Grade (D+)
Yet another unfulfilling video-game film adaptation.
“Assassin’s Creed” is directed by Justin Kurzel and stars; Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons. The story follows Callum Lynch, he is on death-row and when he thinks he is about to be executed he wakes up in a company called Abstergo.
He is told he will need to use this machine called the Animus that will allow him to sync up with the genetic memories of his ancestors. His mission will be to travel to 15th century Spain to sync of with the memories of his ancestor named Aguilar, so he can recover the Apple of Eden something that can control free will.
I don’t know the story had many more unneeded layers to it but in shorter terms, this film was a mess. I was hoping for this movie to be good. Back in the good old days when I had free time I played the first couple Assassin’s Creed games from start-to-finish, so saying I was interested in this movie was an understatement. But I am sad to say this film was not very good at all.
It had many good elements to it but the story was so intent on trying to tell this elaborate story that connected 15th century Spain with the current day and it did not work. The story was fragmented, didn’t have a good flow to it at all, and felt like it was trying too hard to weave this intricate plot, that didn’t have a real focus to it.
The best thing about the games was the time spent as an assassin in whatever time-period setting the theme of the game was. In this film, the times spent in the past were very good. The action was excellent, the parkour sequences were well captured and once all the smoke would clear from each scene intro, the visuals were awesome. The problem was this movie rang in at like two-hours and they only went into the animus like three times, maybe four.
The performances were all very good. But there was about equal time spent on scenes between Fassbender and Cotillard rambling through dialogue and exposition as there was time spent in the animus as assassins. It killed the flow of the film for me and the enjoyment, I would get into the film when it was in past, then just as quickly pulled right out of it as the bulk of the script was shockingly spent in the present.
Fassbender was great in the lead, he was what I had hoped for the role, as an assassin. But as Callum Lynch he was rather common in his portrayal, and that is who is was most of the time. Marion Cotillard was very good as well in her extremely generic role, as was the great Jeremy Irons. The problem was I didn’t really give a crap about any of the characters. None were well developed and despite their acting skill, and Fassbender’s ability to cry without crying, they could still only do so much with this script, and did not intrigue me all.
The actions scenes in the past were awesome and there were moments that felt like a great adaptation of the games. But they were so few and far between in this, just overly weighed down script that was shocking boring at times and refused to end even after a decent wrap up and hint of a sequel. It was an extremely long, dull, two-hours with only a few memorable scenes that will be forgotten in a film that was all over the place.
I know Fassbender needs a certain amount of face-time, he is handsome, charming, loaded with vanity muscles and him having his shirt off for thirty-minutes could have been a necessity to some, but in my opinion he should have stayed cloaked and hooded much longer in a story that focused more on the time-period setting.
Overall I wanted this film to be great. I hoped it could spur a new franchise but I highly doubt it will after this one. The lack of focus in the tone, and the direction of the story were not what they could have been with the source material they had to work with. It has some moments to it without a doubt but unfortunately you have to sit through a bad movie to see them.
