Saw an advanced screening of Assassins Creed two weeks ago. Here are my thoughts

let me say I know this movie is super hyped because the franchise has a lot of fans. I dont play video games anymore and even I have played the first three games of the series. Lastly let me say this, the Assassins Creed movie is probably the best video game movie ever released.

Okay that obviously does not mean anything. But I think most will be glad to know that I found this movie enjoyable. This isnt another Ratchet and Clank or even Warcraft (although I hear lots of people like the warcraft movie, I just dont know why. I thought it sucked.) I posted this in /r/movies before, but it got removed.

[Next might contain minor spoilers]

The first 20 minutes is the worst part of the movie. Everything moves so fast. One minute you got a kid who walks in on his dad killing his mother. The next you minute you have some dude waking up to find that he has been kidnapped by some secret society. The pacing was a bit concerning at first but Im happy to say that after Lynch (as you know, played by Fassbender) enters the animus things kind of settle in. Lets talk about the historical scenes. They are the best parts by far. They are beautiful (they do a great job at making you feel like your in 1400s Spain. That goes for costume design and all that stuff to.) And they are a but innovative too. The action sequences that take place in the past are a breath of fresh air in a sense. I really loved them. Now the modern day stuff, while not as captivating as the Inquisition scenes, where mostly good too. The acting was great (did anyone expect it not to be with a cast like this?) Irons probably had the best performance. He sells his character. You can tell that he really wants to better humanity. He really thinks that the Templar Order is in the right and the Assassins are menaces. I liked that about this movie. There is a lot of grey area here. As you see in past sequences, the Assassins are not afraid to kill innocents to get the job done. How can they be the good guys? The modern day scenes do a good job at building suspense to the final act of the film. Where the modern day descendants challenge their Templar holders and attempt to escape Abstergo Industries. It was well done.

Okay time for things that didn't work so well. The humor in this movie falls completely flat. Remember the part in the trailer where the Priest asks Lynch if its his birthday, and Lynch says the parties just getting started? Yeah expect a lot of that kind of thing. Some lines are cringe-worthy even. Character development is mostly well for the main characters, but some secondary characters are kind of stale coughcoughMichaelKennethWilliamscoughcough. This movie also does not do a good job at explaining how things work and/or being believable. How does the animus work? "It unlocks memories of your ancestor." Okay but how? When was it created? How can a man dive into a hay bale from a 400ft structure and survive? He should not be able to. I understand that the leap of faith is a part of the franchise, but it really does not work here. It feels corny. And as I mentioned up there, the pacing at first was jarring.

Overall, id give it a 6 or 7/10. Its enjoyable. I think it will be critically positive. I think fans will love it (there are a few references to familiar characters that I understood, and like I said at the beginning Im not even a huge AC fan.) There was a ton of stuff that I missed. I dont think it will make to much money since it opens like a week before Star Wars. But I would like to see a AC movie trilogy now.

Submitted November 14, 2016 at 11:15AM by peacedro http://ift.tt/2eVVlxK