Review of Assassin's Creed (2016) by Intlectulbandit — 29 Mar 2017

This review will contain minor spoilers about elements of the story and movie but will not spoil the story itself.

There are positives and negatives to this movie as one would assume, there are with any movie. I had to create an account to defend the movie because I feel it gets a bad wrap even though it's a good start for Ubisoft deciding to take one of it's biggest franchises and go to the big screen with it. Let's start with what they missed then we'll end with what they did good.

For starters, the way they portray the animus in the movie is not what I would have expected or wanted. As the trailer shows they portray him in this large machine which has never appeared in any of the games. I could look past this if the movie didn't remind you multiple times each fight scene in the animus that he is strapped to some machine on the outside. Here comes a fight scene, going good and quick 2 second cut to show he's still in, more fight, cut to machine, more fight, cut to machine, etc. It's very annoying and after the first fight in the animus we wouldn't have to see it again because we understand he moves in life while in the simulation.

Second, they take a lot of time outside the animus to explain the story and plot so the viewer knows what it's about, for seasoned players of the franchise we all know what it's about but for a newcomer to it they need the story, it's a necessity but it's still a little annoying that the story has to be re-told again, hopefully it wont be that way in the second film (I'm assuming they will make another).

Third, honestly, I with the movie was a bit longer, I think they wont need it with more iterations but more time could have meant more animus time to see the Spanish inquisition and fight scenes. Now let's do the positives because there is a lot this movie does well.

First off the fight scenes are amazing, very well choreographed. The sword fighting, the arrows flying, the throwing knifes in mid-air the rooftop jumps. Oh baby, it is the best! It is EXACTLY what the franchise is about and they really nailed it. From the build up as the assassin's creep through the crowd to the final sword blow you keep your eyes on it for every second and I love that. Second, the characters are likeable and they don't take away from the movie. There's friendly banter in the movie which will give you a chuckle or laugh but it's not a comedy and there isn't an excessive amount of it which is good that they kept to the serious tones of the movie.

Third, the weapons they all use are exactly what you'd find in the assassin's creed universe which is great because all those cool kill moves you do in game you get to see on film which makes the movie flow with the game franchise and likewise the assassin's creed universe. Fourth, they portrayed the bleeding effect very well, it's very much like what you'd find in one of the games. Lastly, the movie ends just like one of the games would with a great climactic ending and that helps to finish the movie off greatly.

Overall, it is a good movie, not bad at all for the first go, there's a lot of story build up for people who are not familiar with the franchise and I understand and hope it will change in the future movies. But they got many thing right with the movie like the fight scenes that are just awesome to watch. Overall it's a 7.5/10 for me. Can't wait to see how the next one will go.