Warning! Spoilers ahead for Uncharted!

While Sony’s new Uncharted film starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg is a treasure-hunting adventure set in the modern era, its similarities and outright references to Indiana Jones were necessary. The Uncharted video games were heavily inspired by Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones films, as well as other hit games such as Tomb Raider. As such, the similarities the Uncharted movie has to Indiana Jones have likely helped in its overall success.

In Sony’s Uncharted, directed by Ruben Fleischer, Tom Holland’s Nathan Drake is younger than he is in the games with this first film essentially serving as a prequel to the established franchise. Not only does he meet and work with Victor Sullivan for the first time (Mark Wahlberg), but he also gets his first experience as a treasure hunter doing what he and his brother Sam always dreamt of. Working alongside Sully as well as Chloe Fraser (Sophia Ali), the trio search for the lost gold hidden by the crew of Ferdinand Magellan, competing with deadly rivals who’re searching for the treasure as well.

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As fans of the Indiana Jones films can attest, there are quite a few references and mirrored themes in Uncharted. Not only is Drake’s fear of nuns akin to Jones’ fear of snakes, there are also travel transitions with planes flying from one point to another on a globe just like the transitions featured in the Indy franchise. At one point Drake outright asks Chloe “when she decided to become Indiana Jones“. However, the similarities run even deeper with rivals looking/digging in the wrong place, inevitable double-crosses, the temptations of fortune and glory, and more. Ultimately, these similarities were necessary as it captures the spirit of the games, which themselves were inspired by the spirit of the Indiana Jones franchise.

While some of the shared themes between Uncharted and Indiana Jones can be attributed more to the treasure-hunting genre in general rather than Indiana Jones specifically, there are quite a few that are meant to be direct homages to Dr. Jones—just like in the games. Uncharted essentially piggybacks on the particular flavor of adventure the Indiana Jones franchise provides, and that’s a good thing. After all, the games have long been considered to be “Indiana Jones without the fedora“, even featuring a few supernatural elements as well. The movie simply honors many of those same inspirations the games do.

With the Indiana Jones films being seen by many as the gold standard for treasure-hunting films, audiences comparing Uncharted to Indiana Jones was unavoidable. As such, it was good that Sony embraced the Indy inspirations just as they’ve always done with the games. Mirroring the Harrison Ford films are part of Uncharted‘s identity. It would have been far stranger if there hadn’t been Indiana Jones references in the film.

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About The Author


Kevin Erdmann
(2525 Articles Published)

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Kevin Erdmann is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers. With a major in Cinema Studies and a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin is pretty sure he’s writing for the right site. While Kevin is a huge Marvel fan, he also loves Batman because he’s Batman and is a firm believer that Han shot first. Disney also shares a big part of his fan patronage. Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.

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