Sometimes ambition gets the best of people and it assures them that something will be great just because it’s done well in another medium. While I definitely talk about ambition and how it can help to bring great ideas to the screen, the making of Assassin’s Creed wasn’t one of those times. The movie wasn’t well-received by fans at all and the critics had no trouble blasting it as much as they could in order to show their displeasure, but it does make sense to ask just how many of those negative reviews came from people who have actually played the games. Yes, that’s an old argument that a lot of people say doesn’t hold water since it’s not the main point. But in terms of gameplay, the movie was fairly accurate, despite the number of differences that went into the live-action portions of the movie. It’s true that the Animus, which is a type of machine shaped like a lounger in the games, was changed more than a little, but there was a pretty good reason for it, though not one that a lot of people were willing to accept.
Much like many other video game and comic book movies, Assassin’s Creed tried hard to stay close to the source material while still doing its own thing, which is admirable in a way since it shows that those behind the movie were trying to do something great. It also makes a great deal of sense considering that the Assassins and Templars are seen to be widespread in the games, meaning that there are far more members than those that the fans came to know and care about. While I can agree that it would have been great to see Altair, Ezio Auditore, or many other well-known Assassins, it was still interesting to see this take on the story from the point of view of a different group of Assassin’s that people didn’t know about.
The scathing reviews are mostly about the CGI that was used, but in some cases, this helped to take the story to a different level than it might have achieved without the effects. There were a few moments that were beyond belief, even for a fictional tale such as this, but people tend to forget about the suspension of disbelief at times in favor of criticizing moments that are actually quite interesting and very impressive, meaning they allow their personal bias to overcome their sense of wonderment. Hey, it happens, especially in a group of like-minded folks that don’t want to be ostracized for harboring a different belief than those around them. The unfortunate truth is that Assassin’s Creed did tank financially and when it came to the reactions of the fans, but like those that choose to linger behind when the rest of the group wants to move on, I’ll gladly stop and admit that a lot of this movie was actually quite impressive. There were favored scenes that helped to enjoy the movie rather than criticize it since the action sequences were well thought out and helped to increase the efficiency of the story even if people didn’t want to pay attention.
Sure, there were moments when things didn’t really appear to make sense that much, but this was when some folks might have peered a little closer to see what was going on while others threw up their hands and wanted the movie to keep pushing forward so they could escape the parts they didn’t like. I’ve said it more than once and I’ll keep saying it until people get the point, the story is far more important than the effects sometimes, even if the effects are pertinent and help to make the story a little better than it might have been otherwise. But the story is what drives everything and makes it possible to even make the movie, and this story, while not perfect, was definitely enticing enough to sit and watch since it included plenty of adventure and action that was far above many other movies when it came to the technical aspects that were meant to impress and amaze the fans. This movie had plenty of elements working against it, unfortunately, and one of them was that it was already well-known and established, meaning that fans had certain expectations that they wanted to see met.
Once those expectations were left in the dust, a lot of fans appear to have lost interest since they didn’t get to see their favorite characters or the expected situations that would have kept them rooting for the Assassins and hoping the Templars would have been handed another loss. That’s too bad really since too many people allowed their expectations to be let down and therefore missed out on a movie that was actually quite well done even if it had to deviate a bit from the source material.
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