Assassins Creed (2016) Review SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

 

  After writing a review on Mortal Kombat (2021) I thought I should give a review on Assassin's Creed (2016).

  I've been a fan of the Assassin's Creed franchise ever since I bought my Xbox One with Assassin's Creed lV Black Flag and Assassin's Creed Unity bundle. So after two years, the first official Assassin's Creed film would hit it's trailers and I had to watch this movie and after owning it on mobile I watched it four times and grew to notice that this movie is good in my opinion, in at least bringing Assassin's Creed games to the big screen, yet I have to be honest to myself and see it's flaws.

  I have to say this movie has a great story as the story isn't about our first Assassin in the very first game Altair Ibn- La'Ahad and doesn't take place in the same time period, in this movie we're given a new character that's not in the games named Callum "Cal"  Lynch (Michael Fassbender) an ancestor of Aguilar De Nerha, an assassin of 15th century Spain. Cal is told that his ancestor is the last person to hold an artifact called The Apple of Eden by people who are trying to use technology that can access Aguilar's memories  through Cal in hopes to find the artifact in modern time where it was last hidden, these people are the templars who want the apple to take free will of people to remove violence.

  So this story seems to take one detail of the first games story, as far as The Apple of Eden's part of the story goes. In the first game Altair is originally the last person to hold The Apple of Eden and keep it hidden, so there's a small piece to the game accuracy at play here yet we're still not given our favorite character and our favorite story, still this comes to me as making a unique story.

  There are lot's of accuracy at play here that only true fans will notice, as these are very small details and references, these also come as connections to the games lore's.

  In the beginning or when were introduced to why the people who experiment on Cal chose him, the head scientist, the villain's daughter Sofia Rikkin (Marion Cottilard), finds Cal as he's in prison for capital murder and being executed by lethal injection. Sofia and the company named Abstergo/Templars fake Cal's death to get him transported to a facility that has the technology that can access his memories to his great ancestor Aguilar De Nerha as he is believed to be the last to hold the Apple of Eden, Sofia believes Cal has these memories as his father did not and with his help it would not be long till the templars have their hands on the apple.

  *This is accurate to the games lore as the first game we're introduced to a bartender by the name of Desmond Miles who is also taken by the same people and used to find the apple, this fails as Desmond is taken by the modern assassin's who also access his memories of his ancestor named Altair Ibn-La'Ahad from Jerusalem in 1191, the third crusade, however, Altair, as I said before is the last person in the games to hold the apple.* 

  What I really like about this film is the fact that the living ancestors of other assassins are held in a facility with Cal, these other assassin's would later become the modern age of the brotherhood this comes at the end of the film as the ending hint's at what would've been a possible sequel to this new brotherhood finding others to their creed, I point this out as it also happens in the first game, yet I don't know if these assassin's in the game and movie set out to grow their brotherhood.

  Another piece of accuracy is when Grand Master of 2016's templar order Alan Rikkin (Jeremy Irons) tells Cal of the history between the assassin's and templars and how they've been at war for centuries. This is proven true as recent entry Assassin's Creed Origins takes place 332-30 BC shows us how the assassin's came to be and how they are met with the "war' between templars this shows true that assassin's and templars have been at war for centuries.

  Another detail in game accuracy is fighting as the bleeding affect cause by the animus, the machine used to access the memories helps Cal learn to fight as an assassin, this is the same case for Desmond.

 Let's talk about difference in assassin's from the games assassin Altair and the movie assassin Aguilar.

  *Altair Ibn-La'Ahad is from the holy city of Jerusalem in 1191, also known to history as The Third Crusade, Altair is an assassin ordered by mentor Al Mualim to assassinate 9 templars to regain his honor, when Altair does so he returns to only learn his mentor is a traitor is using The Apple of Eden killing the whole brotherhood leaving Altair killing Mualim and taking the apple to hide it.

  *Aguilar De Nerha is from 15th century Spain known as the Spanish inquisition & Grenada War, Aguilar is a recruit of the brotherhood sent on a mission to rescue Ahmed and are met with Grand master Tomas De Torquemada who they kill, Aguilar having the apple would hide the apple*

  Casting is well done as Michael Fassbender does an incredible job playing his character as he does an incredible job bringing a young Magneto to life, and having Jeremy Irons play our grand master was a great choice.