Michael Fassbender (a “European Diddy” of sorts in terms of productivity) is set to star in his fourth film this year as the lead in the theatrical release of Assassin’s Creed, adapted from the popular Ubisoft video game franchise.
The second trailer raises the bar over its predecessor, showcasing the high-flying, medieval parkour antics from Fassbender and friends, including Michael K. Williams, Marion Cotillard (the latter of whom is slowly becoming Hollywood’s go-to actress in time-warping science fiction blockbusters) set to an unfortunately generic rock soundtrack.
Whereas the first trailer set up the action of the film, this one lays out key points in the story, which fans of the 19+ games might tell you is definitely the series’ strong point. The film also manages to avoid retreading old ground by developing a main character specifically for the film that is not featured in any of the previous stories.
Callum Lynch (Fassbender), some kind of mysterious crime ninja, is recruited by Uncle Scar himself (Jeremy Irons) and learns that a shadowy group of rugged mercenaries has traced his bloodline back 500 years before injecting him, Matrix-like, into his own ancestor’s memories!
Cue a sick montage of Lynch & Co. cartwheeling through time, space, prison-lab environments, Pigpen-like clouds of memory dust and ancient Roman cityscapes, all set against the ruined beauty of a Europe in the midst of the Spanish Inquisition. It doesn’t make much sense yet, but it sure looks cool.
Weapons enthusiasts should keep their medicine nearby, as it can only enhance the action as hooded figures deploy all manner of bows, blades, and beacons to dispatch faceless goons on their way to the “final boss.”
Fans of the games will gawk thirstily at the action they’ve been itching for since the announcement of the movie, and mainstream audiences will likely sign up enthusiastically to see Omar do his thing in any century. FOX will pray it appeals to enough of either group to pull enough people into the theaters this holiday season to warrant a sequel. Or 19 of them.
Watch the trailer here, Assassin’s Creed hits theaters December 21st.
