Hollywood has struggled, over the years, converting popular video games into successful film franchises. That doesn’t stop studios from trying, however. Later this summer, Duncan Jones will unveil Warcraft, while Oscar winner Alicia Vikander just agreed to try on Lara Croft’s cargo shorts for a new big-screen Tomb Raider adventure. Additionally, Assassin’s Creed is making a go at silver-screen fortune, with Michael Fassbender in the lead role. We just got our first look at the new movie, via the full trailer. Give it a look:
Working off of the stories presented in the long-running video game series by Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed casts Michael Fassbender as Callum Lynch, a man whose mysterious heritage traces back through a line of secret killers. Using an incredible new technology, Callum appears to be able to assume the identity of Aguilar, one of his past descendants, and embark on a series of missions to retrieve priceless artifacts. Did we mention that this is all during the Spanish Inquisition? Because the amazing technology that Callum becomes a guinea pig to can send him back through his own familial timeline.
This movie won’t lift its plot directly from one of the games. For one, Callum Lynch isn’t a character in the games. In this movie, he will be a bartender who is abducted by a mysterious corporation, and forced to work in The Animus, the machine that allows him to somehow tap into his ancestors’ memories and conduct the missions – all through his own genetic profile. We know we're giving an extremely basic explanation of this technology, but we'll trust Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons to explain everything much better in the context of the Assassin's Creed adaptation.
As far as looks go, Assassin's Creed definitely captures the high flying stunt work and insane combat that fans of the video games will appreciate. However, the trailer looks better than your average video game adaptation has any right to, and that's thanks in part to the director, Justin Kurzel. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he previously worked with Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender on the most recent adaptation of Macbeth, which also explains the smoky aesthetic to the film's overall look to its Spanish Inquisition storyline. Say what you will about whatever the story's about to do, but at least the film looks like a video game adaptation that remembered to bring a cohesive product to market.
Naturally, seeing as Assassin's Creed drops in theaters on December 21st, we'll bet that a more full trailer will hit later this summer, detailing what the story behind Callum Lynch's new lease on life.
