Monday, March 20, 2017

Assassins Creed: the CanGeek Review



Movies based on video games are usually notoriously awful, the complex backstories developed for most games just don't transfer well to the silver screen.


If you have any doubt about this then you need not look further than Wing Commander, Max Payne, Street Fighter, Double Dragon, or DOOM.  All of these titles offered an enjoyable game play experience, but none of them provided a satisfying viewing experience.

However having said that I keep coming back for more, because were there have been some truly repulsive ports to the big screen there have also been some fantastic attempts made, Mortal Kombat was never going to win an Oscar but it was still a lot of fun to watch!  

So what about the Assassins Creed movie?

Developed by Ubisoft, Assassins Creed is a series that has done an outstanding job of creating a lavish story, a story depicting a centuries old battle between the Knights Templar and the Assassins.

The Templar's seek to bring peace to humanity through control, this will be accomplished utilizing The Animus as a means to an end.  The Animus is a machine which allows a person to relive the memories of their blood ancestors through a virtual reality experience.  With this technology a mega-corporation known as Abstergo, which is the public face of the Knights Templar, secretly abducts individuals who are known to be descendants of long dead Assassins.

These individuals are then forced to relive moments from their ancestors lives as the Templar's search for clues which will lead them to the Pieces Of Eden.  The Pieces Of Eden are artifacts believed to hold great power, power which will give the Knights Templar the ability to strip away humanities freewill.

For the abducted over exposure to the Animus has several side effects including dementia, insanity, and brain damage, but it also causes a bleeding effect which bestows the skills and abilities of the users ancestor upon them - newly awoken Assassins!  Like their long dead ancestors these Assassins seek to protect our right to freewill at the cost of their own lives.

With a story that has spanned across multiple consoles and game installments could a single movie hope to do this franchise justice?  No but it was a good start!

With a cast which included Michael Fassbender, Jeremy Irons, and Marion Cotillard, the Assassins Creed movie followed the story of Callum Lynch, a death row convict who is executed only to wake up days later as a guest of the Abstergo corporation.

Lynch is manipulated into reliving the events of his ancestors life through the Animus while the Templar search for the apple of Eden, an artifact that his ancestor Aguilar is known to have had at one time. Much like the peaces of Eden the Templar's believe the apple of Eden holds the secret to our control.

Although the cast and crew did a decent job of translating the basic backstory from game to film its obvious that we should expect at least one or two sequels to fill in the blanks in the near future.

With only two real complaints, the unnecessary use of subtitles and the animus fight scenes which saw Fassbender being thrown around like the feather in the opening sequence of Forrest Gump, The Assassins Creed film is a good start and worth watching at least once.

Have you seen this movie yet?  Do you agree or disagree with us?  Let us know in the comments below and remember to follow us at cangeek.com.

Thanks for reading!










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