In the "Uncharted" movie, gamers have a lot to recognize, Nathan Drake meets Nathan Drake,
and Sully gets his mustache… eventually.
The first shot of "Uncharted" is a fade-in on Tom Holland's Nathan Drake dangling upside
down from a cargo container flapping out the back of an in-flight airplane.
It's a bold way to kick off the movie, and also a reference to two different games at
the same time.
The shot itself, which shows Nate trying to get his bearings in the middle of a dangerous
situation after briefly blacking out, harkens back to the first scene of "Uncharted 2: Among
Thieves," in which Nate wakes up in a wrecked train car hanging off the side of a cliff.
In both cases, the action scene shown at the start ends up being a flash-forward set in
the middle of the actual story.
That's a fun nod in itself, but the "Uncharted" movie twists the reference by placing it in
a cargo plane — an allusion to a totally different action sequence from "Uncharted
3: Drake's Deception."
Ah, crap
Every debonair action hero has to have at least one recognizable catchphrase, and in
the case of Nathan Drake, it's just two words:
"Oh, crap."
While simple, this brief expletive is uttered time and time again by Nate throughout the
"Uncharted" games.
Ancient machinery breaking down and falling on top of you?
Crap.
Just got double-crossed by your partner?
Crap.
Need something to shout dramatically as you leap from one crumbling ledge to another?
Crap.
The phrase is just endlessly versatile.
Holland's version of Drake gets to utter the character's signature cry a couple different
times in the "Uncharted" film, and while it might just seem like a throwaway line to those
who haven't played the games, it's a fun little Easter egg for those who have.
Nathan Drake's origin story is eked out slowly over the four mainline "Uncharted" games,
with many details not revealed until the events of "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End."
A lot of those details show up in the movie as well, albeit with a few changes.
As in the games, after a family tragedy, Nate and Sam end up living in a Catholic orphanage
in Boston named for St. Francis.
Sam, the older brother, ends up departing the orphanage before Nate is old enough, leaving
him with a few mementos to remember him by.
The first item Sam gives Nate is an old ring with the Latin inscription "Sic Parvis Magna,"
which translates to "greatness from small beginnings."
This is Nate's most treasured keepsake in the video games, though in the original version
of the story, he steals it from a museum rather than getting it from Sam.
The movie's biggest blink-and-you'll-miss-it Easter egg comes relatively early on, after
Sully first propositions Nate to help him find the lost treasure of Ferdinand Magellan.
Back at his own place, Nate digs through a trunk full of mementos to find some old postcards
from his brother, and as he lifts the lid, one of the faded stickers briefly spotted
by the camera is revealed to be the Naughty Dog logo — the acclaimed game studio responsible
for creating "Uncharted."
Coincidentally, one of Naughty Dog's other big gaming franchises, "The Last of Us," is
being adapted for a TV series at HBO starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
Given the cinematic nature of the developer's games, we might be seeing the Naughty Dog
logo in live action a lot more going forward.
As proven by the opening cargo plane scene, "Uncharted" has no qualms about ripping entire
sequences and story beats out of the video games.
Nate and Sully's auction heist is another example of that.
In "Uncharted 4," Nate, Sully, and Sam all sneak into a secret black market auction in
Italy to steal — you guessed it — an old cross that's actually the key to a lost treasure.
The movie moves the auction to New York City and ties its cross to Magellan, but the core
beats are still incredibly similar.
"That's it up here.
So we just have to climb up there and kill the lights, grab the cross in the dark."
Specifically, the actual bidding scene is basically pulled straight out of "Uncharted
4."
In the game, Nate goes gallivanting all over the estate trying to figure out how to cut
the power.
His delays force Sully to bid against the game's main villain, Rafe Adler, to buy them
time.
During the whole scene, Rafe is accompanied by Nadine Ross — the leader of a mercenary
team who serves as his main muscle throughout the game.
The dynamic between Rafe and Nadine is strikingly similar to that between Antonio Banderas'
Santiago Moncada and Tati Gabrielle's Jo Braddock in the movie, both of whom are also present
and bid against Sully while Holland's Drake tries to turn off the lights.
Even the red tuxedo jacket Sully steals from a waiter in the movie scene is pulled straight
from "Uncharted 4," though Sam is the one to wear it there.
"Uncharted" pays tribute to the franchise's Hollywood inspiration a few different times.
In Barcelona, for instance, Nate takes Sully and Chloe to an old church where he believes
Magellan's gold to be buried.
When they enter the building, however, Nate is shaken by the sight of a nun inside, flashing
him back to some less than happy memories of his childhood.
It's then that he drops the line, "Nuns.
Why's it always have to be nuns?" which is clearly a reference to Harrison Ford's famous
line from "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
"Snakes.
Why did it have to be snakes?"
Shortly thereafter, in an attempt to bond with Chloe, Nate asks her why she decided
to become Indiana Jones.
This is obviously less of an Easter egg and more of an overt reference that nearly breaks
the fourth wall.
The revelation that Indiana Jones exists in the "Uncharted" universe is funny and maybe
even a little odd, but you've got to give the movie credit for not trying to hide the
series' influences.
Well before the theatrical release of "Uncharted," Nolan North — the man responsible for Nathan
Drake's voice and performance capture in the video games — shared a picture of himself
on set chatting with Tom Holland.
The pic immediately sparked speculation that North could have a cameo in the film, which
ultimately ended up being true.
Those in the know will recognize him as the tourist lounging on the beach in the Philippines
who remarks to Nate and Chloe that he, too, fell out of a plane once.
Obviously, that line is referencing the events of "Uncharted 3."
It's fun to see the two versions of Drake interact, and if anything, the film maybe
could have benefitted from a little more Nolan North.
As a fun bonus, North's cameo is accompanied by a quiet reprise of the "Uncharted" games'
theme music.
After nearly two hours of searching across the globe, Nate finally finds Magellan's lost
gold aboard two pirate ships hidden in a cave.
That particular setting is essentially the same as the final act of "Uncharted 4," when
Nate and his wife Elena discover Henry Avery's lost ship hiding in a watery cavern on Turtle
Island.
In both cases, the ships are loaded down with treasure troves of gold, and they both end
up eluding Nate's grasp, albeit in different ways.
In the game, Avery's ship gets set on fire and quickly burns to ashes with the cave itself
collapsing on top of it.
Nate and Rafe battle with pirate swords as the ship implodes, with our hero just barely
making it out alive.
In the movie, Braddock hauls the two ships out of the cave suspended from helicopters,
leading to an airborne battle in which Nate once again employs the use of a rusty old
sword.
Though most of the treasure gets properly claimed by the government of the Philippines
afterwards, Nate and Sully do get out with a bit of gold for themselves — a small victory
that harkens back to a similar outcome in the first "Uncharted" game.
Like cartoon characters, video game characters tend to wear the same outfits a lot.
As such, most famous characters like Nathan Drake and the rest of the "Uncharted" gang
have pretty memorable looks, and many of those are represented in the movie in one form or
another.
Holland's version of Nate sports several different outfits throughout the film, and in the final
battle aboard the flying ships he assembles a pretty spot-on replica of the character's
game look — khaki cargo pants, a dull white Henley shirt with the sleeves pushed up, a
brown shoulder holster for his handgun, and of course, Sir Francis Drake's ring on a string
around his neck.
The outfit is very accurate to the games, and it's a fun way to represent Nate fully
becoming the treasure hunter fans know him as.
Later on, in the film's final post-credits scene, Nate also wears a white and red baseball
shirt — another one of his classic looks from the games.
And he isn't the only one to get some Easter egg costumes, either.
When Chloe first enters the story in Barcelona, she's wearing a red outfit that's very reminiscent
of her look from "Uncharted 2."
"Oh, you know my brother Sam?
What else aren't you telling me?"
For most of "Uncharted," Sam Drake is merely a specter — a missing man presumed to be
dead.
However, in a scene tagged onto the end of the movie, it's revealed that he's actually
alive, wasting away in a foreign prison.
While the exact details of Sam's disappearance, apparent death, and imprisonment are altered
a bit for the big screen, this is pretty much exactly what happens to the character in the
video games.
"Uncharted 4" shows how Sam and Nate sneak into a Panamanian prison to get a vital clue
to a big treasure, only to be betrayed and forced to flee.
In the escape attempt, Sam is shot, and Nate leaves him, believing him dead.
Years later, it's revealed that Sam survived the bullet, and that he was thrown in a dark
cell to rot.
If an "Uncharted 2" ever happens at Sony Pictures, it should be interesting to see how the revelation
of Sam's survival will work its way into the plot.
He may have a bone or two to pick with Wahlberg's Sully for leaving him behind on their quest
for Magellan's treasure, which could cause some interesting tension.
The movie's post-credits scene shows Nate negotiating with an eyepatch-wearing man named
Gage, played by "Game of Thrones" alum Pilou Asbæk.
The two have agreed on a trade of Nate's ring for an old Nazi map, but Gage quickly pulls
a double-cross and demands both.
The most interesting part of the scene for fans of the games is that Gage's boss is apparently
named Roman.
A character named Gabriel Roman — an old acquaintance of Sully's — is one of the
main villains of the first "Uncharted" game.
There's no way that's a coincidence, which means that Roman is being set up as an antagonist
for the next movie, if one gets made.
Additionally, the mention of a Nazi map is also a reference to the first game in the
series, which involves a cursed treasure sought by the Nazis during World War II.
Perhaps the most exciting implication of these references is that they pave the way for the
live-action debut of Elena Fisher, Nate's constant companion and eventual life partner
in the games.
In the canon of the games, Nate and Elena meet at the beginning of "Uncharted: Drake's
Fortune," and it's hard to imagine another movie being produced without Elena being a
part of it.
"Should've seen that one coming."
The "Uncharted" post-credit scene also includes three fun Easter eggs for Sully — his mustache,
his revolver, and a cigar.
All three of those items are key parts of Sully's video game persona, and they are glaringly
absent from most of the film.
He's even wearing green in the shot, which is arguably his most frequently worn color
throughout the franchise.
It's fun to see Wahlberg's version of Sully finally completed with all the necessary accessories,
but the scene also raises the question — why did it take him so long to get them?
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