This past week I was lucky enough to watch a prescreening of the new Uncharted movie. Almost immediately after watching, I sat down to put together a list of my favourite easter eggs I think you should look out for in the Unchartered movie.
For anyone who’s been living under a rock (looking at you, mom), Uncharted is a wildly popular series of action-adventure video games. The games follow a character called Nathan Drake who is a treasure hunter and travels around the world uncovering historical treasures and solving mysteries. The game has had universal success over the years. Having shipped more than 41 million units, it is also one of the top-selling game franchises of all time. One of the biggest appeals to the series outside of the actual gameplay has always been its rich storytelling combined with how cinematic it is, making it an almost obvious choice for a video game to screen adaptation.
The Uncharted film is directly based on the videogame franchise and sees Tom Holland in the role of Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Sully, Nathan’s mentor. Initially, the film was set to release in 2020, but because the world seemed to start unravelling at the edges, it was postponed to 2022. While I don’t think the Uncharted movie will be winning any awards, it is, without a doubt, one of the best and most enjoyable game-to-movie adaptations in recent memory.
Uncharted Easter Eggs You Don’t Want To Miss in The Movie
Now enough rambling from me, here are some of my favourite Easter Eggs A.K.A. Things you might have missed – WARNING spoilers may follow.
A small moment of epic proportions
A moment included explicitly for fans of the franchise was shown near the very end of the film. There is a brief scene of Nathan and Chloe walking on a beach when a random person starts chatting to them. Now fans might not have recognised this man’s face, but they almost certainly will have recognised his voice.
The man in the cameo is none other than Nolan North, a popular voice actor in his own right but who is most recognisable as being the voice of Nathan Drake from the video games. Not only was this brief inclusion a great way to honour the fans of the games as well as the games themselves, but it also felt like a passing of the torch moment when the two Nathans spoke. This was one of those moving moments where you can feel the tightness in your chest as your heart grows a few sizes.
This scene
It’s probably the most obvious easter egg from the bunch, as it’s been shown in almost every single trailer leading up to the launch of the movie. So in the film, an iconic action sequence takes place when the cargo is thrown out of a plane with Nathan attached to it. While visually pleasing and making for an adrenaline fueled addition to the film, anyone not familiar with the games might not realize how epic this moment truly is.
While the movie did make a few location changes, the entire cargo plane sequence was an almost scene for scene recreation from a section of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. The way it was recreated was magical and was a great way to pay homage to and embrace what it means to be part of the Uncharted franchise.
A ring straight from the games
Now, this is just something I’m going to mention but not go into for fear of spoilers. In the movie, we get introduced to Nathan and his brother Sam and quickly get told that they are orphans who don’t have any connection to family outside of each other. However, the one thing they do have is a family heirloom in the form of a ring that Sam wears on a chain around his neck before handing it over to Nathan. Fans of the game franchise will instantly recognise the ring as the same one around Nathan’s neck in the games.
The ring is inscribed with “Greatness From Small Beginnings” in Latin, and if the post-credits scene for the movie is anything to go by, the ring will be playing a much more significant role in the sequel.
The case of the missing Moustache and Cigar
Throughout the movie, we see a version of Victor “Sully” Sullivan that looks not only like a much younger version of his gaming counterpart but also with considerably less hair on his upper lip. Even though earlier trailers for the Uncharted movie showed Sully rocking his signature moustache, it was missing throughout most of the film.
Until the post-credits scene, however. In this short clip, we see a Sully whose look is much closer to the video game version. It’s the addition of his iconic facial hair that instantly steals the show, and it’s also something Nathan immediately pokes fun of before grabbing a cigar and tossing it to Sully – officially welcoming to screen the Sully fans know and love, even if he is still a bit young.
A lighter with history
One of the most prominent forms of comic relief used throughout the film comes in the form of a lighter that Nathan carries on him that rarely works. In the movie, we see Nathan repeatedly pull out this old lighter that was a gift from his long lost brother Sam. We also see Nathan constantly disappointed by the lighter’s failure to ignite time and time again. However, he also refuses to get rid of it, which came in handy once the lighter finally worked and helped reveal a pretty significant clue.
It turns out this lighter is one of the film’s most iconic nods to the games where Nathan and his brother Sam are often seen using that same lighter to solve various puzzles and help lead them to treasure.
A dad joke taken straight from the games
This was an easter egg I would have missed entirely had it not been for my partner’s near on hysterical giggles when it came up. One of the core aspects of Sully from the games is the character’s unique scene of humour, and by that, I mean his annoying dad style jokes. Love or hate Mark Wahlberg’s take on Sully, he ended up capturing a lot of the mannerisms and dialogue that made the character a fan favourite in the games.
During the movie, there is a scene where Chloe and Nathan find themselves trapped within an underground crypt rapidly filling with water, threatening to drown them both. After Sully manages to save the day, he looks down at Nathan and Chloe and utters, “Well, well, well” (because it looks like they’re in a well, get it?) However, this line was more than just a cringe-inducing joke; rather it’s a cringe-inducing joke taken straight out of the games where Sully can be heard making the same exact joke more than just once…
If you haven’t been to watch Uncharted yet and you’re still on the fence, don’t be. The trailer honestly doesn’t do the movie justice, nor will words.
While straying from the source material in parts, the movie remained faithful in the one aspect that truly matters – essence. It’s an Uncharted movie that FEELS like Uncharted, and it’s that spirit that allows the film to be a constant stream of fun, from beginning to end whether you go into it as a preexisting fan of the franchise or not.