In the age of Marvel and “Game of Thrones,” comic books and fantasy novels are no longer the cinematic outcasts they once were. As evidenced by “Assassin’s Creed,” video games have yet to make the same strides toward silver-screen respectability.
This adaptation of the popular series reunites director Justin Kurzel with his “Macbeth” stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, albeit to considerably less fruitful results; fans of the video game franchise are likely to be even more disappointed than those merely looking for a historical action flick.
“Nothing is real, everything is permitted” is the film’s mantra, a translation of a line from Vladimir Bartol’s 1938 novel “Alamut” that’s made its way into any number of other games, movies and songs.