ASSASSIN'S CREED

“We work in the dark to serve the light. We are Assassins.”

It seems in the modern day that we live in an age of extremes when it comes to movies. Something’s either great and fantastic and the best thing we’ve ever watched, or it’s complete rubbish we’ll vow never to put ourselves through again. What happened to the days where a film could fall somewhere between the two? For me, one of those films is Assassin’s Creed.

I went into this film with an odd mind set. On one hand, I knew it would strive away from the games in certain areas, and I wanted to judge it as a lone title unbound by it’s predecessors. But on the other hand, I was curious to see how it fit into the title, and the world of ‘Assassin’s Creed’. That’s a lot of thinking to do whilst watching a film, but somehow I’m still here, so let’s get on with the review.

Assassin’s Creed sees Callum Lynch, a criminal by past and Assassin by blood-line, ooh…I like the wording for that, captured by the mysterious and evil Abstergo industries, as they search through his Ancestor’s memories in search of the mythical Apple of Eden using a machine called the Animus. What’s interesting about the plot, both in the film and in the games, is that it offers up the chance for two protagonists. One in the modern day, and one in the past. In this case, Michael Fassbender plays both Callum and his ancestor Aguilar.

And he does both bloody well too...

The supporting cast does a good job too, and with names like Jeremy Irons and Marion Cotillard you'd expect as much. That being said, there's no stand out performances from any of the cast other than Fassbender.

With two protagonists, comes also the opportunity for two time periods. While the traditional mixture of the two in the games is about 15% modern and 85% past, the movie turns this on it’s head a bit. For some, I can see why this might not agree with you, after all, the point of the plot is to see the past in action. That being said, I quite liked the change. It allowed for more depth to be placed in the modern day, and offered a greater chance to learn about it. Don’t worry though, the past does get plenty screen time, and the scenes which flawlessly blend and move between the two are some of the movie’s best.

Pacing is a slight issue in the film, but it’s not as bad as some others I’ve seen. There will be times where one minute you’re in the middle of a skirmish and the next you’re slowing right down in the modern day, but the two work hand in hand. That being said, the final act of the film does feel very rushed, as it takes what is essentially about three key moments in Desmond’s story from the games and tries to fit them into ten minutes of screen time. It’s by no means a terrible ending, but it did make the think the film would’ve benefitted from a slightly longer running time.

One of the film’s major advantages, specifically in the scenes set in the past, is the cinematography, something that, judging by the trailers, I thought the film would do very well in. Luckily, I was right. Aguilar’s scenes, whether they’re full on combat or free running scenes, are superbly shot, and you can feel yourself in the action. The landscapes shots too, are very nice. Whilst I’m no expert on the landscape of an Inquisition-fuelled Spain, the film paints a pretty damn good picture, summed up brilliantly in the ‘leap of faith’ shot.

As is probably clear from the shot above, the film also comes equipped with some rather good CGI. Yes, Spain looks fantastic, but for my, the highlights of the film when it comes to CGI were in the 'Bleeding Effect' scenes, where Callum begins to hallucinate Aguilar in front of him. These smaller scenes allowed the CGI to be shown off in close detail, and they looked really good.

On the whole, yes, I can see why some critics have given the film poor reviews, and I can see why some fans of the games won’t like it. But, I, one of those fans, did like it. Yes, it’s very different in places, and sometimes for the better, (The movie animus is a lot cooler than the game one) but in the places where it really matters, the film is undoubtedly Assassin’s Creed. It’s by no means perfect, more scenes set in the past would've worked nicely for both the film and the fans, and the pacing does lead to a rushed finale, but it’s a lot better than I was honestly expecting it to be, and that’s good enough for me.

Although they did miss a trick by not having Ezio in the film, seeing as he was in Spain around the same time as Aguilar. But I'm prepared to let that slide...