Truth be told, I consider myself a harsh critic: The originality of the script, the believability of the main characters and their interactions, the quality of the set design, a masterful edit, the overall coherence of the story elements, an engaging musical score etc. etc. should all be very well in place for me to call a particular movie worth watching, worth devoting time to. Otherwise, as many of you may well attest nowadays, there happen to be many films out there who look, sound and feel very much the same... Films, trying to lighten your purse, without offering anything new. More so than ever, since the ambitious profit-mongering of Hollywood has grown many fold, in direct contrast to its creativity.
Now, as for this film, well, having played many a Assassin's Creed game, I had my reservations -and serious ones at that- going to this flick. However, at the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised. For me, an avid fan of the game series, the movie had it all; it masterfully adhered to all the original story elements which were at the time (and still are) very unique compared to all the other video game franchises out there. And for me, a rabid cinema lover, the cinematography, the editing, the acting entertained me more than I could hope for for such a movie, a movie hard to make based on a video game. Apart from some minor details, nothing really bothered me much. It was a smooth ride altogether: An exciting and entertaining rebirth of the source material on the white screen.
However, when the movie was over, when I got home, I started thinking: I had enjoyed the movie, yes, but it was also due to the fact that I did know the story elements beforehand, had intimate knowledge of all that is Animus, Abstergo, Templars and Assassins. In the end, the movie was very truthful to those elements, the source material, but consequentially, it was a lot of stuff to digest, much less to be truthful to.
I also realized that, for a movie-goer with no prior knowledge of the source material, the movie (which has to cover a lot of ground in a very limited time, with scarce information as is permitted by the time constraints) might have and probably would have looked a bit confusing: Terminology, multiple time-lines, criss-crossing story elements would be hard to grasp, if not attended to with utmost attention and a willingness to understand.
All in all, this is not a bad movie, no sir; actually, quite the contrary. However, if you are not a person who can adjust to a mysterious script on the go with an open-mind and a lust for creativeness, if you like your movies fast-food style, lack of knowledge on this particular video game franchise and the source material can be a bit to much to absorb. It is as simple as that.
Otherwise, it is almost perfect. Well done to all those who took part in this masterful adaptation. Thank you.
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