Assassin's Creed review

Assassin's Creed is based on the video game series of the same name and stars Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons.

 

I have played the games up until 3, when I decided that because Desmond's story was done, I was done with the games. I bought Black Flag simply because it was on sale and it was a special edition.

It's terrible. I'll start with what I liked. I thought some of the action scenes were good. I appreciate that they didn't tell the same story as the games.

 

However, both these points both have negatives. Justin Kurzel decided that all the action scenes needed to have dust and sand everywhere because it worked in Macbeth(a completely different film). And if they were going to tell a new story they should have done it by expanding the canon of the games like, I believe, the books do. Instead they opted to just make their own canon.

The story itself feels rushed, underdeveloped and not really there. The film is split between the present and the time in the Animus, like in the games. However, unlike the games, there is more time spent in the present than there is in the Animus. When inside the Animus it is usually just to have an action scene to keep the film interesting with a very thin plot to be there just because one is needed.

There is a great cast wasted on a very poor script. As mentioned before, there is Fassbender, Cotillard and Irons. But there is also Michael Kenneth Williams, Brendan Gleeson and Charlotte Rampling, all of whom are given nothing to do.

 

This wouldn't have improved the quality of the film greatly but they could of at least gone for a higher age rating. The first few games were rated 15 by the BBFC, then PEGI have rated all the main games since as 18. So why is an adaption of a violent video game franchise rated 12a. This becomes extremely ridiculous at times when you think there should be at least a bit of blood but there is none. For example there is a scene where a character's throat is slit in a slow motion, close up shot. The blade never looks like it made contact with the neck, but with the collar instead, and there is no sign of the knife making a cut and it is completely bloodless. Literally nothing.

 

In short: Assassin's Creed joins many others in the league of bad video game movies.