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Assassin's Creed (2016), PG-13, ★1/2

Welcome to another bloated world of a video-game genre.
Video game movies. Ugh. We have another one. You know what? I'm going to save my strength by typing in an opening paragraph as to how bad video-game adaptations are. This is another wasted opportunity for a superiorly talented cast that was reluctant to participate in this project for a paycheck.

A young Callum Lynch has witnessed his mother, Mary (Essie Davis) being murdered by Cal's father, Joseph (Brendan Gleeson), who is an Assassin. Cal runs away from home as his father is being pursued by the Templars. Now, we transition to present day as adult Callum (Michael Fassbender) is being guided to his execution after being convicted of murder. After being lethally injected, Cal experiences some images before passing out. Cal wakes up to Dr. Sophia Rikkin (Marion Cotillard), who tells him that he is legally dead but is in a facility. Sophia tells Cal that he is needed for an experiment to Abstergo Industries.

Callum is taken to a room with a large claw-like machine called the Animus. Sophia explains that the Animus will allow Cal to see the memories of his ancestor, Aguilar. He finds himself in the Spanish Inquisition as Aguilar as he and his partner, Maria (Ariane Labed) are tasked in rescuing the son of Sultan Muhammad XII (Khalid Abdalla), Prince Ahmed (Kemaal Deen-Ellis), who has been kidnapped by the Templars. They are in this chariot chase and then after, Sophia takes Callum out of the Animus. Cal begins to experience hallucinations of Aguilar fighting, at times as though he appears as he is fighting Cal.

You're in the Matrix. Oh, wait, wrong movie.
This movie is very bad because of its incoherent storytelling. There are some plot holes as to why Cal is being recruited in the experiment. There are questions raised as to how come hallucinations are coming into them even when he is dead. HE IS COMPLETELY DEAD!!! I was lost throughout the whole movie as to what they are pursuing and why they are rescuing certain characters. And, then there is this twist that comes out of nowhere late the film that completely confused me and raising questions that moving forward with the narrative. Then, we go into a very silly climax as two key characters are in a confrontation and ends with a cliffhanger.

Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard do what they can to elevate the material but they are convincing here but sometimes even they are lost and confused at times as to what the story is all about. I do not know what Brendan Gleeson and Charlotte Rampling in this big Hollywood project that sort of treats itself as a B-movie. The biggest fundamental problem is its screenplay as it jumps back and forth from the past to the present which confuses and baffles the viewer than take ahold of the viewer. Basically, it's mostly CGI visual effects with a thinly written script. They spend so much of the time getting the camerawork and some special effects work but there are barely characters or a competent screenplay in this movie. Another wasted piece of film that is in the industry forever. I liked it a tad more than Warcraft. So, yay.

*1/2


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