Review – Assassin’s Creed

Video game movies have had a pretty rough life in the film world.  From critical and commercial flops like Super Mario Bros. (1993), Street Fighter (1994), and Max Payne (2008), there really hasn’t been a video game movie that has stood out to be great, or even good for that matter.  The genre took a small step forward this year with Duncan Jones’s Warcraft.  This film was a visual treat and has me intrigued for more films in the series.  Now, we get Assassin’s Creed, a film which, on paper, had the credentials of Oscar player.  Not saying that was the film’s goal, but with stars Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Irons and being directed by Justin Kurzel, this movie had a lot of potential for greatness.

But great the movie is not.  It isn’t a horrible film like the films I listed above, but it doesn’t elevate the genre at all.  It has some cool set pieces and action scenes, but the story and characters don’t work.

A murderer on death row named Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) gets taken by a secret scientific company called Templar to find an ancient artifact called The Apple of Eden.  The company uses a revolutionary technology that unlocks genetic memories, and Lynch finds out he is related to Aguilar, a member of an organization called the Assassins and one of the last men to see the Apple.  Lynch, owning the fact that he is related to members of the Assassins, learns a lot of knowledge and skill that will assist him in taking down Templar in the present day while also becoming one of his ancestors.

The plot is mildly confusing and they don’t do a very good job of explaining everything.  The movie seemed very much geared toward someone who had played the game before, which isn’t fair.  Movies should cater towards a cinematic audience.  Ones who know nothing about the previous source material and are only there for the movie.  A few easter eggs here and there is cool, but that’s not what I got here.  Things in this movie just happen for the sake of happening.  There is terrible exposition and the ending, which is the epitome of a franchise-wanting ending, leaves so many questions unanswered, I just couldn’t help but think what five more minutes would have done.

The characters in the film are also not drawn out.  I had no feelings towards Lynch at all.  They kept saying he’s a killer and driven by violence, but I never got that at all.  He just seemed like a guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong and happened to be related to a 1500’s bad ass.  The Templar company had motivations similar to that of a James Bond villain.  And there were plenty of supporting characters I wish I saw more of.  The performances through out are solid, which is expected from this great cast.  But none of them come even close to what they are capable of doing due to the weak characters.  Without a great character to get behind, a movie ultimately fails and this is Assassin’s Creed‘s biggest flaw.

The movie does have some cool parts to it.  Like Kurzel’s other films, the movie is a visual treat, with some striking images and badass fight scenes.  The movie desperately needed to have an R-rating, as the fight scenes could have been more realistic and bloodier that way.  It feels like they sugarcoated them to stay in that PG-13 safe zone.  The cinematography is beautiful and I loved the contrast in color between the present time and the past.  If it is one thing this movie got right, it’s the visual.

Assassin’s Creed has the makings of a great movie.  It has a great cast, an up and coming director, and a beloved video game.  However, it falls short in the end.  This isn’t the worst video game adaptation ever, it may actually rank as one of the better ones, sadly.  The visuals are great, but the movie needed better characters and a more explained plot.  Maybe they will make sequels that will answer all the questions I have, and I actually hope they do.  But until then, this will just be yet another disappointing video game adaptation.

MY RATING – 2/4

Did you see Assassin’s Creed?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook and YouTube by searching Kevflix.