It may be time for video game fans to check out, or at least let go of Uncharted enough to just accept whatever unrelated movie David O. Russell is going to put out. In a recent sit-down with the L.A Times, the Fighter director let slip some specifics about what to expect out of his video game adaptation, and purists won’t think it’s pretty.
The most glaring change Russell is making is that he’s going to be writing in a storyline that involves the main character Nathan Drake’s family, rather than it just being about a quippy adventurer looking for his family’s ancient treasure. We already know Robert DeNiro is in Russell’s mind to play Nathan’s uncle, but it sounds like he’s planning on adding quite a bit more:
This idea really turns me on that there's a family that's a force to be reckoned with in the world of international art and antiquities ... [a family] that deals with heads of state and heads of museums and metes out justice.
Not a bad idea, but it mostly just sounds like the story from National Treasure, and less like Indiana Jones, which you could say is the game's closest cousin. Some will say that it makes sense to add to the game’s story since in their opinion it needs a little more to build on. However, the game already has more to it than any of the Indy flicks, so why bother tacking on useless junk when it could be a totally competent adventure movie with minimal tinkering? Of course this also begs the question, why bother getting the rights to something when you’re barely going to use it? It’d be easier to just name the character something else and then go from there.
After last week’s news that Mark Wahlberg would be stepping into the lead, this latest blow to the Uncharted fans may be the final nail in the coffin of Russell’s built-in audience. From here on out, he’ll be building an audience from scratch.
