Uncharted the movie, trailer analysis

Uncharted the movie

After the questionable pair of trailers for Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, the much anticipated Uncharted movie debuted a few days ago with a first official trailer. At a glance you can see references to video games and poetic licenses of sorts, which have again created a rift among fans by resurrecting the discussion about how faithful a film must be towards the original material to be accepted by whom, that material. , knows him well.

Since the two films are very close to each other, in terms of presentation to the public, we will often use Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City as a yardstick, but there will be other examples of films not of the all faithful and still successful - they are very rare, but they exist.

So follow us in our analysis of the Uncharted movie trailer.

Canon and headcanon

Uncharted, a scene of the film Before venturing into the examination of the trailer, it is necessary to highlight a fundamental point when it comes to transpositions: the difference between canon and headcanon, as well as how the concept of canon is not and should never end up in the hands of spectators (or readers), but it remains with those who created the work and the characters themselves.

By canon we mean a set of dogmas / concepts / moments in history that can be considered the pillars around which the entire plot and the development of the characters unfold: there are therefore essential elements, when one he creates a work "inspired by", which must be taken into account both when one decides to take the path of fidelity to the canon, and when one chooses to deviate and create one's own narrative universe (headcanon). In simple terms, the latter is a drift of the story born from the mind of a fan that goes to deepen plots, characters or other elements of the original narrative, generally without entering into direct conflict.

It is very important to specify "in general" because unfortunately commercial productions have been seen ignoring the value of the canon, acting neither more nor less like any fan. The core in this case, and the point of the problem when you see popular riots on the internet for the wrong reasons, is that the viewer confuses canon with headcanon, pretending to see represented in their head what they see as right and achievable: to follow, directors and screenwriters many times, also thanks to a limited knowledge of the original work, meet these sentiments expressed above all through social media in order to gather audiences and spectators.

They speak, therefore, more to that slice of the public that represents the belly, not the head, distorting facts and characters who instead, albeit in a headcanon, should respect the bases of the work from which they are taken.

Canon or simple inspiration?

Uncharted, a scene from the film The most fought war is the one between the need, for the public, to make a film that retraces the videogame and the acceptance of a film that instead is set in that narrative universe, perhaps with the same characters, but tells something different. Here a second split is created: an original film, but canon and therefore part of the main narrative universe, or so much in itself as to create its own world of its own. Taking the example of Resident Evil, there are at the cinematic level the Andersonverse, created around the films of Anderson, and the Perryverse which instead responds to the novels written by S. D. Perry. Both make history in themselves being judged, and sometimes even appreciated, for what they are, with the awareness that they are not to be considered canonical and do not represent offense to video games as they are only inspired by them.

The main point, in a similar issue is the clarity on the part of the production on what the public will be faced with: putting pen to paper that a particular film is or is not canon helps to pave the way towards a more understanding reception by the viewers. See the first Silent Hill and Prince of Persia, which in their being films inspired by their respective video games were overall enjoyable. This is because even in inspired films, if you decide to take a particular story and rework it, you need to be aware of what you are doing and still show some degree of respect towards the source material - which to say Welcome to Raccoon City is showing to not having done, even in the face of the director's words. Going beyond the similarity of the characters, very important but on which there has been sufficient expression, each work has pillars that make it such and are the main point to respect when you want to bring it back in another expressive form. Matt Reeves' Batman is an excellent example, because already from the trailer you can perceive the knowledge of the work, of the characters and of the dark atmospheres that hover over Gotham City, with the attached desire to respect them. In this jungle of canon and headcanon, how does Uncharted behave?

Between easter eggs and quotationism

Uncharted, a scene from the film Let's start with the basics: the Uncharted film is potentially disconnected from the canon . We remain cautious because the last word does not go to us, however the trailer alone is full of clues that lead to a headcanon production inspired by the original work but directed towards its own path - from Chloe, almost the same age as Nathan in the video games and here instead, she is older than him, going through the meeting with Sully and the search for her brother Sam. We therefore opted, apparently, for a solution to the Prince of Persia, with the difference that the choice of an actor like Tom Holland could be linked to the desire to make him grow up with Nathan and therefore go to create a real saga. cinematic: a first film that winks at some scenes taken from video games, in cameo sauce, and probably others that will shape a different path for Nathan while maintaining the distinctive aspects. In general, this Uncharted trailer convinces, despite the videogame shining much more than the cinema, and it seems to have a clear tone of the videogame saga and the characters.

That said, let's see the plot: the film shows the first meeting between Nathan and Sully, from which the rest of the adventure will then unravel, centered on following the route traveled by Ferdinando Magellano in order to find the greatest treasure in the world. In a certain sense, the alliance between the two arises from different needs which, however, coincide in a precise point - the treasure, in fact. Nathan is looking for his brother Sam and retracing Magellan's footsteps could lead him to him. Sully is more practical in that sense and interested in making money. Together with them, at an unspecified moment, we will also find Chloe Frazer.

The retcon regarding the meeting between Nathan and Sully, which actually took place in Colombia when both were trying to steal Francis Drake's famous ring engraved with Sic Parvis Magna, further reinforces the belief that this film is a headcanon. Even more so when it is learned that Sam, Nathan's brother, was considered missing during the search for the aforementioned treasure: this significantly changes the relationship between the two brothers, drawing from Uncharted 4 regarding the character of Sam , but ignoring the events - just like with Uncharted 3. In this regard, the famous Sic Parvis Magna ring makes an appearance already in Nathan's possession and considering its importance not only in terms of character development, but precisely in terms of story when you think of video games, the fact that they have included it so clearly in the film bodes well for any future involvement. Moving on to Chloe, although we would have preferred the respective, slight age difference as in video games to be maintained, the Uncharted film seems to want to tackle a classic headcanon: give an explanation to certain events of the canon left in the background, such as the first. meeting between Nathan and Chloe. From the games we know we had a story together, but it was never specified how they met: the film could add this missing part.

Among other quotes and winks here and there, we finally get to two key elements in the relationship between film and video games: first of all, Nathan's clothing. It is not clear at what precise point in the story, but Holland literally plays the role of his videogame counterpart. The white Henley shirt with the sleeves raised, the ring around the neck, the holster attached to the shoulders and, of course, the gun in hand always ready to shoot. Although Holland on the whole is far from the Nathan that we have come to know and appreciate, we must remember that this film is intended to tell the origins of the character and presumably, as already written, to make him grow together with the actor: hence the decision to select Holland for the role, whose youthful appearance is well suited to the idea of ​​carrying on a film saga for several years.

Although Nathan Fillion, in the famous amateur scene, had a clearer resemblance to the videogame Nathan, we are talking about a fifty-year-old actor who would not be able to carry on the character for a prolonged time and who in any case is now too old for the role (in Uncharted 4 Nathan is thirty-nine and the epilogue is not to be taken into consideration precisely because the adventurer's life has already been hanging on the nail). Films and video games travel in parallel.

Uncharted, a scene from the film Lastly, the famous plane scene, the one that most of all makes the film lean towards the video game and has somewhat heated the minds on the web due to its misplacement with respect to video games.

Considering what has been written so far, it becomes clear that the protests make no sense to exist because, even if not openly declared, it is now evident that the Uncharted film is a headcanon from which a potential film saga will develop: the the fact that this first film, just to attract as much public as possible, chooses to introduce some of the iconic moments of the entire videogame saga is normal and does not conflict with anything. The original work is there as we know it. The cinematic one, beyond some poetic licenses regarding the characters, seems quite respectful to us: at first glance there seems to be more video game than cinema, however from a trailer it is impossible to establish it and we will have to wait for the release of the film to draw the our conclusions.

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