Assassin's Creed

Dir: Justin Kurzel

2016

**

Assassin’s Creed is about as exciting as watching someone else play a one-player video game who won’t let you have a turn. It’s certainly not the worst video game film adaptation - far from it, I would argue that it is by far the best looking – but I would also argue that it is the most boring. Seriously, Street Fighter was more interesting than Assassin’s Creed. While the film only really uses basic elements of the video game, it tells a fascinating new story I’m sure the game developers had wished they’d thought of themselves first, but director Justin Kurzel, producer and star Michael Fassbender and writers Michael Lesslie, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage have somehow taken that fascinating idea and produced one of the most boring films I have ever seen. Assassin’s Creed works on paper – rare for any video game adaptation I’d imagine – but it fails in reality. In all honesty I don’t think Cooper and Collage should have been paired with Lesslie, their writing styles are far too different but that said, there was plenty to work with. In the game, the player is transported into the memory of an ancestor through a chair but in the film they are transported through a giant arm that lifts them and follows their every move. It’s a great rewrite. The way the three writers suggested that there was no right and wrong but only balance was an intelligent move also. The history side of things was cleverly explored, the sci-fi element was believable without ever being over explained and the overall idea that the apple from the Garden of Eden was an instruction from God – or whatever intelligent life that was before us, was intriguing and well thought-out. I’ve never played the game but I have it on good authority that the film looks the part and that the fans were overall impressed with the visuals. Sci-fi fans and history buffs are well represented, as are action and mystery/thriller fans, so where did it all go wrong? Personally I believe the scale of the story would have suited a mini-series better, or indeed a video game. The rather complicated story was over-simplified and there was too much action and not enough explanation. The visual clichés came thick and fast and it soon became The Da Vinci Code with parkour, rather than the Indiana Jones meets The Matrix historical sci-fi it should have been. The script is awful – particularly Fassbender’s dialogue – indeed, the star of the show is the weakest element by far. That said, there isn’t much depth to Jeremy Iron’s character either and while the supporting characters seemed like they were in some way important, their actual importance never really becomes clear or convincing. The film features the highest free fall stunt performed in thirty-five years, an impressive feat for stuntman Damien Walters but it really wasn’t worth the footage. The game features a now famous ‘Leap of faith’ scene that the film makers knew they had to incorporate but for all the planning and making sure it was filmed live rather than in CGI was a waste of effort, as it could have been done in CGI or left out and it would have achieved the same result. By the time the stunt features the viewers mind had already been abused by dusty visuals, mumbling dialogue, incoherent history lessons and lots and lots of long shots. The audience views much of the film through the eyes of an eagle, I’m sure this makes sense in the game but to me it was annoying and nonsensical. Critics like to use words such as ‘best’ and ‘most’ and I’m no different, so while I would argue that it’s not the ‘worst’ video game adaptation, or even the ‘worst’ film of the year, I would argue that it is probably the ‘biggest’ or ‘most prominent’ waste of a good concept I have seen in quite a while. I like Kurzel’s direction, his 2015 adaptation of Macbeth was awesome and the idea that he was going to direct a sci-fi story of Assassins versus the Knights Templar was an exciting prospect. I will defend the visuals of his direction to a point but the editing was poor and his style became a little stale and samey. I didn’t feel that anyone’s heart was really in the project, even though the cast and crew have been very vocal about how proud they are of it. Years of development for what has to be one of the most forgettable films I have ever seen. I can think of hundreds of more suited actors and directors who could/should have been attached to this project. I believe the nail in the coffin for the possibilities of further Assassin Creed films came with the tenacious – almost arrogant conclusion that suggests that the end of the film is only the beginning of a whole series of adventures. I’d rather play the game personally. Actually, that’s a lie, I’d rather read a book.