Review: Assassins's Creed

Director Justin Kurzel, who recently helmed attractive leads Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in his tour-de-force reimaging of Macbeth, is powerless to make sense of the digitally augmented muddle.

Battle sequences and protracted chases on foot, including daredevil leaps captured in slow motion, are stylishly staged to the relentless drum beat of composer Jed Kurzel’s score. Unfortunately, like so many adaptations of video games, the film lacks the vicarious thrill of physically controlling a character and assuming personal responsibility for their fate.

A few hours after he is executed by lethal injection, Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) wakes in a facility owned by biotechnology company Abstergo Industries, a front for the power-hungry Templar Order under the control of president Ellen Kaye (Charlotte Rampling).

The convicted criminal learns he is the last in a long bloodline of valiant protectors – the Assassins – who have been at war with the Templars.

The company’s Machiavellian CEO, Alan Rikkin (Jeremy Irons), is searching for an ancient artefact called the Apple of Eden, which was hidden by Callum’s 15th-century Spanish relative, Aguilar de Nerha.

Using a device called the Animus, Rikkin and his scientist daughter Sofia (Marion Cotillard) access genetic memories concealed in Callum’s DNA to locate the missing artefact.

Ricocheting back and forth in time, Callum realises he holds the power to his blood-spattered destiny.

Assassin’s Creed employs earthy and metallic colour palettes to create an immediate visual distinction between the two timeframes.

Fassbender, credited as one of the film’s producers, and Cotillard could deliver their lines in their sleep while Irons isn’t even afforded an opportunity to chew scenery.

The plot makes little sense and there’s no effort on the part of the script to tether the historical mumbo jumbo to a reality that non-game players can understand.