Decided to do something for my birthday that I haven't done since I was a kid and do a double cinema stint seeing Star Wars Rogue 1 and Assassins Creed.
I will admit, after seeing what had been done with Episode 7 (introducing Darth Emo and recycling huge plot sections of New Hope and Empire Strikes Back I wasn’t overly confident about this film but being able to introduce an almost entirely new and diverse cast with a couple of exceptions has allowed Rogue One to slide neatly into the existing plot of the original Star Wars trilogy (technically you could call it episode 3 ½).
The pace is quick, moving from setting to setting, while at the same time, keeping plot details simple and easy follow. The Rebels find out about the Death Star after being sent a message by the protagonist’s father and ends up with a mission to obtain the plans for the station. While you can argue that it isn’t as fleshed out as the other Star Wars films it was only about a single event leading up to Episode 4 and so that was bound to be the case.
Existing characters have also made an appearance in one form or another, the CGI Peter Cushing used to reprise the role of Governor Tarquin was extremely well done. You can still tell it’s CGI but the level of detail and texturing makes me think that we are about a year away at most of having CGI characters in films that you can’t tell aren’t real actors.
The only one that didn’t seem right was Vader. I first remember watching A New Hope as a kid and being terrified of him and even when I was older it was clear that teaming David Prowse with James Earl Jones had given the series a character with a hell of a presence. This time around you don’t get that feeling, partly I think because on the one close up of him I was wondering if his helmet had been a Poundland special.
Overall for the first of the spinoff films that Disney has planned for the franchise it was a good effort and hopefully bodes well for their 1 film a year plan.
And now for Assassin's Creed
Having seen it get panned by the critics I wasn’t expecting to be overly impressed with Assassins Creed. Historically video game adaptations have a curse of being seen as garbage primarily because with very few exceptions Hollywood directors aren’t gamers. This is especially evident in the case of Ewe Bolle who is probably unique in the fact that over 200,000 people signed a petition asking him to stop making films.
At this point I should point out I'm a fan of the franchise and have played most of the games in the series.
I have to admit however, that this was a fun action flick and it does a good job in capturing the essence of the games, switching between modern day and reliving the past through his ancestor’s genetic memories. And for fans of the game there are plenty of easter eggs hidden throughout the film such as Rebecca's baby in the background of the Animus room.
The basic plot is that death-row inmate Callum Lynch is executed for killing a pimp. He then wakes up in a research facility in Madrid owned by Abstergo Industries, the present-day incarnation of the shadowy Templars, where he's drugged, hooked up to the Animus, a device that allows you to experience the memories of your ancestors…., and virtually reincarnated as his ancestor Aguilar de, Nerha who in the 15th-century lead a secret society of assassins in a mission to capture the "Apple of Eden" from the Knights Templar to protect the right of free will., during the Spanish Inquisition.
Visually it’s a stunning film, with the 15th century sections filled with swooping camera movements during scenes where Aguilar and fellow assassin Maria leap across rooftops and through buildings, slicing and dicing whatever gets in the way of their good fight, Assassin's Creed catches the dizzying allure you want in a game and a movie
The film blatantly sets itself up for a sequel so if that does happen it will be interesting to see how they flesh out the other aspects of the precursors that made the game plots so engaging.
While perhaps not for everyone, fans of the will certainly enjoy it.
