Hollywood has long claimed that video game movies don’t make a lot of money. Looking at past failed films like Super Mario Brothers, Tomb Raider, and Doom, this commonly heald wisdom seems true. Yet this decade has broken that belief. Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the top films of 2020, and while that wasn’t a typical year, it became both a critical and commercial success. Last year, the Mortal Kombat remake won acclaim and made back twice its budget with a hybrid theatre-streaming release. The third time does seem to be the charm, with the video game adaptation Uncharted grossing $271 million worldwide to date, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 2022.

Released February 28, Uncharted is an action-adventure film directed by Ruben Fleischer based on a video game of the same name and stars Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. While it is a fairly short film, it’s packed with tons of action and excitement. If you have played the games, you should see a resemblance to them, but even if you haven’t you still get a fun and lighthearted action movie, with tons of hints to the games, and many stunts that will have your heart racing.

Street-smart Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is recruited by treasure hunter Sully Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to recover a fortuned gained by Ferdinand Magellan and lost 500 years ago. What started as a heist job for the duo turns into a global adventure and action-packed race to reach the prize before Santiago Moncada, who believes he and his family are the rightful owners of the treasure. Nate goes into the quest with the hopes of finding his long-lost brother we he hadn’t seen since they were kids and trusts Sully that he knows what he is doing. Throughout the movie, Nate finds out his brother once took the same path he is currently on and discovers clues he might have left behind for him. Nate slowly learns about Sully’s past and slowly learns what has happened to his brother after he had left him as a young kid.

Tom Holland is great in the film and shows that he should be known for more than just Spiderman. Antonio Bandaras is also a great villain, as he can be both believable and outrageous when he wants to be. The only really questionable casting is Mark Wahlberg–when he has to be funny and drop one-liners, he’s great, but his performance falls a little flat when he has to be serious in dire situations.

Overall, the movie had some fun easter eggs and references to the game but kept it different so the movie would stay fresh. However, there were many plot holes that sort of broke the movie a little bit. For instance, there were many jump cuts in and out of situations that didn’t really seem like they should be possible. The movie allows the main characters to sort of have this power within their world to what they can get in and out of every situation, even if the audience doesn’t see how.

The stunts performed in the movie are very action-packed and thrilling, but some of them seemed inconsistent. I get this is a video game movie, but some of the stunts seemed very far out of the reach of possibility while other stunts seemed like they were made for realism. If you paid attention, you could see that many of the stunts were performed with CGI or a lot of extras. That being said, they were still really fun and entertaining to watch, and some of the stunts were very different from what we see in other movies. I guess that’s what you get from a video game movie standpoint.

Overall, watching this movie in theaters was a very exhilarating experience. I would definitely recommend this movie to any action movie lover or anyone who has played the Uncharted games. However, don’t expect this to be the best movie of the year. It’s a fun escape for a couple of hours and is enjoyed best when it’s not taken too seriously. Treat it like it is–a game brought to life–and you’ll have a blast.