Assassin's Creed

Synopsis

The Assassin's and Templars have been fighting for the "Apple of Eden" for hundreds of years. However, Lynch has been identified as a decedent of the last holder of the Apple and the Templars have captured him.

Review

This movie should not have gotten the hatred that it got. It does a great job of adding to the story from the Assassin's Creed games. The characters do a great job playing these characters and for a 2-hour movie, they do an excellent job of telling the LENGTHY story from the games without tampering with the lore, previous history, or characters. There is one exception if my memory serves me correctly. In the movie, they mention that the Templar have never been so close to the "Apple of Eden" as they are in this movie. In the first game, the head of the Assassin's was working with the original Templar to keep things civil, and he had it. So maybe they didn't know that, but it isn't a big deal in the grand story.

I really like Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard here. They work really well together and there isn't anything in their actions or conversations that make this feel like a movie rather than a story being told.

The action scenes are fun to watch. I know one of the complaints of the movie is the change in the Animus. However, to show how the Animus works there had to be a change, otherwise they would just be sitting on a therapist chair. Plus, we see in the games that the Animus was always being enhanced and this isn't far from where I think it could have gone. Watching Lynch run around and jump off imaginary walls to kill dead people was fun. A great way to show the action rather than the Sepia filtered scenes of the Inquisition. Those scenes are awesome too though especially the arrow bounce which I would love to see MythBusters look into if they were still around.

I think this movie does a great job of balancing the idea of CGI and real world by leaning into the CGI being intentional. It never feels like it is being over run into the movie, and you lose track of the movie since it is supposed to be a computer aided graphic from Lynch's memory that we are watching.

I think what kills this movie is the lack of a complete story or a good why. There is some weirdness about what the Apple is. In the game, the Apple is able to control people. Not the idea of genetic code to free will. I know they have to make it more digestible, but they really don't do a good job of explaining the threat or desire of the Apple. There is no sense of fear or why other than an ancient myth. It is like the story from this clip about a McDonald's and Taco Bell employees fighting each other just because the manager had a beef with the other manager without knowing why. It just kills the threat of the story.

My Rating

The Assassin's Creed games are my favorite series of games. There is a HUGE story that just pulls you in, and I am looking forward to Assassin's Creed Shadow coming out this fall. This movie is referenced in the RPG versions of the Assassin's Creed games and is part of the lore, but it doesn't provide that sense of conspiracy or threat that the games do. I think the large part of that is because of how they present the Apple. Without its mystical powers, it is just scientific voodoo. The Indiana Jones movies had mysticism in them and people loved them. That is what this movie should have done to lean into the overall story and history of where the Apple came from. It is a 7 due to good action and a decent story with a lack luster enemy.

Parental Rating

There is good action, with limited gory violence. There is no sex and limited language and in fact, there might not being any language other than 'Shit'. With that in mind, I do think my dad would enjoy this. As an outsider, the overall story doesn't matter and the lightness of it means the action is in the for front. There isn't anything that is morally large in this movie, so I think my mom would skip this. Approved by Dad and rejected by Mom.

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