Assassin’s Creed

If I will give the live-action Assassin’s Creed movie anything, it was that its depiction of the series’ virtual reality simulator the Animus was a pretty interesting way to make what could have been a mostly benign recreation of the source material into something more compelling on film. Instead of having actor Michael Fassbender lay on a bed and dream about his ancestor’s past, the film portrays the Animus as a claw-like machine that allows protagonist Cal to completely recreate the movements and actions of the memories he relives. When he jumps onto a target in his memories, he is able to fully reenact the scene in the real world. It lets the movie do some interesting things as it flashes between realities, rather than spending too long in the past you forget about the present day. But Assassin’s Creed falls into the same problems the games do in that its lack of commitment to one side means both the past and present can feel shortchanged by one another. That’s only more apparent in the movie, as it feels needlessly convoluted as it tries to bring in the series’ lore baggage into what could’ve been a much simpler, accessible film. — Kenneth Shepard