Film
The film of the world renowned game, of the same name, Assassin’s Creed. Cal Lynch (Michael Fassbender – The Light Between Oceans, X-Men: Apocalypse) is thrust into the long past life of Aguilar, via the Animus. Through this, he gains the skills of a Master Assassin, preparing him to take on the secret Templar society in modern times. Not only must Cal come to terms with his new life, he must learn to face his own demons, in order to emerge triumphant.
Assassin’s Creed is an action packed spectacle, with great cinematic settings, amazing stunts, and an engrossing story. The rewatch value on this film is rather high, both from the aspect of watching the fights and chases once again, or picking up more details on the slightly complicated plot. With a sequel in the works, it would benefit any fan of the game or film, to be well versed in this opening story of the series.
Still a fun film, and successful game to movie crossover.
Read the full SAMDB review of Assassin’s Creed.
Disc
Overall, the disc is of a good technical quality, with an enjoyable main feature, and great collection of bonus features.
Assassins Creed is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.
Video
Video for the main feature is encoded at a high average bitrate. There are no visible artefacts on screen. Colours are vibrant where appropriate, with no visible colour bleed. Detail is maintained in the darker scenes.
The film starts with a scrolling text introduction, which does appear clear on a good screen. There are several scenes that do contain subtitles, and these are legible, if a little smaller than on some other films.
Video on the menus is compressed a lot more than the main feature, with some visible artefacts and colour bleeding, but these doesn’t interfere with navigation, and rather have the menus use less space on the disc, so there is more for additional features, and to allow the main feature to use less compression.
The bonus features also have a higher compression rate than the main feature, although not as much as the menus, with some compression artefacts visible up close on finer detail, and a bit of colour bleed. The colours seem less vibrant in the interview or behind the scenes parts too.
Audio
Audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There is no stereo 2.0 downmix on the disc, so this would need to be handled via the hardware or software player, or the viewers amplifier.
Dialogue on the main feature is clear via the centre channel, with a large part of the soundtrack weight carried by the front channels. The surround channels, however, are used to great effect, expanding the on-screen world, and further drawing the viewer into the story.
Navigation
Navigation is simple, and easy to follow. The main menu has a static background, with accompanying music. There are text links to play the main feature, and then links to sub-menus for setup, scenes and extras.
The setup menu has a text list of available audio and subtitle languages from which to choose.
The scenes sub-menus each have four large, colour, still thumbnails. While these are numbered, they are not labelled, meaning a bit of guesswork is needed in order to navigate to a specific part of the main film. There are twenty four chapters in total.
The extras sub-menu has a text list of the available bonus features. Selecting “Take The Plunge” will access a further sub-menu with a text list of video clips, or a playlist to play all. The same with selecting “gallery”, where one is taken to a sub-menu to select a gallery of images.
Bonus Features
Take The Plunge: Behind the Scenes of Assassins Creed –
Legacy of Assassin’s Creed gives the viewer an insight into the road the film took, from game to the big screen, with input from cast and crew and their part in bringing the story to life.
Becoming An Assassin shows the viewer a glimpse at the training and preparation involved to be able to portray the physicality of an assassin, with the fights and acrobatics that each character uses in many of the scenes. Many of the physical feats are a sight to behold, performed by the actors themselves.
Tools of the Trade is a look at the wardrobe, accessories and weapons of each character, and how the crew approached this aspect of each character, the balance between staying true to the game yet being practical to use.
In the Realm of Realism gives the viewer a look at the various locations, settings and places visited to create the film, choosing actual locations over studio or green screen creations. With the global reach of the Assassins Creed game, the film tries to stay true to this appeal, and does as many locations practically, as is possible.
Swift Moves and Stealth Maneuvers is by far the most thrilling of the bonus material, giving a brief insight into the various rigs used for cameras during filming, and then taking the viewer behind the scenes to all the breathtaking stunts and parkour moves. After watching this featurette, it changes the whole feel of the film, should one return and watch the main feature yet again, knowing that so many of the near impossible moves pulled off on-screen, are indeed practical and not just visual effects.
Gallery – There are three photo galleries on the disc. Once accessed, the viewer is presented with a screen with instructions, and the opportunity to have the images auto-advanced, or to advance manually.
The first gallery is Concept Art. This is a gallery with various sketches and painting of how scenes, settings, and characters are envisioned for the film. Great insight into the mindset and process of the films creators.
The next gallery is Costumes and Weapons. With photographs of the various wardrobe, props and weapons of the film. Not only an insight, but interesting to compare back to the actual concept art gallery.
The last of the three is the Unit Photography gallery. These are stills from behind the scenes on set and on location, providing an additional, small look at the making of the film.
Theatrical Trailer 1 – The first teaser trailer for the film. If one wishes to see a trailer before watching a movie, this is usually the one to pick.
Theatrical Trailer 2 – The second trailer released, revealing a bit more about the film, some additional scenes, and a little longer than the first trailer. Not revealing too much, but this could be the point where there are possible spoilers for the viewer.
