Assassin's Creed
04/01/17 Filed in: Cinema
Yesterday's cinema film was Assassin's Creed. I'm not a video games player and wouldn't normally bother with a film based on the genre, but I read a review that suggested that after a succession of video game-to-movie turkeys, this one could break through the mediocrity. Well, I'm afraid it didn't do so for me. The promise was of real locations and stunts that weren't CGI enhanced in front of blue screens. That may well be true, but it still seemed like a video game to me. The story line was also a bit contrived, a sort of Matrix rip-off whereby the body stays put but the spirit, or whatever you like to call it, occupies another body, this time a body in 15th century Spain during the Inquisition.
Michael Fassbender plays Callum Lynch, a murderer somehow rescued from his lethal injection to next appear at Abstergo Industries, a futuristic research facility where he is about to embark on his transportation to medieval Spain under the supervision of Sofia (Marion Coutillard), the daughter of the facilities director. Lynch is hooked up to the Animus. Inspired no doubt by The Matrix, it is attached to Lynch whereupon his brain and genetic code are synchronised with those of his forebear in the 15th century. We are then transported back to that time with Lynch's former self and there's some impressive action, albeit of the video game variety.
The objective is for Lynch to reveal where the Apple of Eden can be found, a mythical orb that contains the seeds of man's first disobedience, the possession of which will allow the Templars to eliminate personal free will and thus remove disobedience from society. A number of return visits to medieval Spain treat us to some spectacular parkour and martial arts, for me the high spots of the film.
Michael Fassbender plays Callum Lynch, a murderer somehow rescued from his lethal injection to next appear at Abstergo Industries, a futuristic research facility where he is about to embark on his transportation to medieval Spain under the supervision of Sofia (Marion Coutillard), the daughter of the facilities director. Lynch is hooked up to the Animus. Inspired no doubt by The Matrix, it is attached to Lynch whereupon his brain and genetic code are synchronised with those of his forebear in the 15th century. We are then transported back to that time with Lynch's former self and there's some impressive action, albeit of the video game variety.
The objective is for Lynch to reveal where the Apple of Eden can be found, a mythical orb that contains the seeds of man's first disobedience, the possession of which will allow the Templars to eliminate personal free will and thus remove disobedience from society. A number of return visits to medieval Spain treat us to some spectacular parkour and martial arts, for me the high spots of the film.
Lynch is not alone at Abstergo, there being many others who have previously been regressed in an attempt to find the Apple. As they are all also descendants of the Assassin's Creed, whose principal role in life was to stop the Templars getting the orb, we soon start to realise that they don't particularly want Lynch to succeed. Are you with it so far?
In the same way that Neo in The Matrix ultimately shed his dependence on the transportation system, Lynch transcends the Animus. I'll let you discover what then transpires.
The reviews have been awful among the critics but somewhat better with audiences. No doubt if you're an Assassin's Creed devotee the film will feed your interest. For the rest of us, I'm not sure it's worth the effort.
In the same way that Neo in The Matrix ultimately shed his dependence on the transportation system, Lynch transcends the Animus. I'll let you discover what then transpires.
The reviews have been awful among the critics but somewhat better with audiences. No doubt if you're an Assassin's Creed devotee the film will feed your interest. For the rest of us, I'm not sure it's worth the effort.