Wonderful character development!

Simply A Masterpiece

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

"Assassin's Creed: Lineage" is a television mini-series from 2009, so it is already seven years old. the title already states that this one is closely connected to the video game "Assassin's Creed". Actually, it plays before the game action, so maybe gives an insight into some of the characters in here. The entire thing consists of three episodes that run 12 minutes average, so you can easily watch the entire thing in slightly over half an hour. But I think you only should if you really care about the game. To me, the action in here did nothing and I guess you need to know "Assassin's Creed" to have a somewhat memorable watch. I don't like that though. A film should never rely on the audience having seen another film to appreciate it. Let alone having played a game. That's why I give it a thumbs-down overall. Visually, it is okay all in all, but in terms of story-telling and plot I found it mostly forgettable.

So, this year my girlfriend kindly bought me AC: Brotherhood for Christmas – an easy present for her and one I actually wanted anyway. By luck I had the night of the 26th and the majority of the 27th all to myself – what better time to get stuck into this game? Well, sadly it was the PS3 version she ordered in error, so my free time remained just that – free time. Thinking of the game i took the opportunity to watch the short film that had accompanied Assassins Creed 2 – something I'd always meant to watch but never got round to since I'd rather be playing that great game.The story is a prequel of sorts to Assassin's Creed 2 and, as a promotional tool it makes sense as part of generally feeding the grapevine with more stuff to talk about. Other games use controversy to get chatter (MW2's airport massacre, Medal of Honor's Taliban etc) so perhaps it should be praised for that, however beyond ease of production, I wasn't really feeling it in the way that I felt the couple of trailers for AC2. The best bits of the live-action short film are the same as the moments of style and action from the animated trailers and indeed they very much try to look like the game to the point that I wondered why an extended computer-animated trailer wasn't produced instead of this? The story is fairly secondary here since this "feel" is what the film is all about, so any scene that is about being an actual "prequel" to the Italy-set part of AC2, is pretty dull and one can feel the film desperate to get to the next stylishly filmed bit of stealth or action. The cast are not bad, but they have nothing to do except be live-action version of computer game characters, they don't perform so much as jump around. This limits the film somewhat and it is therefore hard not to compare it to the beauty of the game, since it lays out its stall as being all about the look and style. Of course watching it ahead of the game this may not have been the case but certainly watching in retrospect it feels very much secondary to the game and clumsy by comparison.A curio piece for AC completists perhaps but not particularly worth seeing otherwise – and certainly not good enough to distract me from the knowledge that I should be playing the game, not watching this!

...probably not, but what a spectacle!You don't have to play the games to appreciate these short films. The era of the Renaissance is brought back to life in this short but thrilling adventure. The CGI environment is extremely detailed and vivid. Three major Renaissance cities are shown, Florence, Venice and Rome. Florence, the era's birthplace, is the city with the tradition to cultivate art, science and architecture. Rich families are running the town, one of the most successful is the Medici. These families build representative residential Palazzos and public buildings such as orphanages and churches. Rome which becomes a center of art and science a hundred years after Florence (about the time the short films take place) is dominated by the pope who initiates building and support artists just like the Medici. This background is metaphorically shown by the construction of St. Peter dome. And Venice becoming rich through sea trade, a melting point between Europe and the east (Constantinople is Turkish). The rest of Europe is pretty much stuck in the middle ages. The characters look real and are on a same high level as the fantastic CGI environment. The cast is well chosen, the dialogues plausible and primal for the story. You cant complain about the costumes neither, somebody intensely studied the time-frame fashion (except of course Giovanni's stuff which is fictional). The characters look Italian, nobody puts Jake Gyllenhaal into a Persian dress here, promised. Music, camera work and directing are totally fine too. The whole thing is basically a synthesis of live-action and CGI and it works extremely well. But it is more than that. The gamer will love this, it will add a lot of background story to the game experience. The historian will be blown away by the details this thing throws at you. I just want to stop the movie for a second and jump in to explore the cityscape (a thing you will actually do in the games). So much happened in the streets of Florence and Rome, the new age is born here. Beyond this, it is also a good movie but if you review this as a movie/short films keep in mind where it comes from. It comes from a computer game from which it takes its coolness, its style, its atmosphere and its story. Don't judge this monster with the attitude of a conservative film lover. This is probably the best game adaption into film. It just works out. and it also features such a profound confrontation with history and architecture that is very rare I proclaim, yes, totally.

It's a video made very well. At first i didn't know why they even bother to make this but after i seen it i understand the link between the first Assassin's Creed game and the new one (will be released soon, 09.03.2010 on the PC) The atmosphere is surprisingly even better than in the game. The actors are fitting the role perfectly and the music is great. Search on IMDb, the main actor is really the one who gives life for the main character in the game. And the role made by him in the movie is flawless. If you're a fan of the game, you must see it.Overall, the best short movie of the year.