I caught it last night. It’s my favorite video game series and I’ve played almost every title in it multiple times. I brought someone who had never played the series and knew nothing about it, so our two perspectives brought some interesting conversation afterward.
I enjoyed it for the most part. I thought they captured the aesthetic and feel of the games very well. Many of the action scenes felt like I could have had a controller in my hand (one scene paid some not-so-subtle homage to Ezio). The fight choreography and parkour were nicely done. The dialogue wasn’t stupendous, but there were a few pretty funny lines. Michael Fassbender was a good choice.
On the other side, I can totally understand how someone who had never played the series would be very confused as to who the Assassins are. The movie is very Templar-focused, and the rich lore of the Assassins is pretty much reduced to a few lines of text at the opening. There isn’t really any reason to cheer for the Brotherhood. The plot was pretty weak since they had to stuff in a ton of exposition.
Ultimately, it’s quite obvious that it was made for fans of the series. I hope it does well and would watch a sequel, but I’m not really getting my hopes up.
I just saw it and I have to say, it wasn’t as bad as the 17% score on Rotten Tomatoes indicates. I’m kind of surprised it has such poor reviews. It’s getting to the point where people are going into video game movies all set to write a negative review.
The movie is not great. However, it is a pretty good action movie and also a pretty good short-version of the video game.
I did find the Animus silly. In the game, he just lays down and goes to sleep, Inception style. In the movie, he is flipping around and spinning like the ancestor he is inhabiting.