On February 18, the "Uncharted Sea" movie, which is highly anticipated by player fans and fans, will land in major theaters in North America, but most people are still skeptical. Question marks have to be drawn about whether Tom Holland's role as Nathan Drake restores the game, and whether the film adaptation of the game can be interpreted into the beloved Uncharted Sea.
With a number of trailers and official stills released for the Uncharted movie, Drake, played by "Dutchman", and Victor Sullivan, played by Mark Wahlberg, will meet various enemies in the process of adventure. Fans' reactions to the video were mixed, with many seemingly dissatisfied with the cast. Still, the critically acclaimed action-adventure game Uncharted and its large fan base give the film a great opportunity to break the spell of adaptation.
There have been some very disappointing game adaptations before, which have left fans wondering why the studio wanted to make them live-action. For many film adaptations, the teams involved may not be passionate about the game itself, but rather focus on their popularity. The purpose of the adaptation is to earn a place at the box office, not to maintain the content of the original game. As a result, many game adaptations of movies lack plot and detail.
The dilemma faced by many game adaptations is the lack of originality, and when adapting a game into a movie or TV series, the producers can also add their own ideas to improve the storyline while referring to the character plot of the original game. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but unfortunately in trying to shape the story, game adaptations tend to fall into tedious narratives. Either it doesn't match the original plot, or it's a condensed version of the story that completely ignores the main points.
(Uncharted 1: Drake's Treasure)
Another problem arises when the film adaptation tries to recreate certain scenes in the game. Real-time rendering or CG animations in games can easily create a variety of stunts that may not be reproducible in live-action shooting. Despite having advanced CGI technology, there are still certain limitations in making live-action movies compared to animation.
(Uncharted Seas 2: Across the Seas)
The fundamental difference between games and film adaptations is the medium. Games are a more active form of entertainment where players will be fully involved in the decision-making process. Whether it's Uncharted, The Last of Us, or God of War, players will need to complete certain missions to advance the story. Players can choose the rhythm of the story presentation, in some cases the player's actions will even change the direction of the plot, and some games will set multiple endings for the player to explore.
(Uncharted 3: Drake's Trick)
Many role-playing games are linear, including the Uncharted series (Uncharted 4 is a wide linear game like Last Of All 2). Players must solve a variety of puzzles and overcome obstacles in order to progress through the game. Trials and defeats make the game process interesting and the ending more worthwhile. However, watching the protagonist find a hidden treasure through difficulties in the movie makes it difficult for the player to feel satisfied as in the game, because of the lack of autonomy to obtain the sense of accomplishment.
(Uncharted: The Golden Abyss)
Many adaptations are very popular game series, including Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, and Tomb Raider. When filming live-action films of these games, production studios use nostalgic elements to attract fans to watch. For them, it's actually a kind of free marketing, as game fans will talk about it at social gatherings or online forums, and any publicity is advantageous.
(Uncharted 4: The End of thieves)
This factor obviously applies to Uncharted as well, as it is one of the most popular games on the PlayStation (Rogue Saga Compilation will be released from PS exclusivity later this year and landed on PC). Since the 2007 release of the PS3 edition of Uncharted 1: Drake's Treasure, the series has sold more than 41 million copies. Uncharted 4: The End of thieves alone sold 15 million copies and became one of the most popular games of 2016. Uncharted 4 has a solid fan base, and while Naughty Dog has declared a drawdown with the series and marked the end of Nathan Drake's adventures, fans are still hoping to see more Uncharted games coming to the future.
(Uncharted 4: The Lost Legacy)
Considering the high popularity of "Uncharted Sea", there may be many people who want to watch the movie "Uncharted Sea" because of their love for this game (of course, the editor himself as a fan of Shenhai is the same). But just attracting audiences to theaters isn't enough to make a movie a success. According to the official trailer analysis, it seems that the Shenhai movie will not be limited to only one of the games, so it is likely that the Shenhai movie will be directly based on the entire series of games and start a path of its own.
Recently, Sony Pictures revealed an exclusive scene from the Uncharted movie, almost a replica of the plane climbing scene in Uncharted 3: Drake's Trick. In the video, Drake wrestles with a mob on a freight plane when he is suddenly suspended from a crate in mid-air. This two-minute scene looks fantastic and could be one of the highlights of the film. It is more sincere to highly restore such a difficult scene, and I hope it is worth being expected by game fans.
So far, the trailer has successfully restored the game's dark tones and fast-paced action, even Sullivan's iconic beard. Although many fans were unhappy with the role of "Dutchman" playing Drake, after watching his wonderful performance in "Spider-Man: Homeless", fans decided to give him another chance to see his performance in the Shenhai movie.