Released: December 2016
Director: Justin Kurzel
Rated PG-13
Run Time: 115 Minutes
Distributor: Fox Studios
Genre: Action/Adventure
Cast:
Michael Fassbender: Callum Lynch/Aguilar
Marion Cotillard: Sofia
Jeremy Irons: Rikkin
Brendan Gleeson: Joseph Lynch
Michael Kenneth Williams: Moussa
I may have said this before, but I think it’s worth reiterating: Movies based on popular video games generally don’t do very well. Why? While studios want to try to bring these games to the big screen, they often fail to see why the game is so popular in the first place. It’s not because we don’t want to see some of this stuff hit the big screen, some of us do, but movie studios often miss the point of the game and why we play them. Most gamers, myself included, would rather play these titles than watch them. There’s something about directly affecting the world in the game that’s unlike any other experience. Movies are pretty much a static experience. It’s the same thing over and over again. With video games, you don’t necessarily have to play it the same way. In my experience, less than a handful of movies based on video games are somewhat decent. Mortal Kombat, Prince of Persia, Warcraft and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children are the only ones that I’m aware of that are okay at best, but even then, they have a lot of problems, and that’s generally due to the transition from video game to movie. Today I’m going to talk about the latest video game-to-movie adaptation, Assassin’s Creed.
Assassin’s Creed stars Michael Fassbender as Callum Lynch, a man who was convicted of a capital crime and is sentenced to death. Waking up after being “executed,” Lynch finds himself in a mysterious medical facility run by CEO Rikkin and his daughter, Sofia. Lynch is at this facility because the people who brought him there believe that through witnessing memories of a past life, Lynch can lead them to the mystical Apple of Eden. Apparently this object contains the genetic code to eliminate the aggressive nature of mankind. As it turns out, Callum Lynch is the descendant of one Aguilar, who lived during the Spanish Inquisition and was the last known person to hold the object. Behind all this, is the Order of the Knights Templar who have been at war with a group of Assassins who have dedicated themselves to keeping humanity free from tyranny. For a movie that runs two hours, it throws a lot at the audience in terms of lore and backstory. For people who aren’t familiar with the game, they may end up getting lost as far as the narrative goes. For those of us who have played the games, the story here is rather original as it features a main character that wasn’t featured in the games, so it does try to do something different in that regard. So the story is not terrible.
The acting in the film is surprisingly not terrible, either. They’ve managed to include a rather impressive cast which includes Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Irons. Everyone bring their A-game. Michael Fassbender is fantastic as Lynch AND Aguilar. Fassbender is no stranger to the physical demands of an action movie, and while he doesn’t do all of his stunts in the film, a lot of the fight sequences involve Fassbender as an actor. Mr. Fassbender is one of my favorite actors of the past decade and a half because he throws everything into whatever he does. He’s fantastic. Marion Cotillard is also great as Sofia, the scientist behind the program at the facility. Her character truly believes that what she’s doing could benefit humanity. I’ve always like Miss Cotillard as an actress. She’s beautiful and absolutely dedicated to her craft. Jeremy Irons is….well….Jeremy Irons. I don’t think I’ve seen this guy in a movie where I didn’t enjoy his performance, no matter how over-the-top he gets. Thankfully, he doesn’t go over-the-top in this film. His character is far more restrained and honestly that makes him that much more threatening.
Let’s talk about the action and the stunts in Assassin’s Creed. During the scenes that take place in 1492, that’s where the film is at its best. It’s epic and sprawling and spectacular. The Assassins use the buildings as their own personal mode of transportation. The parkour sequences are phenomenal. The actual fight sequences are well-choreographed and hard-hitting. From a visual standpoint, it’s absolutely remarkable what they accomplished with the Inquisition scenes. When it switches back to present day, that’s when it gets a bit more generic. While the fights are still decent, it’s just not as amazing. When you consider that the majority of the games are played in the past, it’s kind of disheartening to see the movie mostly take place in the present. That being said, the stunts in the film are absolutely amazing, especially the “leap of faith” moment. For those who don’t know what that is, the “leap of faith” happens when your character is in a high building and the fastest way to get to the ground is to jump. Damien Walters doubled for Michael Fassbender in many of the stunt sequences due to his background in martial arts, stunts and parkour. He actually did a real leap of faith from 120 feet from a crane, which is the highest free-fall stunt ever done. That was pretty cool. There were also sequences where the Assassins were using ropes to escape and a lot of those stunts were done without wires. THAT is damned impressive.
With all that said, is Assassin’s Creed going to be able to make video game movies a legitimate thing? Not the moment. For all the good that the movie has achieved, it still has problems. Some of the visual effects and CGI are not what they should be. Some of the script is fairly lackluster and the sequences that take place during the present? Not that compelling. There was an action sequence involving wagons and horses that was a little difficult to see because of how the camera was shaking.
Overall, the film was a lot better than I was anticipating, but it was no where near as good as it could have been. Had the film taken place mostly in 1492, it would have been a far more interesting experience, since we haven’t seen a lot of movies take place during the Spanish Inquisition. That being said, I really did enjoy a lot of the action sequences and the performances by the film’s three leads. In my opinion, Assassin’s Creed is one of the better video-game to movie adaptations. So, yeah, I did like this one quite a bit.
Final Score: 8/10