Assassin’s Creed Movie and Animated Shorts Reviews and Opinions

Assassin’s Creed has been one of the most successful video game series ever. After 12 games and billions of dollars in revenue, we can safely say that Assassin’s Creed is Ubisoft’s masterpiece.

Ubisoft didn’t want to stick to making only Assassin’s Creed video games, however. There have been numerous Assassin’s Creed films, including an upcoming Assassin’s Creed series.

The first big crossover with movies that Assassin’s Creed saw, was the Assassin’s Creed movie.

Everything About Assassin’s Creed (2016) Movie Adaptation

Production, Release Date, and Reception

Right before the Assassin’s Creed games took a different gameplay approach, there was an Assassin’s Creed movie. While the game series saw a yearly release, the Assassin’s Creed movie served as an alternative for 2016.

The film was written by Michale Leslie, Bill Collage, and Adam Cooper and was directed by Justin Kurzel.

One of the producers of the film was Michale Fassbender, who’s also the protagonist of the Assassin’s Creed movie.

Assassin’s Creed (2016) Movie Trailer

This wasn’t the first-ever Assassin’s Creed film, but it’s the only one that featured a huge production team.

The filming began in the late summer of 2015. It was done by early 2016.

Assassin’s Creed’s premiere was on December 21, 2016. It premiered in the United States and France. The movie received negative reviews by critics, with some considering it as the worst video game film adaptation. Others thought that it was average at best, but a definite improvement compared to other adaptations.

The same can’t be said for the viewers. Assassin’s Creed has a mere 18% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The average rating for the film there is 3.9/10

Cast & Characters

  • Michael Fassbender (Cal Lynch / Aguilar)
  • Marion Cotillard (Sofia)
  • Jeremy Irons (Rikkin)
  • Brendan Gleeson (Joseph Lynch)
  • Charlotte Rampling (Ellen Kaye)
  • Michael Kenneth (Williams Moussa)
  • Denis Ménochet (McGowan)
  • Ariane Labed (Maria)
  • Khalid Abdalla (Sultan Muhammad XII)
  • Essie Davis (Cal’s Mother)
  • Matias Varela (Emir)
  • Callum Turner (Nathan)
  • Carlos Bardem (Benedicto)
  • Javier Gutiérrez (Torquemada)
  • Hovik Keuchkerian (Ojeda)
  • Crystal Clarke (Samia)
  • Michelle H. Lin (Lin)
  • Brian Gleeson (Young Joseph)
  • Julio Jordán (General Ramirez)
  • Rufus Wright (Alex)
  • Angus Brown (Young Cal)
  • Kemaal Deen-Ellis (Prince Ahmed)
  • Aaron Monaghan (Gilles)
  • Thomas Camilleri (King Ferdinand)
  • Marysia S. Peres (Queen Isabella)
  • Jeff Mash Prison (Warden)
  • ames Sobol Kelly (Priest)
  • Gabriel Andreu (Christopher Columbus)
  • Yuric Allison (Muhammad’s Official)
  • Joe Kennard (Abstergo Guard)
  • Gertrude Thoma (Speaker)
  • Juan Pablo Shuk (Father)
  • Coco König (Orderly)

Plot/Synopsis

The movie follows the same concept that’s seen in the games. In the Assassin’s Creed film, we follow Callum “Cal” Lynch. Cal’s mother was murdered by Cal’s father, an Assassin when he was still a teenager. His father was later captured by Abstergo.

Fast forward to 20 years later, in 2016, when Cal is sentenced to death. Abstergo Company, the modern-day Templars, fake his death and bring Cal to their HQ in Madrid, Spain.

There, Alan Rikin, Abstergo’s CEO, tells Callum that he’s a descendant from the Assassin’s Brotherhood. The Brotherhood has been keeping the Apple of Eden from the Templars for centuries.

The Apple is a device that can control humans. This is why the Templars tie-up Cal into an Animus. The Animus allows the Templars to find out about the location of the Apple, through Cal’s genetic memories.

It’s up to Callum to stop them. But how will he do that?

Review and Opinions

The Assassin’s Creed movie sounds really good at first. The scenario, despite being similar to the games, is really interesting. What ruins the film is the actors.

Despite Michael trying his best, the rest of the cast doesn’t do the same. So, it’s safe to say that the film doesn’t capture the excitement that made so many people love the games.

The former, along with mediocre CGI and bad sound effects make the Assassin’s Creed movie a bad one.

Elena Lazic: “Although this story of multiple timelines provides some interesting moments, the cryptic, excessive, often extremely muffled dialogue makes the film excruciatingly hard to follow.”

Wenlei Ma: “The experience of watching Assassin’s Creed is, one imagines, not dissimilar to slowly drowning in a giant slop bucket while desperately looking for a rope to climb out from the immense craptitude.”

Everything About Assassin’s Creed Netflix’ Series

A month before the release of the Assassin’s Creed film, Ubisoft had already announced a partnership with Netflix, regarding an Assassin’s Creed series. And a release date is yet to be announced, there’s been some buzz around this rumored series.

In March 2017, Aymar Azaizia, Assassin’s Creed’s Head of Content, confirmed that an Assassin’s Creed series was in the works. The hype got even higher when the producer Adi Shankar declared his partnership with Ubisoft, revealing that he was working on an Assassin’s Creed anime.

Until last year’s summer, the Assassin’s Creed television series was still in development, with Netflix at the helm. In the fall of 2020, Netflix also announced an Assassin’s Creed live-action and anime series was being developed.

Aymar Azaizia reaffirmed that the series is still being made, in an interview with Eurogamer in April 2021. He also mentioned that the team behind the Far Cry series and Rabbids Invasion are behind the series.

While we don’t know where or when the series will be based, there has been some speculation online. The one thing that’s sure to happen is a huge fight between the Knights Templar and the Assassin Brotherhood.

Many have said that the Netflix series could focus on one of the main protagonists of the games. A great candidate could be Altair, as he hasn’t been seen in 12 years.

We expect the series to release on Netflix at some point in 2022.

Other Assassin’s Creed Animated Short Films

As we previously mentioned, there have been a few Assassin’s Creed short films:

Everything About Assassin’s Creed Lineage

Serving as a prequel to Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed Lineage centers on Giovanni Auditore, Ezio Auditore’s father.

Giovanni Auditore is an Assassin and works as a banker in mid 15th century Italy, throughout the Renaissance. During his era, there’s an ongoing conspiracy against the Medici family, which controls most of Florence. The conspiracy aims to destroy Italy’s inner peace.

Giovanni is tasked with finding who that enemy family is, and bring those guilty to justice.

The movie introduces the events right before Assassin’s Creed II, giving the viewers and fans of the game an awesome introduction to it. It also gives you a reason to hate the enemies that you meet at the start of the game.

Still, Assassin’s Creed Lineage isn’t a film that will bring any new fans to the series. But, it gives a nice touch to Ezio Auditore’s story.

You can watch it here:

Everything About Assassin’s Creed Ascendance

Assassin’s Creed Ascendance follows a very similar purpose as Assassin’s Creed Lineage. It serves as a bridge between Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.

The protagonist of the short film is Cesare Borgia and his controversial rise to power. After Cesare destroys Monteriggioni, Ezio meets Leonardo Da Vinci in Rome. Leonardo goes on to tell Ezio everything he knows about Cesare.

Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Rodrigo Borgia, wanted to become the Captain-General of the Papal armies, but that position was given to his brother. Cesare proceeded to murder his brother and take the position for himself. He surrounded himself with very powerful people so that nobody could take his position away from him.

Ezio then vows to kill Cesare.

The movie does its job well, giving the fans of the games information about Ezio’s thoughts of Cesare.

You can watch it here:

Everything About Assassin’s Creed Embers

Considered by many as the best Assassin’s Creed film, Assassin’s Creed Embers serves as the end to Ezio Auditore.

After many years of leading the Assassin’s Brotherhood, Ezio retires to live a calm life in Tuscany. He’s shortly approached by an assassin from China, who wishes to learn the tricks that Ezio knows.

While Ezio is hesitant to mentor her at first, he ends up helping her understand the craft of an Assassin.

The movie’s ending is the most touching of all. Ezio visits his hometown, Florence, with his family. While he’s resting on a bench, he suffers from a cardiac arrest, passing away calmly.

The film ends with Ezio reading a letter which he wrote to his wife Sofia.

You can watch it here:

Marco Morales
Marco Morales
Esports Marketer. Marco is the Founder of DFY Gaming. He types for a living but writes awfully on pen and paper.
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