{"id":12676,"date":"2022-12-19T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T10:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/?p=12676"},"modified":"2022-12-19T12:00:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T10:00:09","slug":"assassins-greed-review-of-the-film-assassins-creed-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/assassins-greed-review-of-the-film-assassins-creed-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Assassin\u2019s Greed – review of the film Assassin\u2019s Creed (2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"

2016\u2019s sci-fi\/fantasy\/adventure\/action\/drama Assassin\u2019s Creed, directed by Justin Kurzel, tells the story of Cal Lynch, played by Michael Fassbender, a condemned inmate, whose Spanish ancestor Aguilar (a skilled assassin) might be the key to finding a powerful artifact Apple of Eden. A company called Abstergo, run by modern-day Templar Knights, links Cal to the machine called Animus to get into the centuries-old memories coded to Cal\u2019s genes. The film is divided into modern scenes of Cal in Abstergo\u2019s prison and historical scenes of Aguilar, like the first games of the Assassins Creed series.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
All hail the omnipotent dust and smoke!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First of all, there are some positive aspects. The film can time to time capture the budding feel of the game series, though only in the Animus scenes. Also, the props like weapons and costumes of this movie are quite impressive. Apparently, the publisher and developer of the game series Ubisoft sent a detailed list of every weapon ever made for the game to the prop makers and that shows. I just wish the same kind of desire for authenticity would also be set to the story and to the basic concepts of the game series.<\/p>\n

But no. An overly simplified, dumbed down, soulless interpretation of the Assassin\u2019s Creed universe can\u2019t really justify its being. To me, there is no reason why this thing exists. Animus, ring finger cut-offs for the use of the hidden blade, bleeding effect\u2026 These are the cornerstones of the Assassin\u2019s Creed institution and all of those are represented as opposed to canon. Why? For the sake of the audience who aren\u2019t familiar with the game series? I don\u2019t buy it. As the movie doesn\u2019t explain itself well enough, it is clear to me that the movie’s target audience is the people who know the original game series.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>
Scenes set in the present are practically prison drama<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I could talk a bit about the movie’s technical aspects, like editing and cinematography, but this text is not about that. Clearly, behind the production of big-budget Hollywood movie, there is a bunch of absolute professionals who knows what they are doing. Despite the hideous dust and smoke in every scene and monotone and soulless color grading, I have nothing to complain about really. What grinds my gears is that this movie doesn\u2019t know what it wants to be.<\/p>\n

So yes, I think Assassin\u2019s Creed the movie is a mess. It is a hollow, dusty shell of the universe created by the beloved game series and it forces me to reflect on my own expectations. What did I even expect this movie to be? Did I want a gripping new story, a game-like non-interactive cinema experience based on a familiar universe and characters who became so dear to me, like Ezio or Altair? On the other hand, who am I to judge new interpretations of the subject. It\u2019s just that the 2016 film is so hands-down tired and bad that I can\u2019t but assume that while doing this film, there was no real understanding of what Assassin\u2019s Creed really is. It\u2019s no secret that the main star and co-producer Michael Fassbender didn’t even know that the games existed until he was hired by Ubisoft. Though I\u2019m sure the creators of this movie tried their best with their 125-million-dollar budget, all I can see is money-driven consistencies and greed. Little fan-baiting here and there won\u2019t save your ass if the basic things are upside down.<\/p>\n

And the worst thing is I’m not even surprised. Life goes on.<\/p>\n

Title:<\/strong> Assassin\u2019s Creed<\/p>\n

Year:<\/strong> 2016<\/p>\n

Director:<\/strong> Justin Kurzel<\/p>\n

Where to watch:<\/strong> HBO Max<\/p>\n

Photos: <\/strong>screenshots from Assassin\u2019s Creed (20th<\/sup> Century Fox 2016), taken by the author<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Films based on popular games are notorious for being flops both financially and among fans of the game series. Will the curse go on with Assassin\u2019s Creed or can the circle be unbroken?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":12680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1447],"tags":[865,876,511],"class_list":["post-12676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-related-media","tag-assassins-creed","tag-film","tag-game","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15210,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12676\/revisions\/15210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}