Assassin's Creed (film)

Assassin's Creed, marketed as Assassin's Creed: The Movie, is an action-adventure film based on the award-winning series of the same name. It is produced by and stars Michael Fassbender as the 15th century Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha, and his present day descendant, Callum Lynch.

Directed by Justin Kurzel and co-produced by Ubisoft Motion Pictures and Frank Marshall, the film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and released 21 December 2016 to largely negative reviews.

Opening crawl

For centuries, the Order of the Knights Templar have searched for the mythical Apple of Eden.

They believe it contains not only the seeds of man's first disobedience but the key to free will itself.

If they find the relic and decode its secrets, they will have the power to control all human thought.

Only a brotherhood called the Assassins stands in their way...

Synopsis

Callum Lynch discovers he is a descendant of the secret Assassins society through unlocked genetic memories that allow him to relive the adventures of his ancestor Aguilar in 15th century Spain. After gaining incredible knowledge and skills, he is poised to combat the oppressive Knights Templar in the present day. The bulk of the film takes place in the present day (65% present, 35% past).

Plot

In 1492 Andalusia, during the Granada War, Aguilar de Nerha is initiated into the Assassins. He is assigned to protect Prince Ahmed of Granada from the Knights Templar. In 1986, adolescent Callum "Cal" Lynch finds his mother Mary dead at the hand of his father Joseph, a modern-day Assassin. Gunmen led by Alan Rikkin, CEO of the Templars' Abstergo Foundation, arrive to capture Joseph, who convinces his son to escape.

In 2016, Cal is sentenced to death for murdering a pimp, but his execution is faked by the Abstergo Foundation, which then takes him to their research facility in Madrid. He is told that the Templars are searching for the Apple of Eden in order to eliminate violence by using the relic's code to control humanity's free will. Sofia, Alan's daughter and the head scientist, reveals that Cal is a descendant of Aguilar, the last person confirmed to be in possession of the Apple. She puts Cal in the Animus, a machine which allows him to relive and the scientists to observe Aguilar's genetic memories, so that Abstergo Industries can learn what he did with the Apple.

In 15th-century Spain, Aguilar and his partner María are deployed to rescue Ahmed, who has been kidnapped by Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada, secretly the Grand Master of the Spanish Templars, to coerce Ahmed's father Sultan Muhammad XII into surrendering both the city of Granada and the Apple. Aguilar and María intercept the Templars, but are overpowered and captured by Torquemada's enforcer, Ojeda. Cal is quickly pulled out of the Animus by Sofia.

Cal encounters other Assassin descendants held captive at the facility, most of whom are suspicious of his motives, with the exception of Moussa, a key leader and the descendant of the 18th-century Haitian Assassin Baptiste. Cal begins experiencing hallucinations, dubbed "the Bleeding Effect", of both Aguilar and Joseph. Cal and Sofia build a rapport during their sessions; she confides that her mother was likewise murdered by an Assassin, sharing his hatred of the Brotherhood of which his father is a member.

Back in the Animus, Aguilar and María are scheduled for execution by auto-da-fé but he manages to free them, leading to a rooftop chase in which they escape through an Assassin "Leap of Faith". Cal's mind reacts violently to the session and he is temporarily paralyzed. When Cal learns that his father is also at the facility, he confronts Joseph over his mother's death. Joseph informs him that the Bleeding Effect will allow modern Cal to possess Aguilar's combat abilities. He also learns that his mother was an Assassin, and she chose to die by Joseph's hand rather than be forced into the Animus. Unconvinced, Cal vows to destroy the Assassins by finding the Apple. Meanwhile, Alan is pressured by the Templar Ellen Kaye from the Council of Elders, who orders him to shut down the multibillion-dollar Animus Project because the Council is convinced of their victory since "people no longer care about their civil liberties [and] they're content to follow", leading Sofia to question her father's true intentions.

Reaffirmed by his encounter with his father, Cal willingly enters the Animus once again, whereupon Aguilar and María ambush a meeting between Muhammad and Torquemada. They succeed in killing the Templars and retrieving the Apple, though Ojeda captures María in order to force Aguilar to surrender it. Instead, María chooses death, and stabs herself on Ojeda's blade. Aguilar kills him and escapes through another Leap, the force of which causes the Animus to violently malfunction. Aguilar gives the Apple to Christoffa Corombo, who promises to take it to his grave. When Moussa and the modern Assassin prisoners start a riot in order to escape, Alan orders the facility purged. Abstergo security kills Joseph and most of the other prisoners.

Cal stands in the Animus chamber and is met with the projections of a number of his Assassin ancestors, including Aguilar, the French Assassin Arno Dorian, Joseph, and his mother, while Sofia glimpses the projection of an Assassin identical in appearance to her. Persuaded by his mother, Cal embraces the Creed and, having fully assimilated Aguilar's memories and abilities, joins Moussa and two other surviving Assassins in escaping the facility.

Having retrieved the Apple from Corombo's burial vault, Alan and his followers converge at a ceremony in Holborn Hall in London, England to celebrate their triumph. Inside the sanctuary, a disillusioned Sofia meets with Cal, who has come to take the Apple, and she reluctantly allows him to act. Cal retrieves the Apple, but kills Alan to do it. While Sofia vows revenge against Cal, the Assassins depart, vowing to once again protect the Apple from the Templars.

Cast

• Michael Fassbender as Aguilar de Nerha/Callum Lynch
• Marion Cotillard as Sofia Rikkin
• Jeremy Irons as Alan Rikkin
• Charlotte Rampling as Ellen Kaye
• Brendan Gleeson as Joseph Lynch
  • Brian Gleeson as young Joseph Lynch
• Essie Davis as Mary Lynch
• Michael K. Williams as Moussa/Baptiste
• Ariane Labed as María
• Matias Varela as Emir
• Carlos Bardem as Benedicto
• Denis Ménochet as McGowen
• Hovik Keuchkerian as Ojeda
• Javier Gutiérrez as Tomás de Torquemada
• Callum Turner as Nathan
• Michelle H. Lin as Lin
• Khalid Abdalla as Muhammad XII of Granada
• Thomas Camilleri as Ferdinand II of Aragon
• Marysia S. Peres as Isabella I of Castile

Production

Development

Michael Fassbender as Aguilar

Ubisoft began development of the film in May 2011, where it was confirmed for a 3D release. Later that year, Ubisoft was reaching a deal with Sony Entertainment to distribute the film. The terms and conditions surrounding the agreement were described by Hollywood insiders as "unheard of", with Ubisoft getting the final say on the budget, principal cast, script, release date and more.

The level of control is afforded to Ubisoft divided critics of both games and films, with many noting that while Hollywood insiders considered Sony's move to have killed the film before it had even begun, gamers considered the move to be beneficial to the franchise's future, as in recent years, game adaptations had tended to be of poor quality. Senior Vice President of International Marketing, Jean de Rivieres, echoed this sentiment, and claimed that the film will "reflect the brands accurately and consolidate our fan base."

Michael Fassbender came aboard to star and produce a year later. He explained, "I met up with the guys from Ubisoft and they told me the story behind it, and I thought it was very interesting—the idea of reliving memories."

On 22 October 2012, Ubisoft Motion Pictures was chosen to develop the film in close collaboration with the American-European production company New Regency, with Ubisoft stating that they were "a talent and filmmaker-driven company, with the same independent and creative mindset that we have at Ubisoft Motion Pictures." A screenplay development began immediately and the project was fast-tracked while still allowing Ubisoft to control key elements of the film's creative direction. Ubisoft also changed their distributor from Sony Entertainment to 20th Century Fox, though the reason for this has not been made known. It was decided that characters from the games would not be used, as the film was about "finding a character that was fresh."

Ubisoft hired English writer Michael Lesslie to pen the script for the movie, and Conor McCaughan to help Fassbender produce the film. In 2013, screenwriter Scott Frank was rewriting the script. Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, both of whom wrote the original draft of Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings, were assigned to rewrite the script the following year.

In April 2014, it was reported Fassbender was looking to reteam with director Justin Kurzel, with whom he collaborated on the film version of Macbeth. In August, Fassbender confirmed Kurzel was attached to the project, as was his cinematographer Adam Arkapaw.

Pre-production

Promotional image

In February 2015, it was announced that the film had entered production. When interviewed, costume designer Sammy Sheldon Differ gave this statement:

"I have much respect for the historical accuracy and vast characterization represented in each game. This has been a fantastic starting point to understand what is needed to be faithful to the artistic content and begin creating our film world. Bearing in mind this rich base, I have used our period of 15th century Spain, with its strong influences of Moorish deco, to give the Assassin's looks a nomadic warrior personification."

Filming

Filming began on 31 August 2015 and took place in London, Spain and Malta. The movie has also been confirmed to be set within the same universe as the franchise's other media. Shooting wrapped on 15 January 2016. The original ending of the film had Callum as the lone survivor. He would then go on in subsequent films attempting to escape the Templars. Test audiences did not react favorably to this ending, so it was changed prior to release.

Marketing

On 21 December 2015, Ubisoft tweeted a photo of Abstergo Industries CEO Alan Rikkin's business card, which had an email and phone numbers for Spain and the United States. Fans who emailed the address received one of two automated replies,, while those who called the numbers heard a voicemail response voiced by Jeremy Irons. The voicemail changed later to a different message from Rikkin which was followed by an electronic "hacking" type sound and then Callum Lynch reciting the tenets of The Creed. The phone number ceased working sometime after the movie's release.

Devin Graham from the YouTube channel Devin Super Tramp worked previously with Ubisoft's support to make Assassin's Creed fan films. TeamSuperTramp was contacted to help with promotion of the film. After recording some of the creation of the film's principal production in Spain in December 2015, they returned the next month when filming was completed to film the promotion video Assassin's Creed Movie Meets Parkour in Real Life - Day in the Life of a Stunt Man with parkour stunts by Fassbender's stunt double, Damien Walters. This was in case Walters had an accident which would normally hold up production. The precaution became justified when Walters tore ligaments in his left ankle in a bad landing, but the rest of the recording was able to be completed by working around the injury.

A behind the scenes production book entitled Assassin's Creed: Into the Animus was released on 21 December 2016, alongside the movie. The book written by Ian Nathan with a foreword by Ubisoft's then-CEO Gérard Guillemot and features concept art for the movie as well as screengrabs from the movie and interviews.

Release

Assassin's Creed was released on 21 December 2016, exactly four years after the video game character Desmond Miles died to avert the in-universe Second Disaster.. Originally announced in May 2013 to be released on 22 May 2015. The release date was then changed to 19 June 2015, and in November 2013 it was postponed again until 7 August 2015. In September 2014, the movie was postponed one last time to 21 December 2016. After its theatrical release, Assassin's Creed was released onto Digital HD from Amazon Video and iTunes on 10 March 2017, followed by Blu-ray and DVD on 21 March.

Cancelled sequels

By May 2016, work had begun on the movie's sequel and planned a third installment, but following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney in August 2019, the film together with any other video game movies were cancelled.

Trivia

• In the deleted scenes, it was revealed that María had a descendant named Lara. Cameos from Baptiste, Shao Jun, Yusuf Tazim, and Duncan Walpole, were also filmed but cut. Lynch was going to briefly perceive his fellow Assassins as their respective ancestors as a manifestation of the Bleeding Effect.
• A poster for the movie can be seen in the 2016 video game Watch Dogs 2, also developed by Ubisoft.

Gallery

VideosPromotional mediaScreenshots

• File:Assassin's Creed - Trailer World Premiere
• File:Assassin’s Creed Official Trailer 2 HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed Final Trailer HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed “It’s Time To Make History" TV Commercial 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "We Work in the Dark" TV Commercial HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "Destined for Great Things" TV Commercial HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "You're An Assassin" TV Commercial HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "You Belong to the Creed" TV Commercial 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "It Felt Real" TV Commercial 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "Celebrate the Creed" TV Commercial HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "Enter the Animus" Clip 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "Carriage Chase" Clip HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "Cafeteria" Clip HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "Leap of Faith" Clip HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed "Father's Blade" Clip HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed Cal's Story 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed Exclusive E3 Behind the Scenes 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed The Leap of Faith HD 20th Century FOX
• File:World of Assassin’s Creed HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed The Creed Mythology HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed The Science of the Animus 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed Sit-Down with Composer and Director HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed Secret Societies HD 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin’s Creed Who's In Your Blood? 20th Century FOX
• File:Assassin's Creed movie official figurines and props -Ubisoft Store-

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  Poster banner from the website
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  Aguilar de Nerha and Maria watching
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  Aguilar in combat
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  Callum Lynch incarcerated
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  Callum drawing in his cell
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  Aguilar fighting some Templars
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  Lynch's execution
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  Aguilar, and Maria
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  Dr. Rikkin and Lynch
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External links

• Abstergo.com (content now obsolete; archived from the original)
• Assassin's Creed (@assassinsmovie) on Twitter
• Assassin's Creed at the Internet Movie Database