Video game Adaptations have had a notorious presence on the big screen. Few and far between turning out to be solid films or faithful adaptations of the source material. The video game movie has been particularly hamstrung by the "efforts" of the horrendous Uwe Boll (banned by petition from adapting anything to the big screen ever again) in the House of the Dead and more recently by Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil franchise which only this year finally died. Though Anderson can claim at least two films are at least ironically enjoyable, the damage to the genre cannot be overstated. Other adaptations like Doom are solid enough, none have been truly amazing, even Warcraft with its enormous budget, stellar cast and crew with a built-in fan base failed to break through. After the fantasy frolics all eyes turned to Assassins Creed as "the last hope of the video game movie".

Signs were good heading in with Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons to star. Less positive was the appointment of second time director Justin Kurzel who had worked only on last year’s Macbeth, with Fassbender and Cotillard, before being handed the keys to a big budget action/adventure franchise. Fans of the series had pause with Ubisoft Montreal having a hands on approach in the filmmaking process but stills and the trailers gave a glimmer of hope to it being a good and faithful enough adaptation of the hit series.

The film centres around Callum Lynch, a descendant of an ancient order called the Assassins who have been at war with the Knights Templar for millennia, who is taken by Templar research group Abstergo to re-live his genetic memories in a VR machine called the Animus, all in search if an ancient artefact called The Apple of Eden. Somehow the absurd fun of the premise is sapped of nearly all its promise.

Much of the issues seem to stem from the director either lacking in experience or clout to refuse requests of the studio to build up for a sequel. The beginning marches through a good deal of important world building and world establishing with but the slightest of examination. The actual animus is never explained beyond the results of its abilities, why the machine must operate as a full body experience receives no mention, which, given the departure from the existing lore, should have been. This choice also impacts on the action of the flashback scenes as it gives the director the need to not only edit together the actual combat scene but to also throw in shots of present day Lynch in the Animus. Editing like that removes much of the tension and flow from those scenes, reducing their impact.

Many choices made give the impression that those involved were only familiar with the game series at a surface level. The camera work at times is very reminiscent of the games during the sweeping establishing shots and moments of the free-running. Aside from that, other connections to the games are tenuous at best; the eagle was but a small feature in the games but is given more screen time in this one film than in 7 games. Names of groups all match the lore but motivations are so basic as to appear lazy. The holy McGuffin is so talked of as an “end to violence” but why or how anybody thinks is never shared beyond “because we want it”, the apple is spoke of as the most powerful artefact ever which means when then finally show you a tiny sliver of it potential, it can’t help but disappoint.

More of the time needed to build the world is traded in for the choice to begin planning the sequels. Scenes of ancillary characters try to establish some mystique around who or what they are that either comes across as awkwardly weird or ham-fisted and unearned. The desire to throw as many puzzle pieces in to the one film begins to make each scene feel completely isolated from the one it follows and then precedes. Lynch’s first cafeteria visit is a slew of nonsense trying to disguise itself as meaning or foreshadowing. The punchline at its end only works through Fassbender’s natural charisma. Other scenes have the feeling of contractual obligation that offer nothing but vague platitudes about violence being an evil that we can only end….. with more violence? If a lesser name than Jeremy Irons had been cast as CEO of Evil Inc. the number of scenes following his character could have been reduced without, perhaps, feeling like a waste of talent in a small role. Instead, the small character role is extended to get the most screen time of its actor at the cost of a narrative cohesion.

The simplest expression to sum up the experience of watching this film would be that it is vague but occasionally exciting. It will likely be remembered for the potential in its ideas and its action scenes, if it is remembered at all. Distinctly average, sadly this is not the Holy Grail of video game movies to usher in a new wave of adaptations.