Last week we got our first, beautiful glimpse of Michael Fassbender running around shanking people in the face for the Assassin’s Creed movie—and it was actually quite promising! But fresh news about the film will give anyone familiar with the gaming franchise cause for concern.
The Assassin’s Creed universe divides its story into two branches: it mainly focuses on adventures in the past (the games have covered everything from Crusades-era Holy Land to the dawn of the American revolution), but is lightly framed by a contemporary scifi conspiracy thriller about modern Assassins training a new generation of soldiers to fight the shadowy Knights Templar.
However, according to executive producer Pat Crowley, the new movie will get that balance flipped: 65% of the film will be spent in the present, where Fassbender’s character, Callum Lynch, is kidnapped and forced to live out the memories of his 15th century assassin ancestor—while a mere 35% of the film will take place in the past, showing him reliving those memories. Fans of the franchise are probably already groaning; after all, the modern side of Assassin’s Creed was never that great. It was merely an excuse to “explain” what the video game was actually about, which was going back in time, meeting interesting people, and then assassinating the bejeezus out of them.
Hopefully the Assassin’s Creed movie can make all the present day stuff as exciting as the past-based segments. Considering how gorgeous all that historical stuff looked in the trailer, though, that might be an uphill battle.
[IGN]