Assassin’s Creed strives to bury the stigma of past video game-based films and become the breakout hit that has eluded many producers and filmmakers. Ubisoft Motion Pictures’ first production breaks new ground with its serious, dark approach, but there’s a void at the story’s core and characters making it hard to root or care for.
The strength of Assassin’s Creed comes not in the present but in the past where Michael Fassbender, playing new character Callum Lynch who was created for the film within the video game universe, is sent back through an Animus device by an order of Templars to relive key events from his ancestor’s life as an assassin. The Templars seek the ‘Apple’, an object that can control free will, and only Callum’s ancestor Aguilar in the 15th century Spain knows where it was hidden.
Action sequences featuring jumping, stabbing and running across rooftops with Aguilar, also played by Fassbender, are easily the film’s best. Unfortunately there’s not many of them as the sequences in the past are both short and infrequent.
For whatever reason the story plods along two-thirds of the time in the present with subplots like the Templars leader, played by Jeremy Irons, having a distracting family spat with his daughter, played by Marion Cotillard. At least the redesigned Animus design is quite clever and works great in live-action.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice gets panned for being too dark and dreary. But it’s fun and entertaining. I’ve watched the ultimate cut numerous times and never flip the channel if I catch it on TV.
Assassin’s Creed is equally dark and dreary but sans any semblance of fun or interest. I don’t particularly care about Aguilar and his partner because hardly any time is spent with them. And I don’t care about Callum because as a man saved from death to find the ‘Apple’ he’s completely unrelatable, even as he starts to “learn” Aguilar’s skills as a side effect of time traveling through the Animus device.
On the bright side, Assassin’s Creed is a stunner on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with visuals that rival or exceed anything you might have seen theatrically. My only complaints fall on the cinematography where an odd, surreal gold/copper glow is slapped on all the 15th century scenes. I suppose it was done to differentiate those scenes from the present but the effect only draws out the CGI more on the 4K UHD format.
As with the video you cannot go wrong with the 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track found on the UHD Blu-ray, or the 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track on the Blu-ray for that matter. The Dolby TrueHD track does offer a bit more depth when comparing one scene against another, but the differences are subtle.
Bonus features provide well over an hour’s worth of material that briskly works through all stages of production and reveals several scenes that didn’t make the final cut. An alternate ending is offered, though the one ultimately chosen leaves more room for future franchise expansion.
Missing is any kind of feature-length commentary with the cast and/or crew, though the director and editor do add commentary to the axed scenes.
- Take the Pledge: Behind the Scenes of Assassin’s Creed
- Conversations with Justin Kurzel
- Deleted Scenes Conversation with Justin Kurzel and Justin Tellefson
- Deleted Scenes
- Galltery
- Theatrical Trailers
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed video games offer a wealth of inspiration for what should have been a home run hit movie considering the talent involved. A little Pirates of the Caribbean-style levity might have gone a long ways toward making this journey through the present and past more memorable.
The Assassin’s Creed 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray is a combo pack with Blu-ray and Digital HD. It was released on March 21st, 2017.
