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Dir: Justin Kurtzel (12A, 120 mins)
Can the video game to the big screen adaptation ever work? There’s a chance that this latest attempt by the team of stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard together with their Macbeth director Justin Kurtzel just might, as they are such an offbeat team for the source material. Ubisoft’s massive stealth and stab franchise has some historical chops amidst the thumb thwacking which the film seeks to address. Fassbender plays Callum Lynch who through a revolutionary treatment that unlocks genetic memories experiences the adventures of his fifteenth century ancestor Aguilar in the time of the Spanish Inquisition. He is part of a secret society, the Assassins champions of free will who have fought the rigid controllers through religion and science the Templars, throughout history and now he will have to, in the present day. Cue much jumping off church buildings and parkour. So will this be the new Doom or Super Mario Bros, or something half decent? Hard to know. There’s plenty to whet the appetite though, with a cast that includes Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons and Brendan Gleeson, although a 12A certificate will tone down the violence of the game. Hopefully this won’t feel like a slightly classier Underworld.
Opens Jan 1