Assassin's Creed

Kurzel filmed the Assassin in his own way and if he hadn’t had to cut down on the length, it could have been an excellent movie. This cut of the movie lacks explanations that would have helped the story to run more smoothly. Despite being a little banal (though fits magically together) the story should be told in full. The serious tone of it might not suit everybody. Paradoxically, Assassin’s Creed isn’t all fun, but about questions that viewers should ask themselves. (2017-01-01)

An interesting, artistically ambitious attempt. Visually, it’s similarly "black and white" and artfully polished as anything from Nolan or Spectre. But the script is gibberish and buries the personality and confident direction the creators were pursuing. The parkour is fine, and so is 15th century Spain, but everything in the present is rubbish. And in this case, I'm afraid that, unlike Warcraft, the players of this famous game won't be excited about the film adaptation. (2017-01-07)

I was looking forward to this movie, but it turned out to be a huge disappointment. I've played Assassin’s Creed, and I think it's definitely a top-quality game, but the filmmakers stripped away the best parts, threw them away, and served us some weird leftovers. In the game, I was annoyed by the flash-forwards. The plot of the film takes place practically entirely in the future and only occasionally ventures into the past, which was a let down for me. I was expecting something completely different, thus I was far from entertained. (2017-06-14)

Well, it's not a good film, but in the end it's not a complete disaster either. Assassin's Creed alternates above average and sometimes almost great moments with moments when I almost felt sorry for the filmmakers. What goes well? Definitely the action, or rather almost everything from the past. The battles are quick, fairly straightforward and brisk, and at least the part where two of the heroes are running away from an entire city really hit the spot. The scenes of Spain being terrorised by the Inquisition do show the money, and the costumes, the production design and the visual effects look more than good too. Unfortunately, everything that takes place in the present is more or less ugly and terribly boring. I've played almost all of the games, and from the very beginning, these passages annoyed me. In the film, the uninteresting present takes up two-thirds of the running time. Most of the cast act like they weren't told what was wanted of them, it doesn't make any sense at all at times, and unfortunately Assassin's Creed is unaware of its stupidity and simplicity (nothing against it, I love it) and tries to pretend to be something more than a simple blockbuster. And it's not very good at it. In a few years, someone will edit a nice 20-minute video out of it with good action and nice sets. In the meantime, we have a movie that is boring most of the time or tries in vain to fulfill the ambitions of someone in the background who didn't understand that he was making an action movie. And those have to be entertaining first and foremost. (2017-05-15)

This film has character. On the one hand, it goes as far as possible against the fans of the game franchise, but at the same time it tries to make a distinctive artistic concept of the Assassin universe. The passages set in medieval Spain are visually stunning, the depiction of the Animus is boldly different (and better!) than we know from the games, and while it left me emotionally cold, I appreciate the personality that Kurzel brought to the table, and I can sense from it his desire to make the best possible film that isn't just a boring descriptive retelling of the game. The highly artistic Kurzel simply entertains me. It's a pity that people won't appreciate his honest approach and that there won't be a sequel. (2017-07-16)