Looking for an honest Uncharted (2022) review that cuts through the noise? In this Film Buff episode, I revisit the Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg video game adaptation that many expected to flop. Shot during the COVID era and long dismissed by critics, Uncharted turns out to be a surprisingly fun, high-energy adventure packed with treasure-hunting thrills, mentor-protégé chemistry, and classic Indiana Jones / Tomb Raider vibes.

I break down why the Wahlberg–Holland dynamic works, how the film delivers pure escapism, and what it reveals about modern film criticism and acting performances. Plus a personal update on the recent content break and what’s coming next (including those Rollerball requests).

Whether you’re a fan of the Naughty Dog games, a Tom Holland completist, or just craving a solid action-adventure movie discussion, this review gives you the real take—no hype, no forced hate.

Revisiting Uncharted: A Surprisingly Enjoyable Adventure and Reflections on Film Criticism

Summary

The content centers on a personal update and a detailed reflection on the 2022 movie Uncharted, starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. The speaker opens with an apology for a brief break in content uploads, explaining it was due to personal downtime and upcoming travel plans. After addressing this, the discussion transitions into a candid review of Uncharted, a film long criticized and expected to fail, partly due to pandemic-related production issues.

Despite widespread negative expectations, the speaker found Uncharted to be a fun and engaging adventure film. They highlight moments reminiscent of classic adventure films like Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, and National Treasure, focusing on themes of mentorship, camaraderie, and the thrill of heists. The chemistry between Wahlberg and Holland brings a nostalgic buddy dynamic, with the plot centering around action, treasure hunting, and a satisfying villain payoff.

The speaker also contemplates the nature of performance critique in Hollywood, emphasizing the complexities actors face on long shoots and the muted culture around openly criticizing acting performances. They commend Tom Holland’s consistent acting and tease plans for a deeper dive into his career.

The summary closes with appreciation directed toward the audience for their concern during the hiatus and a promise to cover requested films like Roller Ball. The overall tone is appreciative, enthusiastic, and introspective, blending personal narrative with thoughtful film analysis.

Highlights

• 🎬 Uncharted defies negative expectations, proving to be an entertaining adventure film.
• 🤝 The Mark Wahlberg–Tom Holland mentor-protégé dynamic evokes classic film buddy tropes.
• 🎥 Insights into the challenges actors face during prolonged shooting schedules shape thoughtful critique.
• 🕵️‍♂️ The speaker compares Uncharted to iconic adventure franchises like Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider.
• 🎭 Tom Holland’s performance consistently impresses despite mixed critical reception.
• ✈️ Personal update explains temporary content pause linked to travel and self-care.
• 📽️ Tease of upcoming film discussions, including Roller Ball and deeper dives into Tom Holland’s filmography.

Key Insights

• 🎥 The Role of Production Challenges in Film Reception: Uncharted was heavily impacted by COVID-19 disruptions, which contributed to its negative pre-release reputation. This highlights how external circumstances beyond the filmmakers’ control can shape public and critical perception, sometimes unfairly. It encourages audiences to reassess films with context.
• 🍿 Audience Desire for Escapism in Troubling Times: The speaker stresses that in a world rife with stress and chaos, movies like Uncharted serve a vital function as enjoyable escapism. Critical rigour is important, but so is recognizing a film’s ability to entertain and provide respite, especially in contemporary contexts.
• 🤔 Complexity of Acting Criticism in Hollywood: The speaker points out the unwritten code that actors rarely harshly criticize each other’s performances, resulting in a scarcity of constructive mid-tier performance critiques. This reveals a tension between professional respect and honest artistic evaluation, underscoring the challenge for reviewers and audiences striving for fairness.
• 🔄 Mentorship and Legacy in Adventure Film Narratives: The dynamic of an older, experienced character mentoring a younger protégé—exemplified in Wahlberg’s Victor Sullivan guiding Holland’s Nathan Drake—is a classic and comforting trope. It reinforces themes of growth, trust, and passing the torch, resonating with audiences through familiarity and emotional connection.
• 🎭 Star Power and Versatility Define Modern Acting Careers: Tom Holland’s performances, including his recent roles, exhibit range beyond his superhero persona, earning praise from the speaker. This challenges reductive views and underscores how actors evolve and prove their versatility over multiple projects and genres.
• 🎞️ The Power of Post-Credits Scenes to Build Anticipation: Uncharted leverages multiple mid-credit sequences effectively, teasing ongoing adventures and deepening audience engagement beyond the initial film. The speaker finds these sequences so compelling that they nearly warrant staying for more content, emphasizing modern franchises’ approach to storytelling.
• 💬 Community and Personal Connection Enrich Content Sharing: The host values direct audience interaction, acknowledging fans who checked in during the hiatus and incorporating their requests into future content. This highlights the importance of genuine connection in digital media spaces, fostering loyalty and shared enthusiasm.

Here is the transcript of the Film Buff Uncharted episode.

00:00:01
Quiet on the set. >> Speed down production stage one. Action. >> Happy Monday, APA. By the way, I do apologize and I’m only apologizing cuz I love all of you so much. Some of you have reached out to me. Uh I get like, oh my god, like do I talk too much? Am I not on subject? I’ve been teasing a health update and show update episode for uh a little bit too long now. Uh we had a little bit of a pause the last couple days, pause on the weekend. Uh this is after two having uh pro like two solid weeks of just

00:00:44
ramping up more episodes for all of you. Just I I call it hitting the marks of the aka pad film buff drip. But some of you uh reached out to me uh just looking for health updates. Uh it seems like you guys thought something happened. Uh I put myself on a little bit of a break, a little bit of a time timeout. Uh and that’s mostly because I had this Atlantic City trip coming up. Haven’t been to Atlantic City in quite some time. uh little little bit spontaneous, but there’s so many other

00:01:23
things I have to do. And here’s the crazy thing, AK Patters. A lot of times when I gear up to travel, uh I record, you know, somewhat of a nice battery of shelf content. These are either shows and and discussions. There’s so many opinion episodes I I have yet to release, but that that’s a little bit of the FL. And often I I run out of time to publish, so I delay. And then that’s that’s usually where some of these gaps come from. But all of you, three of you that reached out to me, uh guys, uh I do

00:02:01
I do love you. Uh thanks for checking in. Thanks for caring. One one of you literally hit me up uh while I was on the beach zoning out, but I enjoyed that conversation very much. Uh, and and yes, yes, I will do Roller Ball. Uh, both Roller Ball movies. Uh, the Norman Jewish Jewish one and the remake by John McTurn. Little little bit of a of a request there. [snorts] But yeah, so I come back and I watched this movie and I watched this movie on on the heels of Tom Holland’s second giant movie this

00:02:41
year, right? play. He’s he’s he’s one of the guys in Odyssey. Odyssey is really a Matt Damon movie. Uh Tom Holland plays uh Adysius’s son who inherits um not Greece, but he he he inherits the throne at the end of that movie. And then we have literally the throne of Tom Holland with Spider-Man. This movie is going going to be a billion-dollar movie. Uh, and yet again, uh, a Spider-Man movie has the air of saving theaters, uh, as the last one did, No Way Home or No Way Out. Uh, the

00:03:18
subtitles for these Spider-Man movies are I need a list in front of me just to get them right. But the one with the three Spider-Man, the multiverse one with with Doctor Strange, this is somewhat like right followup direct sequel to all of that. this movie tracked to be bonkers. It gets released, it’s bonkers. It It’s literally uh a head spinning success at this point with or without inflation. Uh these numbers always impressive. So, I got into Uncharted mostly because look, I I I’m a big Mark Wahlberg guy. I

00:03:56
love Mark Wahberg. And this movie came out in 2022, so we can call it it’s it’s it’s a co movie. It’s a movie that got derailed by co and I think you guys know where this quick discussion is going. You’re not supposed to like this movie. You’re not supposed to enjoy this movie. This movie is supposed to be the worst of any type of film making any creative professional can embark on. This movie is supposed to be so bad. Uh, you’re rightfully to punch Mark Wahlberg or Tom

00:04:33
Holland or whoever else is involved. Even the Key Grip, even the caterer, you can punch any of these people in the face because they didn’t know. How did they not know that this movie was going to turn out the way it did? So, I sit down and I watch this thing and I love the beginning. We’re high up in the air. We’re somewhat at the uh tail end of a adventure. Very cool. We jump to Mark Wahberg recruiting Tom Holland. I guess these are uh some of the beats of the video game Naughty Dog.

00:05:07
Uh I believe is Naughty Dog behind Last of Us as well. Were they Crash Bandicoot? I I I’m forgetting some of my Naughty Dog video game lore. But right, so the elder recruits the young dude which is Mark Wahberg recruiting Tom Holland. Now during the production of this movie, Mark Wahberg held production of this movie for so long, his original role for this movie was Tom Holland’s role and he aged himself out of his own production. So we get this uh I’m taking you under my wing. I need you for something. Uh

00:05:47
going back to Matt Damon, this is what George Clooney and Brad Pitt uh when they recruit Matt Damon in Ebott’s Steiner in or Mbits Ebbit’s bar in Chicago. Yes, my film knowledge runs that deep. Be impressed. But when they recruit Matt Damon, right, like we get that scene and then something hit me and it it hit me pretty hard. This movie is rolling. I’m enjoying it and I and I said this same thing to myself when I watched Tomb Raider 1 and two, right? Cradle of Life, Tomb Raider, Angelina Jolie. I I have

00:06:31
yet to see the newest one. And is there a Tomb Raider anime or Netflix? Whatever. But the Angelina Jolie movies. And I said this during National Treasure 1 and two, Book of Secrets, Nicholas Cage. And I said this when I watched Indiana Jones, Dial of Destiny that I somewhat refuse to discuss. Indiana Jones, the the one before that with the alien thing. We have better Indiana Jones inspired movies than we do Indiana Jones films. Now, we kind of forget that one time the Indiana Jones trilogy, Raiders of the

00:07:20
Lost Arc, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, that in my view still nearperfect trilogy. It really is. If we roll in Last Crusade as truly a Last Crusade and they ride into the sunset, [snorts] father and son and uh forget the other guy. There’s like three of them. Perfect ending. But Hollywood and everything surrounding it seems seems to have figured out the formula of what makes Indiana Jones so effing fun. Uh Noah Wy is uh Apple Plus had an Indiana Jones inspired movie not long ago. I think it was called um

00:08:08
Fountain of Youth. [sighs] I guess we got to talk about that soon, right? So, I’m watching this movie that I’m not supposed to like. My buddy Mark on on his podcast was just trashing I don’t know like some some range I it’s there is a true disconnect when a commentator reviewer discussioner speaks of a performance where they themselves are not a performer and there is a reason why we don’t get a lot of true critical like uh like we can grab it, we can toil with it, we can do something, you know, like a clear

00:08:55
takeaway of anything that’s perceived to be a negative performance. There’s you can go through even what other actors say about it. Even though see other actors don’t discuss what other as what other actors don’t do well there there is a code of conduct conduct when it comes to performance. Now, they’ll go on and on when something’s great. But m middle of the road, mid, not quite there or awful performances. No. Now, sometimes the actors themselves will discuss it like uh you know, we can just

00:09:33
discuss going back to George Clooney, his role as Bruce Wayne in Batman and Robin. We get some reflection here and there, but if we put together all of the info, there’s not much there. And why is that? Because there is a process to putting yourself on screen, on camera for months at a time. And you can’t deviate from that character. You got to go home. You got to pick up your kids. You got to kiss your wife. You have to be that character. This is why Hollywood produces weirdos. It’s the nature of the beast. And it’s

00:10:15
somewhat sad a lot of times. But with that being said, my [laughter] friend of mine uh likes to go on and on about Tom Holland. I think Tom Holland I guess this is my wonderful point that I’m getting. I think Tom Holland is awesome in this movie. There is no performance I don’t favor from Tom Holland. We can go into Odyssey. Heck, I get it. Peter Parker, he’s Spider-Man. Take that off the table. this dude is in good movies, good performances. I was so taken aback by this comment of his that

00:10:55
I said to myself like this Wednesday I I got to do a films of Tom Holland or something to redefine this narrative or or just finalize the narrative. I I will never speak of someone’s performance because I feel like I have to be through multiple film sets, spend time in mult, you know, like I I have to see how things add up in editing. I have to have arguments with directors and cast members like now like I need the full experience. I think that’s being fair. So, we get an Indiana Jones movie that

00:11:39
sucks me into the point where at the end of this movie, Mark Wahlberg makes that call to drop the bag. It’s literally spoiler, he makes a call to drop the bag. When he drops the bag, it’s so satisfying. Gets rid of the villain, but he’s sacrificing himself to save his young friend Tom Holland. character names, right? Let’s see. Tom Holland’s character is Nathan Drake. Great name. Mark Wahberg is Victor Sullivan. Tatty Gabrielle, this is our villain. She plays Joe Bradick, another great name.

00:12:24
She’s there like she weaves throughout uh in like she’s in and out of this movie. We’re first introduced to her carrying. She’s so striking on on camera. We’re introduced to her through I’m recruiting you for a heist scene. We have to steal this cross thing as part of a it’s part of a key. I have the other key. We need to steal this thing before it it gets sold. Tom Holland is thrown into the mix and he’s got to figure things out. Again, it’s a little bit of fish out of

00:12:54
water. It’s a little bit of, hey, you’re a professional now. You know, we see this in sports movies, too, but it’s a little bit of we know we’re about to enjoy someone figuring things out. This helps the audience. It’s a little bit of a trope. Tropes help us understand how to pay attention to something and what to expect next. And then we can focus on some of these other details like memorizing the relationship of Joe Brderick and Victor Sullivan. So they get the thing at at the end of

00:13:30
this auction which is a a wonderful awesome sequence. You know, everyone’s in tuxedos and we have these giant hanging chain chain of leers and uh soon Tom Holland aka Nathan Drake will be hanging from these lights. So it’s all there and then at the end of this movie let let me tell you this. We get two cargo helicopters carrying [snorts] like two pirate ships or two Spanish Gillians full of treasure. And the whole final sequence of this movie is again something you can’t imagine. Dare I say it’s very Indiana Jones

00:14:20
without the weird alien or time travel stuff that should never have entered into the Indiana Jones franchise. We get the satisfying end to the villain and then we get these very effective postredit sequences. Now the the credits at the end of this movie I I am cool music like I just in there’s some movies where I will rewatch the movie just for the credits that this is one of them. But then we get we get multiple end credit sequences or midredit roles whatever the heck they want to call it at this point. mid-credit sequences. And

00:15:03
one of them is the beginning of another adventure of Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan. Mark Wahberg, Tom Holland. Wahlberg gets into the room. We think they have the drop on Tom Holland. He has a mustache. Mark Wahberg does. You know, we get we get a little bit of of a puberty joke. And this sequence is so effective that I’m almost like watching it. Like I’m almost just like if this was another movie, I would have just stayed in my seat to follow what was going to happen next. So we get another one of these AKA

00:15:43
powers, but we get another one of we were told to dislike this movie. We were told to hate this movie. We were told that this movie was a complete waste of time. I sat down. I had fun. I enjoyed it. I wish I had some popcorn, but I was I was somewhat watching this uh just out of frustration a little bit because I I knew this movie had heat and then, you know, just I I heard one of my friends go on and on about Tom Holland. I’m just like, “Oh, man.” What we like to do here on the show is

00:16:21
our experiences, our collective knowledge of these movies, what they mean to us, right? [snorts] So, it’s we’re we’re we’re critical where it counts, but if we’re just sitting down having a good time, I I don’t think there’s another height for a film to reach. I I really don’t it we need to escape. The world is on fire right now, [laughter] right? Ah, it’s crazy out there. But yeah, AKA Patterns thank and all of you guys, thanks for checking in. I really do appreciate it.

00:16:59
We will do Roller Ball. Yes. And if I’m doing Roller Ball, I have to do Thomas Crown Affair. If you’re familiar with that reference, put it in the comments. I love you guys. Rock and roll. Okay, that’s a wrap.

PETER A DELUCA AKAPD

AKAPAD is a versatile thinker known across Philadelphia, Europe, and even in the vast Multiverse as The Electic One. By day, he excels as an IT Mastermind, assisting individuals, both big and small, with a wide range of simple and complex solutions. In contrast, he is also a talented illustrator, a passionate comic book enthusiast, a creative content creator, and an active live streamer. Additionally, his podcast, “AKAPAD The Film Buff Podcast,” boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 episodes available on nearly every major platform.