Review of Assassin's Creed (2016) by David M — 14 Jan 2017

By and large, movies based on videogames don't have that stellar a reputation, either completely missing what made the games fun to begin with (Street Fighter / Resident Evil), being too bogged down in fan service (Doom), or becoming too convoluted for their own good (Warcraft / Tomb Rader).

With all that said, the studios still continue to make them - in this case, indeed, even with the aid of the game producers (Ubisoft) themselves. Which makes me wonder whey they almost have a complete reversion of the game experience in that the majoprity of this movie takes place in the present rather than (as the games do) in the historical segments.

On the plus side, however, this does not assume (perhaps unwanted) familiarity with the games themselves, with both a new central character and a new period of history to be explored through that character's genetic memories - the animus that provides this access, however, has had a major ugrade from that shown in the early games and is now a sort-of-crane affair as opposed to the simple table/chair that it used to be!

For anyone who has played the games, the plot also borrows heavily from the earliest installments that involved Desmond Miles (the central present-day protaganist up to AC III) while also including the Abstergo Foundation.

While there are some impressive (in isolation) shots and sequences, I do feel, however, that more could have been made of the Spanish Inquisition historical elements of the plot, while also feeling that the ending was rather abrupt!