Review: Assassin's Creed

For those unassociated with the video game series Assassin's Creed, the serious manner in which a somewhat ridiculous premise is handled in the new film adaptation may cause some head scratching. Director Justin Kurzel gives the material, about a man who virtually travels into the past to stop an evil secret society, an endearing treatment that may turn many off. I found the approach refreshing and besides some convoluted plotlines, the film works more than it doesn't. 

The mythology of the video game is without a doubt silly. There is a group of assassins that wage war against the Templars, the evil secret society, in different time periods. They do so by using memories and tracing bloodlines to modern times. They use device called "The Animus" to relive these memories. The film utilizes this to build a story of a man who gets wrapped up in this war. Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) is a convicted murderer when the film opens. He is put to death but magically awakes in a facility where scientist Sophia Rikken (Marion Cotillard) tells him about the hunt for The Apple of Eden. This contains genetic code that can end violence. Sound silly yet? He must travel back in time to help find it before the Templars do. The ancestor he must inhabit is Aguilar de Nerha, an assassin during the Spanish Inquisition. 

Gaps in the plot aside, the film builds momentum as Lynch gets better inside the memories and the search for the Apple of Eden yields some twists. Kurzel directs the action sequences with great skill, showcasing the sweeping camerawork of cinematographer Adam Arkapaw. The action is appropriately stylized as in the video game but in some ways, things work better on camera. The switching between the memories and Lynch fighting while in the Animus are trippy and original in style. Ghostlike images appear in a fog surrounding the Animus and we get a sense of both environments, the memory and the facility in the modern timeline. 

At several turn, Assassin's Creed steps away from more conventional Hollywood filmmaking. The memories are set with Spanish dialogue and English subtitles. Seeing how these are the scenes that most fans will be waiting for, this is a bold choice. The film also makes no attempt to recap all of its plot threads. The complex nature keeps asking for you to work to keep up. However, the committed nature works here. Several sequences build strong suspense and visually the film is unique. 

While the pacing perhaps needs some work Assassin's Creed is mostly enjoyable, if for its peculiarities alone. Cotillard and Fassbender commit to the earnest tone of the film and deliver fine performances. The real star however is Kurzel who finds his own take on the video game adaptation.

3/5