'Uncharted' Doesn't Know What to Do With Tom Holland
This might be troubling news to you, having fallen from the back half of a pandemic time warp, but in May 2016, you likely first became aware of a kid named Tom Holland. Assuming a different name—Peter Parker, you've probably heard of him—Holland hopped onto movie screens everywhere in a Spider-Man costume and never left. That was nearly six years ago.
Holland instantly charmed audiences with his boyish, pure-hearted take on the web-slinger, having a much easier go with the character than, say, the unfairly maligned (until recently) Andrew Garfield. On the side in the last half-decade, Holland has also starred in a couple of smaller films, always to a mixed reception—like Cherry and The Devil All the Time. Now, in 2022? The kid isn't a kid anymore. Holland has some killer curls and three solo Spider-Man flicks under his utility belt. The last one, No Way Home, is currently the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time. Not bad for 25!
Considering that Holland has quickly become one of the biggest celebrities of his generation—running around wearing his very famous partner's name on the back of a Rangers jersey is probably helping!—his newest film, Uncharted, is suddenly a litmus test for his stardom. With his MCU trilogy wrapped and his personal life a tabloid fascination, where does his career go from here? Can he still, as they say, put butts in the (movie theater) seats? Debuting this past Thursday, Uncharted (based on the video game of the same name) is an Indiana Jones-esque adventure where Holland plays Nathan Drake, a sort of bland action-figure hero.
During one of Uncharted's first scenes, we see Drake, working as a bartender, oozing some of Holland's signature aw-shucks energy to flirt with a patron. One thing leads to another, and... he steals her bracelet and dips! Frankly, it's far more jarring than it should be. We've watched Holland play the goodiest of goody two-shoes for almost six years now, so it's a little bizarre watching the guy play someone who's sort of a dick. But we're not saying that Holland doesn't play a convincing asshole. Quite the opposite. It's that the asshole Holland plays, Nathan Drake, is one of the least memorable characters we've seen in a film with this level of investment from a studio in recent memory. His personality is Misses His Brother. The plot does him no favors: the entirety of Uncharted leans on heel-turns and the shifting of allegiances.
In other words? Holland doesn't have room to move. If you squint hard enough, you'll see what makes Holland great. When Drake finally makes buds with Mark Wahlberg's Sully, Holland's charisma comes back to life, his ribbing of Wahlberg (almost) making you want Uncharted 2. There's also a quasi-romantic thing going on with Drake and Sophia Taylor Ali's Chloe. His natural athleticism gets its moments too, and he still ducks and rolls and spins more convincingly than anyone you'll see in, say, a Jurassic Park romp nowadays. But it takes too much effort, and ultimately, none of it can save the film.
Holland, while we're ruminating about his life and career, just revealed that he's taking a break from acting relatively soon. "I am going back to shoot a TV show for Apple, which I'm really excited about," Holland told CinePOP. "But I can confidently say that after I finish that TV show, I will be taking a break." Maybe it's for the best. Not because we don't want to see him for a while. Not at all. We'll be following along, still. Maybe Holland needs the time to find a truly great character study outside of Peter Parker—and for Hollywood to conjure up something that's actually able to match his talent.
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