"Well I'll be go to hell"
- Victor Sullivan
Not too long ago Sony announced that they will be working on an Uncharted movie staring Tom Holland (Spiderman) as a young Nathan Drake. As a huge fan of the series I was ultimately bummed out because I feel like they took the least interesting aspect of the Uncharted story and decided to run with it. Uncharted is about the high stakes adventure, steamy romances, and most of all the interactions between these unforgettable character and I feel focusing on a young Nathan Drake is completely void of that. And this is besides the point that video game movies are almost exclusively garbage.
Then July 11th 2018 something very interesting happened, Nathan Fillion, pop culture icon and all around cool dude, post something on Instagram. A picture of the rapper Drake, the quote “Sic Parvis Magna”, and the date 7/16/18. Understandably everyone who has ever played the Uncharted series knows right away Nathan is referring to Nathan Drake and the Uncharted series. But what could it be? We know already the movie stars Tom Holland and will exclusively follow young Drake and we know that Nolan North will forever be the voice of Drake in the games. Could it be some sort of spinoff or side story?
Today July 16th 2018 it was revealed that Nathan Fillion will star as Nathan Drake in an original Uncharted short film that is available to watch for free now. The film is directed by Allan Unger and also stars Steven Lang as Victor Sullivan. I personally can’t think of a better way to adapt the game. Time and time again we see that big budget action movies based on video games fall flat and on the other hand we see that when fans get to work we get truly amazing results. Just look at the Dan Trachtenberg’ Portal: No Escape.
After watching Uncharted the Live Action Fan Film I’m happy to say that it is excellent. For starters Nathan Fillion is an absolutely perfect Nathan Drake, almost as good as Nolan North himself. All the humor, sarcastic wiseass’ness, and physicality that makes up Nathan Drake is here (minus the rock climbing) and Nathan Fillion nails it in every scene. You can tell the love he has for this character and how much fun he is having playing this role. He was hysterical and as charming as ever. Stephan Lang as Sully does an excellent job as well and although initially I wasn’t too excited in seeing him play Sully as soon as he was on screen I understood why they chose him. There is also another surprise character that I wont spoil here but I will say it was a great addition.
This being a short film I was worried that the short run time would damper the experience for me but thankfully it uses its time wisely and is paced great. In the 14 minute and 49 second run time we get to experience everything you would expect from an Uncharted film. There are some truly hysterical moments and excellent world building that makes it fit right in with the franchise. There were moments that I thought that maybe this is actually from the games, its that accurate. The action and fighting choreography was top notch and extremely faithful as well. When Drake starts with the fisticuffs director Allan Unger made sure to use moves directly from the game making it feel way more authentic.
Uncharted the Live Action Fan Film is everything an Uncharted fan could want from a live action adaptation. It understands what the series is and respects it every step of the way. Its funny and action packed and keeps all the charm the game is known for. Nathan Fillion is perfect as Drake and brings the character to life in a way I didn’t think was possible. This was a film made with love for the property and most of with love for its fans.
Full film will be linked below.