One of the biggest challenges movies face today is to produce a motion picture film, based on a video game, that manages to keep fans satisfied. If you think about some of the famous games that have been transformed into a motion picture, some of these include:
* Super Mario Bros (Painful)
* Streetfighter (Awful)
* Dead Alive (Avoid)
* Double Dragon (Double Headaches)
* DOOM (lol)
All disappointing.
The only major video game film that I have praised in the past has been the 1st Resident Evil film. Well, until the sequels arrived after…
I personally have played many of the Assassins Creed games and it’s also one of the most creative games I have ever completed. Upon seeing the film’s trailer and hearing that Michael Fassbender was in it (him being a huge fan of the game) I personally questioned to myself: could this be the film that finally breaks the chain of poor video games turned into movies?
For those who are unaware of the plot, Cal Lynch (Michael Fassbender) has been sentenced to jail and is on death row. Upon receiving a lethal injection, Cal is surprised to wake up and find himself in a strange facility. Cal has been given a second chance at life and is needed to save the world. The staff in the facility where he is reveal that Cal is in fact a descendant of a secret Assassin who lived over 500 years ago. Thanks to technology, Cal is able to “plug in” to a machine and relive parts of his ancestor’s life and discover an answer to a big question, the answer of which will save our world.
As stated above, I love the Assassins Creed stories from the video games, but delivery to film has disappointed me. Cal (Fassbender) in particular, is a character who viewers won’t care about and will have no emotional connection with. Being an ex-criminal at the start of the film, this character doesn’t grow or expand any further than developing some Assassin’s skills here and there. Cal’s personality is flat and he never appears shocked or surprised at finding himself in this new world. The dialogue also feels poorly written even though you can tell actor Michael Fassbender is doing his absolute best with what he’s been given.
Unless you’re aware of the games, many movies goers may struggle with understanding the film’s plot and find some scenes very confusing. This movie is truly aimed at the fans. Assassins Creed delivers action scenes which are very quick, with scenes feeling like snippets that only last 2/3 seconds per shot, along with the shaky camera style we have seen in many films. Something that should look amazing ends up with the viewer spending more time trying to work out what is going on. This was an absolute shame for me because the new world that Cal is introduced to does look stunning visually and it’s evident that a lot of hard work has gone into this film. The director of this film, “Justin Kuzel” worked with Fassbender in 2005’s MacBeth and that movie showed me that the overall visuals of Assassins Creed should be fun to see!
Assassins Creed was overall disappointing, with a jumpy storyline, poor script and messy action sequences. By the end, it was hard for me to be excited or have a passion in seeing a continuation through a sequel. Sadly, this was not the film to break the classic Videogame to movie curse. For fans only.
4.1/10
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Review Written by Peter Walkden
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