Assassin’s Creed (20th Century Fox) Stars: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons
The history of video game film adaptations is a troubled one. The best of them manage to be mildly entertaining popcorn flicks, but even those often feature terrible dialogue and stories slavishly devoted to the source material. Into this troubled tradition steps Assassin’s Creed, based on the long-running mega-franchise by Ubisoft. The film boasts an impressive cast and crew — director Justin Kurzel, along with leads Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, recently made an acclaimed adaptation of Macbeth — but is that enough to lift it above the dreadful reputation of video game movies?
For those unfamiliar with the dense lore of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, the film lays out the general premise right at the beginning. For hundreds of years, an organization known as the Knights Templar have been searching for mythical tokens of Eden, in this case the Apple of Eden, which will allow them to rule the world. The only opposing force are the Assassins, hooded killers with a penchant for parkour who, despite all their talk of shadows, do most of their killing in broad daylight. In order to discover the location of the Apple, the modern day Templars kidnap a prisoner named Callum Lynch (Fassbender) and take him to a secret facility that houses a machine called the Animus. The device taps into the genetic memory of the user’s DNA, allowing them to live out the memories of their ancestors (in this case, Callum’s 15th century assassin forefather, Aguilar).
The history of video game film adaptations is a troubled one. The best of them manage to be mildly entertaining popcorn flicks, but even those often feature terrible dialogue and stories slavishly devoted to the source material. Into this troubled tradition steps Assassin’s Creed, based on the long-running mega-franchise by Ubisoft. The film boasts an impressive cast and crew — director Justin Kurzel, along with leads Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, recently made an acclaimed adaptation of Macbeth — but is that enough to lift it above the dreadful reputation of video game movies?
For those unfamiliar with the dense lore of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, the film lays out the general premise right at the beginning. For hundreds of years, an organization known as the Knights Templar have been searching for mythical tokens of Eden, in this case the Apple of Eden, which will allow them to rule the world. The only opposing force are the Assassins, hooded killers with a penchant for parkour who, despite all their talk of shadows, do most of their killing in broad daylight. In order to discover the location of the Apple, the modern day Templars kidnap a prisoner named Callum Lynch (Fassbender) and take him to a secret facility that houses a machine called the Animus. The device taps into the genetic memory of the user’s DNA, allowing them to live out the memories of their ancestors (in this case, Callum’s 15th century assassin forefather, Aguilar).
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Short film