UNCHARTED - What Is Lost Is Not Gone

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Uncharted is a treasure hunt adventure movie full of action, puzzles, and mystery. It is available on Netflix now. I have always like treasure hunt adventure movies. They all tell unique stories, but the flow of these stories seem to be the same. There are good characters, bad ones, and they all compete in finding the treasure first. Almost always all parties involved end up at the final destination. Uncharted doesn't exactly follow the same exact flow, but for the most part the idea is the same.

That makes me wonder, if there is a treasure to be found and there is a limited number of people or groups are obsessively involved in the hunt, they can either compete against each other or work together. Almost never they work together. Perhaps because movies and stories wouldn't be as fun if everybody worked together and there were no good and evil sides. Perhaps the authors of such books and producers of such movies, prefer to have the audience engaged with the characters and create emotional link.

However, I still think it can be possible to write a story or make a movie where all parties just cooperate in finding the treasure and split them equally once found. Maybe this kind of a movie wouldn't be an action one, but it can still be an entertaining and interesting adventure. This way the story can focus on unique stories of the characters involved, as all of them would have interesting stories to tell about how they became interested in this particular treasure hunt, what it means to them, and how it could change their lives.

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen Uncharted yet and would like to avoid spoilers please stop reading now. Feel free to come back after watching the movie.

The development of the Uncharted movie started in 2008. But the production was delayed so long, when they were ready, pandemic happened, which delayed it even more. After 14 years, finally it has become available for us to watch. It stars actors like Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, and Antonio Banderas. The movie is part of Uncharted franchise and is also based on a video game of the same name.

While the main story is the search for the long lost gold treasure of the Magellan expedition, the movie also presents a story of two brothers who were separated when they were young. It is also a story of a Spanish family who have a claim for the treasure, the story of a father and son. It is also a story of continuous betrayals and mistrust by all parties involved in the search of the treasure.

The movie starts by telling the story of two orphan brother, Sam the older brother and Nate the younger brother. Sam is super obsessed with maps, history and stories of Magellan's lost treasure. He knows a lot about this treasure and believe that nobody has found it yet. His mission in life is to find this treasure. He tells his younger brother, Nate all about it and even takes him to steal an old map from Boston museum.

Sam is great at solving puzzles, but not a good thief. They immediately get caught and are brought back to the orphanage. Younger brother can stay, but Sam needs to pick up his belongings and go with the police. This is when Sam decides to run, and two brothers will be separated indefinitely. Before Sam leaves he promises Nate that he will come back. After telling the this story from 15 years ago, the scenes switches to the present. Sam is still gone, and Nate has grown up.

Later in the movie it is revealed that while Sam never came back, he was still searching the treasure and kept in touch with Nate by sending postcards and letters. In present times, Nate is working as a bartender but also gained some pickpocketing skills. When Nate is at work bartending and stealing from his customers, a stranger appears to recruit him. The stranger is Victor Sullivan, played by Mark Wahlberg, and goes by the nickname Sully.

Sully is not honest with Nate with his intentions. He tells Nate that he worked with Nate's brother Sam and that Sam disappeared a couple of years ago. Sully explains how they were hunting for the Magellan's treasure and he wants Nate join him in this search. Nate doesn't care much about the treasure, but he loves his brother and has been waiting all these year to reunite with him. Nates agrees to join Sully in his search for the treasure, but he only does it find out more about his brother. The reason Sully is interested in Nate is because Sam was the puzzle solvers and knew everything about the treasure, and now that Same is gone, Nate may have some useful knowledge in finding the gold

Initially Nate is told that his brother just disappeared. Later in the movie it is revealed that Sully didn't tell the truth, and that Sam was killed by the rival treasure hunters. At the end of the movie there is a scene that shows a person in some prison, who appears to be Sam. That's how the movie ended, leaving a hint that there might be more to the story and we may see Uncharted 2 in the future.

First what Sully and Nate need to do is steal a gold cross from an auction. This gold cross is also a key that suppose to open the doors to the treasure. The scenes of how the two orchestrate the stealing of the cross was interesting, and full of action. It also introduced other characters of the story: Santiago Moncada played by Antonio Banderas and Jo Braddock played by Tati Gabrielle. Santiago comes from a wealthy Spanish family whose ancestors are believed to have funded the Magellan expedition and believe the lost gold belongs to them. Santiago is also super obsessed in finding this treasure. He has hired mercenaries who are lead by Jo Braddock.

After stealing the gold cross/key Sully and Nate fly to Barcelona, Spain. There they meet another new character, Chloe Frazer played by Sophia Taylor Ali. Chloe has the second gold cross/key and both are needed to open the doors to the treasure. The treasure hunt begins. They manage to find the secret vault, however there is no treasure there, only huge pots of salt. As they go through solving puzzles, fighting the competition, and almost drowning, all three reveal how they can't be trusted and ready to betray once the mission is accomplished. They didn't find the treasure, but they found another map inside the pile of salt. They quickly realize that that the treasure never made it to Spain and was left somewhere in the Philippines.

Chloe steals the map, both gold crosses and runs away. It turns out she was working for Santiago. In the meantime, Santiago orders Jo Braddock to kill his father, because his father wanted Santiago to stop his treasure hunt, otherwise he would donate his wealth instead of giving to him. Santiago's obsession with the treasure turns out to be greater than his love for his own father. He doesn't hesitate to get his father killed, so that he can continue with this mission. Later when they get closer to the treasure location, Braddock kills Santiago as well, since she has no desire to share the treasure.

The next parts of the movie are about their journey to Philippines, finding the exact location of the treasure, and race for who can get to the treasure first. Some really interesting and entertaining scenes here. The movie keeps moving fast and doesn't fail in missing the details.

Overall, the movie was great and worth watching. Those who love treasure hunt stories and adventure movies will enjoy the movie. It may seem as same old fashion treasure hunt story, but it is produced well and keeps moving fast keeping the viewers wondering what will/may happen next. If you have seen the movie already, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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