Review: Assassin's Creed

For over twenty years now, the video game genre has graced itself onto the big screen.
Sadly it has had very little success, especially with the critics.

Universally, there is supposedly no good films based off a video game. As for me, quite a lot of them are bad. But there are some solid features out there such as Hitman and Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, as well as some guilty pleasure of mine such as Super Mario Bros. and the action scenes of Need For Speed.

But there is one that I enjoyed watching, and that was Warcraft: The Beginning. Released last summer, I remember having a good time watching this fantasy epic, and I cannot wait for a sequel (if there is one).

As for Assassin's Creed, I was hoping this would buck the trend. This was mainly due to popularity of this video game franchise, and the concept being workable for cinema. I have never played the game and knew very little about the story. But I knew bits of the concept and it sounded like this could work as a narrative.

After seeing it, I have mixed feelings about this one. While I thought it was a solid film. It also felt like it was a missed opportunity.

I was certainly interested finding out what the story was. The use of history and religion made me intrigued to see where they would go with this. While it leaves us open for a sequel, it did not seem to make full use of what it had.

The cast list is impressive. But the performances did not seem to match billing. Everyone just seemed to go through the motions and never challenge themselves. Thankfully, some actors in this film can still do a solid job without having to go out of their comfort zone. Those people are Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons. I am big fans of Fassbender and Cotillard and I could watch anything that they do. But sadly, this is not one of their more memorable ones. But is certainly not bad.
It was also great to see Brendan Gleeson, Essie Davis and Denis Menochet make a small appearance.

The action scenes are a big part of the video game, and they were solidly made and executed in the film. I would have liked the level of violence to be higher though, as they seemed to hold back and think more about bringing in big audiences instead going for a more mature rating like the actual video games.
Another strength it had was the general look of it and the costumes. But sadly, it was not strong enough to make me forget and the rest of the film.

The editing felt a bit messy as it seemed to do random jumps to other scenes which ruined the films flow for me. I also think the story development felt sub-par.

This could and should have been a great. The source material sounds really interesting, and I think with the right people, we can have a great franchise. I still felt we have got a decent action film here. But it is one that I can see being forgotten very soon.

As for sequels, I am not sure if director Justin Kurzel was the best man for the job. He showed promise in Macbeth which was an interesting portrayal of the Shakespeare story with fantastic novels. I just think this was missing something that I don't think Kurzel could find a solution in possible later installments.

Rating: 7/10