By Austin Chiavaroli
The “Assassin’s Creed” franchise has been one of the many staples in gaming history. With the iconic parkour mechanics, combat, and fantastic storytelling, these games have become incredibly popular with gamers across the globe. However, there was one thing that many fans wanted to see come out of this franchise and that was a motion picture based on the “Assassin’s Creed” universe. This motion picture was finally made and released on Dec. 21, titled “Assassin’s Creed.” Directed by Justin Kurzel and given clearance by the franchise’s game creating company “Ubisoft,” the film has been hit with a bunch of mixed reviews since release. But is this movie good or bad?
The story takes place when a convicted criminal, named Callum Lynch, (Michael Fassbender) is saved from his set execution by Abstergo Industries. This Industry is the modern-day Templar Order, a band that has gone toe to toe with the Assassin’s Order through the centuries. Abstergo Industries is in search of a powerful weapon known as the Apple of Eden, one of the many pieces of Eden. The head scientists of the corporation, Dr. Sophia Rikkin (Marion Cotillard), tell Callum he is the descendant of an old Assassin order named Aguilar de Nerha (Michael Fassbender). Callum is then taken as a part of a project called the Animus Project, where he is connected to the Animus machine that allows him to connect to Aguilar’s memories and find the location of the Apple of Eden. The memories of Aguilar take place during the Spanish Inquisition, where Callum learns more about his family’s heritage and the true face of the Templar and subsequently, Abstergo Industries.
The acting in this film was good. However, the movie was cluttered by a massive amount of distracting terrible eye-catching CGI. Also, much of the movie felt as though it were a Matrix movie with slowed down scenes for effect. The whole film was spent trying to make the scenes feel grand and epic when really they needed to be more up close and personal with the assassins’ fighting techniques.
One of the best things about the film is the official soundtrack. While it does lack the cultural segments, like the game soundtracks have, it does have a sci-fi feel that works with the movie’s presence.
This film offers a lot of promise to the fans of the franchise, with a material sounding like something that would be directly from the games. However, production decisions to avoid the games’ main storyline made it seem too different. For instance, the Animus machine in the games looks like a bed or chair, while the film portrays the machine as a giant mechanical arm that connects to the back, which has a sci-fi look but isn’t what the Animus was in the games.
“Assassin’s Creed” was not received well on the night of its release. Many critics didn’t like it because the plot is too convoluted and inconceivable. A controversial issue surrounding this movie and others of its kind is that video game based films don’t do well in cinema. However, many fans of “Assassin’s Creed” believe these false critiques are biased compared to those who have either played the games or saw it before the critiques.
While “Assassin’s Creed” has many things that fans will like, it has many flaws that will deter some that want a connection to the games. If one is a fan who wants to see a new spin on the Assassin’s Creed universe or is a fan of medieval action films mixed with some sci-fi elements, then this movie fits. “Assassin’s Creed” gets a 3.0/5.
