“Nuns, why does it always have to be nuns?” asks Tom Holland’s Nathan Drake in the film adaptation of Uncharted. This is just one of the many references (some subtle, some not so subtle) to the great Indiana Jones, whose fingerprints, along with Lara Croft, are all over Uncharted. From the outfits Holland and Wahlberg wear to the Indiana Jones-like flyover of a map to the attitude of Nathan Drake in the video games, Uncharted owes a lot to the archeologist in a fedora. And while the latest attempt at a video game adaptation won’t please all fans of the video game franchise, it’s one of the best attempts at commercializing a franchise in recent memories, mostly in due part to the fact that you’ll forget it’s an adaptation of anything, quite frankly. Tom Holland is not a perfect Nathan Drake; at times it’s hard to see the stoic and blunt Nathan Drake of the video games, but it’s the boyish charm that has given Holland the career he’s had thus far that’ll make you smile whenever he quips while hitting people with bottles of alcohol, as cheesy as some of these moments are. Uncharted is a great adventure movie, and far better than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a movie even I, a bit fan of that franchise, have a soft spot for. As hard to believe as it is if Disney and co. want to take a few pages out of the playbook of Uncharted, it may be in their best interest to bring them back to their roots.

Uncharted follows Nathan Drake, who is roped into an adventure by Victor Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg), to hunt down the treasure of the Magellan expedition. 

We kick off Uncharted with a big action set piece: Tom Holland playing leapfrog across cargo crates (so great we get to see it twice!). Right when it starts getting good, we do the cliché action movie trope of (slickly) transitioning from one shot to another of Nathan as a young boy. This is where we get the brief backstory of Nathan and Sam, Nathan’s brother who likely listened to Only The Good Die Young one too many times, and then we’re reintroduced to Tom Holland who is, like Peter Parker, in NY. Nathan is a nighttime bartender and bracelet-stealing scoundrel, using his charm and bag full of magic tricks, by this I mean a lighter that can barely set alight given to him by his brother 15 years prior, to steal valuables unbeknownst of his victims. One night, Sully (Wahlberg), offers him an in on an operation that could make both of them a fortune, thus setting our adventure on its course.

The Nathan Drake of the video games, to my knowledge (of about two hours of playtime of Uncharted 4), is the amalgamation of two of Harrison Ford’s most iconic characters, Han Solo and Indiana Jones. The smug and witty nature of Nathan was always something I doubted Holland could pull off. Luckily, this young version of Nathan hasn’t had his heart hardened quite yet, just give it a few more years of chasing Chloe (Sophia Ali) to no avail, and that boyish nature has some more “shits” and drinks sprinkled that remind you that Holland is indeed an adult. More in line with the video game version of Nathan is Sully, played by the great Mark Wahlberg (more on him later).

It’s no secret that I’m oftentimes very critical of Tom Holland. As a teenager, I loved him as Spider-Man, but the gawky looks grew tired after a while. And while he doesn’t necessarily reinvent himself in Uncharted, even striking a Spider-Man pose or two, he plays the role of the hero well and with enough charm that it’s hard to not root for him. Part of that charm, however, is that “gee-whiz” energy when he exclaims: “Oh my god, I’m so sorry! It was completely reactionary!” after dodging a crate and watching it hit one of the nameless henchmen in pursuit (something I called would happen coming into the film). If you heard his voice when reading that quote, I’ve done my job and you’ll understand what I mean.

But Holland is undeniably good at playing the protagonist, and his Nathan Drake is still learning the game. Oftentimes too trusting, Nathan gets his ass kicked on numerous occasions as a result. It’s clear that this is a story devoted to showing the progression of Nathan, he seems far more confident by the mid-credits scene, and while waiting until the very end of a first movie in a (hopeful) franchise usually weighs down movies, see Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, seeing another few movies would be welcomed from this Indiana Jones lover.

Sully, like Nathan, was always going to be hard to nail. You had to pair someone with Holland who could pull off a mentor role, but he also had to be a little snarky in order to keep up with the expected quipping. Wahlberg plays Sully by “Mark Wahlberg-ering” his way through lines, which is not a completely bad thing (who doesn’t love Mark Wahlberg?), but this is where the commercialization of this film comes into play. Wahlberg is, more than anything, a big enough name to go second billing to Holland and draw some more butts in seats. Diehard fans of the game were likely upset, and that’s fair. But as far as a Hollywood version of the film goes, it worked. He’s sarcastic, throwing zingers right back at Holland (one about Holland’s height), and the two make for a fun duo. The same lesson from Nathan Drake applies: Go in with no expectations of his this character should be portrayed, and you’ll be fine. It’s perhaps a cop-out but think of Uncharted as a movie that takes inspiration from the video games, rather than a straight adaptation. More than Nathan’s right-hand man, this version of Sully is more like Sapito (Alfred Molina) in Raiders of the Lost Ark with a significant upgrade in lines.

Holland and Wahlberg are the standouts, mainly because they’re shoved down your face for most of the runtime, but out of all of the supporting cast, Sophia Ali is the standout by a wide margin. I don’t know her character of Chloe, but her scenes with Holland and Wahlberg made for fun banter. There’s a chase sequence involving Chloe and Nathan, and it was one of the most engaging scenes of the film. Antonio Banderas is kind of in the film, playing your typical Indiana Jones villain with daddy issues, but is hardly remarkable. He shares one scene with Holland, and perhaps to avoid going into any spoiler territory, his presence left a lot to be desired. An antagonist shouldn’t have enough screentime to barely cover a pee break, and it’s truly hard to remember any scenes with Banderas. It’s awfully possible he didn’t want a part of Uncharted, but he was willingly in Doolittle. He will appear in Indiana Jones 5, so maybe he was just holding out on us. Tati Gabrielle plays Sully’s rival, Jo Braddock, but even despite being in the film significantly more than Banderas, she wasn’t that memorable either. She holds a knife up to people’s necks enough times that it would get you a buzz if you took a shot with each instance, but that’s about it. I guess a fight in an international Papa John’s was cool.

Now, Uncharted’s biggest flaws are not doing much to raise its stakes. I get it, it’s an attempt to blossom into Holland’s “side hoe” franchise to the MCU, so inherently, the stakes were never going to be sky-high. But while a basic plot can be forgivable, (literal and metaphorical) constant double-crosses are not the way to go in an attempt to compensate. You’ll see them a mile away, and if any heist/adventure movie taught you anything, don’t trust anyone, except the lead character. Most of these double-crosses will likely come with no gasps from audience members, and it’ll make Death on the Nile‘s twists seem like shocking revelations.

The action set pieces are about as ambitious as a standard MCU outing. They’re visually engaging enough, nothing special, but the amount of hand-to-hand combat is welcomed. Yes, they’re filled with some cringe-worthy quips, but I don’t remember another movie where Holland was put in situations that he had to exchange fists to get out of.

There is some choppy pacing, which should be talked about. While Uncharted will never bore you, it comes at the expense of basking in a scene. As stated, the opening of the film is a set piece, jumping right to Nathan’s introduction and within what feels like 20 minutes, we’re already on a heist mission with Nathan and Sully. It’s great that it doesn’t slow, I’m not sure these characters need much expansion, but there are far too many montages while characters “research,” or should I say stare at maps and postcards, and those Indiana Jones-like map moments occur on more than one occasion.

Uncharted is a ton of fun because, well, it’s not trying to be a faithful adaptation of the video games. I’m sure there are plenty of nods to the series, I recognized a few story beats even though I am a very casual player, but it works as an adventure franchise movie that we rarely get nowadays. It’s just pure popcorn fun and likely accomplishes what The Lost City hopes to do later this spring. Don’t be scared off by the February release date, Uncharted is anything but your standard “Q1 disaster.” Maybe Sony wanted to ride off of the Spider-Man wave, but a spring/summer release date would have been even better.

Sony will release Uncharted on February 18.