For the better part of the past 2 decades, Mark Wahlberg has remained a force of Hollywood action. With a career-defining role in Boogie Nights and a movie that pushed him to stardom with The Departed, Wahlberg is one of the few actors who can afford to take a risk and earn a flop or two at the box office without it cracking a major dent in his reputation as an A-lister.
The 2022 video game adaptation Uncharted does just that as it stars the Ted actor in all his action and comedic genius but fails to rake in the critics’ favor despite earning more than $400 million at the box office and making it the sixth highest-grossing video game-to-film adaptation of all time.
Mark Wahlberg Showers Co-star Tati Gabrielle With Praise
Despite the film’s formidable leads, Uncharted harbors a striking roster of antagonists comprising such names as Antonio Banderas and Tati Gabrielle. The latter especially grabs the mass attention with her role as Jo Braddock, managing to impress not merely the audience but her veteran co-star as well. Speaking of her performance in the film, Mark Wahlberg claimed:
“She’s a bad–s. I mean, sure, her martial arts skills – all that stuff – are amazing, but her. [We] became fast friends before we even started making the film. So, anytime we got to just play off of each other…
She was choking me out. She wrapped that thing around my neck a little too tight, but I didn’t want to complain. I didn’t want [Gabrielle] to know that I was bothered by it. You talk about a formidable opponent, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. She’s wonderful. It was cool to see that.”
Tati Gabrielle in turn had high praise for Wahlberg as well, Uncharted being the first film to have them working together. Claiming how the latter “mentored me through the whole shoot,” the pair struck up a close bond as the You star feels comfortable enough to call Wahlberg her uncle.
Uncharted Fails to Break the Video Game to Film Curse
Despite being one of the leading men in the industry, Mark Wahlberg remains a grounded star with a work ethic to die for. The iconic actor who heralded such impressive roles in unforgettable films like Antoine Fuqua’s Shooter (2007) and Peter Jackson’s Oscar-baiting drama, The Lovely Bones (2009) returns to more of his action-comedy strong suit with the video game-to-film adaptation of 2022’s Uncharted starring Tom Holland as the young explorer-adventurer, Nathan Drake.
Also read: Uncharted: The Movie Is a Retcon of the Video Game
The potential and the promise that the A-lister cast itself brings to the brand and reputation of the franchise fails to meet the expectations set despite being directed by Ruben Fleischer, known for films like Zombieland and Venom.
Since then, however, much has happened to plague the genre of video game adaptations. On one end, chaos has broken out over Justice League actor Henry Cavill’s exit from the promising Netflix production of The Witcher after helming 3 seasons at the streamer. On the other hand, HBO’s The Last of Us has surpasses all expectations and broken barriers and set a new bar for the genre with its record-breaking success. Created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the series stars Game of Thrones veterans, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as the lead characters, Joel and Ellie.
Uncharted is available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: Fandango
