The 2016 cinematic attempt at tackling theAssassin’s Creedstory was not exactly a successful adaptation. Despite having an impressive cast (Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, andMichael Kenneth Williams) and sharp direction, the story was not given the justice that the often ambitious and expansive source material deserved. Now thatthere is an upcoming show in the works at Netflix, with an interesting writer attached inDie Hard’sJeb Stuart, it is worth reflecting on where the film went wrong to see where the show can hopefully go right.
Here are five lessons the upcoming show can take from the pitfalls of theAssassin’s Creedfilm adaptation.
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1. Balance Plot Exposition With Crafting a Compelling Story and Characters
The scope of the entire universe ofAssassin’s Creedis far too expansive to explain in its entirety here, though suffice to say there is a lot to work through. Across multiple games and centuries of time, it would be the epitome of arrogance to try to jam a lot of that information and exposition into a single film. Yet that is precisely what the film was foolhardy enough to attempt.
The film is set in that same universe as the games and focuses on expanding on the series' mythology while attempting to tell its own story.Tryingis the operative word here. It stars Fassbender as Callum Lynch who is seemingly put to death in one of the early scenes of the film. With his life flashing before his eyes, these opening moments play out in a well-executed visual sequence that blends memory with surreality. Its a compelling opening that only makes it all the more disappointing to see where the movie goes from there.
Following that engaging and potentially promising start is where the film begins to fall into narrative sludge. The majority of the film takes place in the same blandly designed top secret location with characters explaining to the audience what is going on. It is a common narrative technique to have the character be thrown into a new situation so that exposition dumps of information don’t feel too far out of place. This can work up to a point, though the film nearly drowns in how much information they have to convey in order to get the plot going. What is lost is that there is not enough of an established motivation or compelling throughline.
Callum is incredibly flatly written, never getting a fully realized character and is instead left to spend most of the film rendered aimless as he tries to figure out what is happening. He occasionally mentions that he is hungry, though that is often it. Nearly an hour into the film, it still feels like he has next to no goals or characteristics to connect with and by the time that it does start to flesh him out, it is too late. He just wants to escape, though it never gives any indication of where he wants to escape to. It is generic to the point of laziness that drastically damages the story.
Hopefully, with a longer time frame to work with over the course of a series, the TV show can develop characters who are more fully realized as opposed to how the film left you with only a shallow impression of who any of these people were.
2. Don’t Portray the Animus Like It’s a Theme Park Ride
For those unfamiliar, the animus is a device that allows characters to connect with their ancestors. In the games, it puts you in the shoes of assassins living hundreds of years ago who must navigate their own struggles. It creates an out-of-body experience that blends the past, and the adventures therein, with the present.
It was a smart strategic decision for a videogame; it is, afterall, more engaging to play as an assassin running around and jumping over rooftops than a guy walking around an office. However, it also makes for more compelling sequences that the film is never able to fully realize because of the changes the script makes. The film’s portrayal of the machine just straight-up doesn’t make any sense.
When his past ancestor jumps through the air, Callum does, too. When he climbs, he inexplicably ascends the walls of the room. When he stabs someone, Callum does, too. He even has blades in his hands while in the machine. In an early sequence, the film shows him going through his past and seemingly failing when he falls off a cliff.
Did that mean he didn’t jump in the right way or stab at the right moment? Does it even matter what he does when in the machine? The way the film portrays the machine is not just a drastic departure from the game, which has the subjects lay down to experience their memories, but it is a change that was the absolute wrong one for a film.
The use of the device in such a fashion means that the film constantly makes excuses to cut away from the action even when characters are right in the middle of it. By doing this, the film completely undercuts whatever engagement had been developed in the scene to remind the audience that this is all happening in a single room with a guy strapped to a glorified arcade claw machine. No matter which way you square it, the design of the machine must be changed for the TV series.
3. Embrace the Action Potential of the Source Material
A big problem with the film is how surprisingly minimal action there is when the game was predominantly focused on this aspect. When there is action, it is thoroughly underwhelming and often feels like an afterthought. Normally, with an action-focused film, the story is merely an excuse to get from one set piece to the next. Even with all the aforementioned problems with the story, if the action of the film knocked your socks off then it would be easier to overlook the disengaging narrative. You could understand that the focus must be on the action, and the story was serviceable enough to get the job done.
That is far from the case here.
There is an opening action sequence that was seen in all the trailers. It shows potential for where the film is going, though it ends so soon after it starts that you quickly forget the brief jolt of excitement. Instead, characters mostly have the same vacuous conversations on repeat that never go anywhere with action simply scattered throughout. There are allusions to a disagreement in leadership over what to do with Callum, though these moments are seen only briefly and are resolved often within the same conversations.
When these moments drag on, the film also subsequently slows way down in both pacing and substance. While it is hard to ever keep up the pace of nonstop action without allowing for some breathers, this film never even approaches the level of engagement one would expect from the thrilling aspects of the game.
Much of this has to do with a failure in how they are constructed, both within their own sequences and within the narrative overall. There is a lack of connective tissue between the action scenes themselves and they are reduced to diversions in the narrative overall. If the show could do one thing that would be both relatively easy and incredibly impactful, it would be to give more care to these action scenes.
4. Bring Jed Kurzel Back to Score the Series
This is a rare positive note, though it is still worth mentioning.
ComposerJed Kurzelremains one of the best redeeming qualities of the film, instilling both awe in the sequences that need it and genuine tension in the moments that were lacking it. It is just a shame that the rest of the story was so regrettably forgettable in all the wrong ways that his work was lost in the mess of a film.
Kurzel has done great work on films likeThe Babadook,Macbeth, andTheNightingale. His talents would help to bolster what anAssassin’s Creedstory could be and another shot with a better story would be nice to see. While unlikely to happen, one can still dream.
5. Don’t Run Away From Being a Videogame Movie
This point is more broad than just this film’s failings as it is a persistent problem across a whole host of adaptations. Too often, it can feel like a film is afraid of being too closely tied to a video game. Yet some of the best video game adaptations are ones that embrace their origins and that means leaning into what sets them apart.
Perhaps this is because of a somehow still persistent idea that videogames are too niche or nerdy to be widely praised. Such ideas give directors and writers mandates to try to change video game adaptations into being almost unrecognizable from their source material.
AnAssassin’s Creedadaptation that works to be both a genuine reflection of the enduringly good qualities of the video game series while still being willing to go in its own direction is possible. If the television series can hit that sweet spot and learn from these lessons, then it may just have a chance at succeeding where the film failed.
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