Assassin's Creed Review
I want to start this review off by saying I am a huge fan of the Assassin’s Creed games. I have owned and finished every single one. Therefore when I heard that Ubisoft had opened up its own studio to make their games into films, and that Assassin's Creed was going to be the first film on their list, I was seriously excited. One of my favourite games, being made into a film, by the studio that created the them. It couldn’t fail, surely? I was wrong.
As much as I love the Assassin’s Creed franchise, there has always been a part to the games that are very dull. This is where the main character has to step into a machine called The Animus, which then transports the character into one of his or hers ancestors footsteps. This is something the character is forced to do, by a company called Abstergo. A company ran by the Assassin's enemy which are called, The Templars. This part of the game consisted of just walking around and talking to random people until the game felt it was the right moment to be sent back in time. This was extremely dull, but worth working your way through, as once you inhabited an Assassin's body, the game was extremely fun. For whatever reason, the film decided to concentrate on the wrong part of the game. Not that fun and exciting aspect, but the dull and boring side, the side that everyone rushed through in the games just to get it over with. I was very disappointed in this choice to say the least.
Just to add a bit more to story of The Assassin's and The Templars. These two clans have been enemies for centuries, battling each other to gain access to religious artefacts with supernatural qualities, qualities strong enough to grant world domination. The Assassin's wanted to hide these items from The Templars, so they could not be used for bad. This is why The Templars are forcing people back into their ancestors footsteps, so that they can try and find out where the Assassin's are hiding these artefacts.
The casting of this picture was great, with some really respected actors, like Michael Fassbender who plays the protagonist, forced to relive his ancestors footstep. Jeremy Irons, the owner of Abstergo, ergo a Templar, and Marion Cotillard, his daughter, who is in a constant battle with her conscience. As you could imagine this amazing cast didn’t help my excitement whilst leading up to the release of this film. Even though the acting wasn’t bad, the material they had to work with was so bland, and way too complex, as they really delved into the religious aspects the movie.
This film may have a list of faults, as long as your arm, but there are glimmers of what made the games so successful. The free running and the fight scenes when they finally go back in time were very much like they were pulled from the game discs themselves. It’s a shame as the amount of time you see this adds up to about 20 minutes of footage.
The score by Jed Kurzel was not for me either. It didn’t sound like music, it was just noise hitting you in the face. There was no thought or effort put into this soundtrack to make the film unique. The score for a film is something that is very important to me, It can almost make or break it. This certainly was a break, for a movie already very broken.
I wanted to enjoy this film, but regrettably the story just focused on everything boring about the games, which I am certain no one played them for. I can understand why this aspect was put into the games, as it could give the story longevity, but I don’t believe it was needed to be so concentrated on in these films. I say 'films' as I believe Ubisoft wanted to make more. Surely not anymore!
Did you enjoy this film, or feel the same as me? Let us know in the comments section below...
