healthy box office may mean more Uncharted will be on the way sooner rather than later. Even so, with Holland reportedly planning a break from acting after several very busy years, we may be waiting a while to see Nathan Drake back in action.