Six years before 2013's The Last of Us introduced gamers to Joel (voice of Troy Baker), Ellie (voice of Ashley Johnson), and the world-altering Cordyceps outbreak, Naughty Dog released its first post-Jak and Daxter hit, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. The action-adventure game follows the (mis)adventures of charming treasure hunter Nathan Drake (voice of Nolan North), his old-timer pal and mentor Sully (voice of Richard McGonagle), and hungry up-and-coming journalist Elena Fisher (voice of Emily Rose) as the trio search for the lost treasure of El Dorado.
Borrowing from pulpy adventure series like Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, Uncharted’s first outing is tons of fun, but its sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, was the entry that made gamers feel as though they were at the center of an action movie. Tonally, the Uncharted and The Last of Us series couldn’t be further from each other, and yet they’re both leading examples of character-driven, narrative-focused video games. So, why have the adaptations of both acclaimed Naughty Dog series yielded such different results?
Why Does The Last of Us HBO Series Work?
Although only a handful of episodes from the first season of The Last of Us are out, the series is already being hailed as one of 2023’s best offerings — that is, it’ll be tough to top. The show’s third episode, “Long Long Time,” has pushed many critics and viewers alike to dub The Last of Us an instant classic that’ll go down as one of TV’s greatest series. Whether a show’s a video game adaptation or not, that kind of praise is rare.
Much has been made of the alleged “video-game-to-movie curse,” but, no matter which side of that debate you fall on, it’s clear that wider audiences don’t always take to video game, comic book, or graphic novel adaptations. For many non-gamers (or non-comic readers), these mediums are somehow “lesser than” — even though they’re often as compelling, artistic, and accessible (if not more so) than other mediums. Very few of these adaptations have been dubbed “Prestige Television” — HBO’s Watchmen (2019) comes to mind and, now, so does The Last of Us.
So, why does this adaptation of The Last of Us work? A few reasons. For starters, co-creators Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann (The Last of Us game series) understand the importance of playing to a medium’s strength. The hallmark of video games is interactivity, for example; elements that work to service gameplay may need to be adjusted to best fit a television narrative. At the same time, Mazin and Druckmann know it’s a balance: keep what works and the spirit of what fans loved about the source material, but have it fit the new mold and play to the strengths of that mold.
HBO’s The Last of Us also translates the game’s more cinematic moments to screen. In the pilot, the frantic truck escape sequence is shot in a way that’s reminiscent of a video game POV, adding to the claustrophobia and tension. Later action sequences, like Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) encounter with Clickers in Episode 2, also translate the feeling of being in a game to screen through over-the-shoulder shots and inventive camera work. But The Last of Us also knows when to slow things down. It gives its story and characters room to breathe, and doesn’t always focus on the next encounter with Infected.
With an incredible cast, stunning production design, and creatively rendered Cordyceps-riddled monsters, The Last of Us has a lot working in its favor. It knows to embrace its horror and post-apocalyptic genre elements, but also to remain firmly rooted in a very plausible, alternate reality. In short, the show knows what it is, knows the tone to strike, and always feels like a cohesive and collaborative vision.
Why Didn’t the Uncharted Movie Work?
When it comes to box office appeal, Uncharted (2022) had a lot going for it. The game studio Naughty Dog, which develops the Uncharted games, is owned by Sony, so a big-budget studio backing the project was in the cards. Plus, Tom Holland — a.k.a. the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Spider-Man — was cast as a young Nathan Drake. Admittedly, Uncharted was a financial success, grossing $401.7 million globally. Translation? It became the fifth highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time.
The good? Holland’s charisma never gets old. Whether he’s playing Nathan Drake or Peter Parker, his appeal seems inextinguishable. Sophia Ali (The Wilds) turns in a solid performance as hot-and-cold fortune hunter Chloe Frazer, who’s, ultimately, on her own team. And Tati Gabrielle (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) plays an effortlessly cool, calculating, and severe antagonist.
In the same way The Last of Us on HBO adapts the game’s combat and camera angles to a new medium, Uncharted borrows from its source material when it comes to the action sequences. Holland swings off of landmarks, performs impressive parkour stunts, and even climbs up the falling cargo of an in-air plane (a la Uncharted 3). Most of that feels fun and thrilling, even if it’s a bit over the top.
Still, there was more bad than good. The Uncharted movie was far from a critical success. Instead of lifting the plot from the first game, the film cobbles together an origin story for Nate that’s inspired by moments from various game sequels (namely Uncharted 4). This is probably the film’s first misstep. Nate’s backstory is probably the least interesting thing about him: he and his brother, Sam, were orphans, but their parents had claimed they were related to Sir Francis Drake, hence the obsession with fortune hunting.
In an opening flashback, Sam tells a young Nate that the treasures of explorers like Magellan aren’t gone — they’re just lost, so they can be found. Their parents, on the other hand? Gone. After being caught red-handed trying to steal from a museum, Sam disappears from Nate’s life to evade the authorities, leaving behind what’s to become Nate’s signature Sic Parvis Magna ring. It’s all pretty generic fare, which would maybe sit better in an action-adventure movie without such compelling source material. Throughout, the dialogue is stilted and clumsy, lacking both the emotional depth and comedic chops of anything Amy Hennig and the Naughty Dog team penned for the games.
Uncharted is also an origin story for Nate and Sully’s (perplexingly, Mark Wahlberg) lifelong fortune-hunting partnership. Sully recruits Nate, who’s working as a bartender (and pickpocket) in New York City, to help him track down the treasure Magellan’s crew hid. Allegedly, Sam had been helping Sully with the job, but he vanished. The utter lack of chemistry between Holland and Wahlberg is where much of the movie really falls apart. (Not to mention, Wahlberg puts in zero effort when it comes to embodying Sully; it just feels like Mark Wahlberg is running around Barcelona with Nathan Drake.) All of this, paired with a very derivative plot, adds up to a less-than-fortunate outing.
Uncharted vs. The Last of Us: It’s A Genre Problem
All in all, Uncharted is a fun romp in that run-of-the-mill action-adventure kind of way. The movie’s main issue is that it just pales in comparison to its source material. Maybe that’s partly because it’d been stuck in production hell for over a decade. As mentioned, Uncharted and The Last of Us tell incredibly different stories and inhabit very distinct genres. In many ways, it might be unfair to compare them.
However, it might also be the case that an Uncharted movie is just a flawed premise. After all, the game series wants to be an interactive action-adventure movie. It loves pulpy adventure stories, snarky one-liners, and emotional highs that oscillate between moving and total cheese. Taking a game that’s so inspired by action-adventure movies and trying to reverse the process is kind of a setup for failure. For this reason, of course the story, characters, and dialogue feel derivative in the Uncharted movie.
With source material intentionally born of these genre tropes, the folks behind the Uncharted movie needed to take a more thoughtful approach to succeed critically. Instead of being subversive or a fun modern-day update, the Uncharted movie feels like a poor imitation instead of the exhilarating and memorable ode it should be to do the franchise justice. The Last of Us, on the other hand, embraces its roots, all while finding ways to innovate.While a second film outing for Nathan Drake has yet to be confirmed, it’s clear that the first movie has a lot to teach the potential series — after all, in the world of Uncharted greatness comes from small beginnings.
New episodes of The Last of Us premiere on HBO every Sunday through March 12, 2023. Uncharted (2022) is currently streaming on Netflix and available for rental or purchase from various VOD services.