The sins of the father come back to haunt the son.
That is the basic message of the movie. There you go. Decoded. I have figured out this super complex film. Honestly, you could go without even watching this movie because I just summarized the whole thing into one, simple cliché phrase.
On paper, Assassin’s Creed should be a movie that I absolutely adore. It takes Justin Kurzel, who directed on of my favorite movies of 2015, Macbeth, an actor who I think is the best working right now in Micheal Fassbender, and a video game series that I largely enjoy and molds all those things together. But, prior to the movie coming out, I found myself really asking myself why this movie was being made.
Ubisoft already has the revenue and fan support to continue to make video games to tell whatever story they want in pretty much any setting thanks to the malleability of the plot of the video games, and the whole set up of the story with the Animus is perfect for video games because it lets the players take control while still providing a modern frame story to all the stabbing. Movies seem like a step backward in the narrative process. Why would we watch Fassbender run and jump and stab when we could do that all ourselves in the game?
The answer, I think is twofold. The first option is money. Let’s try and make more money. The other option is to try to appeal to a larger fan base. Assassin’s Creed is popular, but not with 40 year old dads who might accidentally watch this movie on a Tuesday night on TNT.
Anyway, to the quality of the movie. It was fine. It provided a solid story of redemption and fatherly woes as well as setting up the potential for sequels (for more $$$$$). The visuals were pretty good, but they felt very rushed. Any sweeping shots or establishing shots were cut down very short in order to get into the action.
And the action was good. If anything is going to stand out about this movie, it is the action. It is frenetic as well, and it features a fair amount of shaky cam with quick cuts in order to make it work, but it carries a sense of skill that the player feels when they are cutting through swathes of enemies in the game. It felt like the assassins were unstoppable, and that is how they should feel, cause they are a stand in for all of the us, the audience (and we all know that we could definitely do all that crazy shit if we wanted to…).
But it was rushed. Everything was so rushed, especially the plot. It hits all the points that you expect from a dark, action thriller, but it tries to hit them all so fast without taking any breathes. I could tell that I was supposed to feel something as characters perish or as their is a showdown, but without any time to get to know most of the characters, it all falls a little flat. I don’t have any major complaints about the script (which is rare) but it felt like a 155 minute movie packed into 120 minutes because that is what the studio wanted.
Personally, I would have preferred if they didn’t focus so much on the other assassins who were present in Abstergo and instead let us get to know Cal Lynch and Sofia a little bit better because that was the main connection in the film that turns into the main conflict as well. But instead everything is sprinted through just like one of the many parkour scenes in this movie. Those were pretty cool, but I wish that they didn’t happen so frequently.
Speaking of something happening frequently, this movie has so many shots of a CGI eagle flying over a city before zooming in on the action I contemplated booing after the third time. It felt like it happened at least 6 times, which is TOO MANY TIMES TO USE THE SAME TRANSITION.
It felt like much of the production had their hands tied by the studio or the executives holding them down and saying that they need to make a movie that will appeal to a broad audience. There are glimpses of a really dark, strange movie (kind of like Macbeth) and there are some really cool camera shots, but they are too few because they had to play it safe. If they cut Adam Arkapaw, who has done great work in True Detective, Macbeth, and The Light Between the Oceans, then this movie would have a lot more character and would stand out from other generic action movies. But how it is now makes it blend into those, and I don’t see why it will be remembered other then because of the name recognition that it carries with it.
I will say this, this is the best video game movie that I have ever seen. Now, that is not saying much. Most of them are terrible. Like not even funny bad, just sad bad. Some of them are funny bad, like Super Mario Bros. or Street Fighter, but Tomb Raider is an embarrassment, as is Resident Evil, Hitman, Silent Hill, Need for Speed, Prince of Persia, or Doom. It is not exactly a marvelous feat to be better then these films but hey, it is a little victory.
One thing that I was very happy that this movie did not do is fall into the trap of witty banter that every movie (thanks Disney) seems to do nowadays. There was maybe two scenes that had jokes in them, but for the most part, this was serious. The characters were in a serious situation, and they were trying to deal with it. This meant that their lives kind of sucked and were pretty painful. Which means that it would not make sense if they were making quips about the Garden of Eden or some other trash constantly. And they didn’t do that, which is a pretty brave choice because most of the time it seems like studios try to fit those things in even if it doesn’t work (looking at you Suicide Squad). Also, not every movie has to feature a popular song in it’s soundtrack. Sometimes it just doesn’t work and doesn’t fit at all. It may work with Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Trek: Beyond but sometimes it just should not be in the movie (looking at you Suicide Squad).
Anyway, go see it if you want. It was fine. Perfectly adequate. Perfectly forgettable. Not going to rush out to tell people about it, but at the same time I wasn’t embarrassed to be seen in the theatre afterwards, and for most video game movies, that is a win.
P.S. I now have a very big crush on Ariane Labed after this movie. She doesn’t really do much, but I think it was the eye makeup that got me. Damn you, eyeshadow. Damn you.
P.P.S. Look forward to the next Assassin’s Creed movie in 2019 (probably) but this time it is tied into a game OH BOI.
Peace.
