Assassin's Creed (2016)

I can enjoy a good B-movie. If it can build up its believable world, take me on a fun adventure, and commit itself to its story without being too dumb, a B-movie can be a great time. Often the problem with B-movies isn't their lower budgets or absurd plots, but a lack of commitment to their ideas. They end up becoming carbon copies of what we've already seen before. Sometimes they rise above that and give us an original and entertaining ride. For the first half of Assassin's Creed, I thought we were getting the latter.

With a bigger budget and star power than these sorts of films are used to, Assassin's Creed starts off with an advantage. Also it's source material has a bit more of a cinematic narrative than other video games may have. And to begin the film doesn't do a bad job. Sure there are the hallmarks of B-movie-dom, like an anachronistic metal inspired soundtrack and ADHD cinematography, but the film makes it all work. It sets up its world, it's story, well and Fassbender and Cotillard rise above the material enough to get us invested. Some great action propels us through the story and we're off.

But the second act falls apart. The plottings of the film's various factions start to make less sense. People act irrationally poorly, clearly simply trying to get us to the next plot point, and then it all ends in a rather abrupt and anti-climactic way. Assassin's Creed ends up being fairly unsatisfying. Perhaps if it hadn't been so hastily edited, or if the second half of the film had been more solid. Assassin's Creed isn't a total failure but it's not great and it's easily forgettable. Something tells me it's not going to lead to as many film sequels as games.

Assassin's Creed
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Charlotte Rampling, Michael K. Williams
Director: Justin Kurzel
Writers: Michael Lesslie, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage