The Review of Assassin’s Creed

《刺客信条》作为今年最值得期待的电影之一，将于2月24日中国首映。小编我有幸获得了育碧的试映资格，昨晚提前目睹了该大片的风采，在此感谢育碧的试映邀请。
As one of the most expected movies this year, Assassin’s Creed will be premiere on Feb. 24, in China. Best of all, I was honored to watch its preview yesterday, to feel that movie we longed for months, and thanks for Ubisoft’s invitation.

观影前，我建议各位了解下刺客背景，因为你们可能第一遍会看的云里雾里。为此，我给大家来个知识补充，稍后为电影点评（不剧透，请放心往下阅读）。
I suggest everyone who about to watch it should know the background of the Assassin’s Creed. Otherwise, you will be totally lost in the first watch. So, here’s my recaps for your better understanding. I will present my feedbacks on this article later (no spoiler).

知识补充 | Recaps

刺客信条游戏 | Assassin’s Creed Video Game
刺客信条系列（Assassin’s Creed）是由育碧开发的动作冒险游戏。描述了两大阵营间几个世纪的争斗，即坚信为和平自由而战的刺客，以及期望通过统治获得和平的圣殿骑士。凭借真实历史事件的点缀、人物的细腻刻画、独具风情的历史建筑、别具匠心的音乐，得以让游戏脱颖而出，一致受到好评，成为育碧旗下最畅销游戏之一。该系列灵感来自弗拉基米尔·巴托尔的小说《Alamut》，被认为是《波斯王子》系列的精神续作。
Assassin’s Creed is a franchise centered on an action-adventure video-game series developed by Ubisoft. It depicts in the centuries-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight for peace with free will, and the Templars, who desire peace through control. Featuring historical fiction and characters, mixed with real-world historical events, and figures.The series took inspiration from the novel Alamut by the Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol while building upon concepts from the Prince of Persia series.

其实，早在09年，育碧就出品了基于游戏《刺客信条2》的电影短片《刺客信条:世袭》，小编当年在人人影视的时候全程听译及校对过该短片，所以记忆犹新。那么相隔多年，首部真正意义的电影效果如何呢？
In fact, Ubisoft made the short film or Assassin’s Creed Lineage based on the Assassin’s Creed II video game in 2009. I was an interpreter & movie subtitle maker in YYeTs back then, so it pretty much rang the bell. And now it’s been years since the first movie was released. How’s the movie then?

对于从1代玩到5代的我来说，以为电影会提到游戏中如Altaïr、Ezio、 Connor等相关主角，实则没有，这略微少了点亲切感。电影为我们呈现了一个全新的故事，发生于15世纪的古西班牙。刺客主打的是动作场景，这点制作方还是做到了，不论是格斗刺杀、飞檐走壁，还是刀光剑影、跑酷脱身，让观众看了很是过瘾。尤其后面的“信仰之跃”【1】，对于刺客迷来说实在是非常振奋人心，只可惜这种场面还是少了点，还没看够！
As a fan of Assassin’s Creed Series, I’ve played almost every series started from I to V. However, the story of the film was not quite follow the game’s storyline, in which happened in the 15th century Spain. And I was pretty expected to hear some of the game characters like Altaïr, Ezio, Connor, which’s not. A little bit bummer for me. We all know assassins got really good skills that the movie did it very well. It offered us amazing action scenarios. Take combat fighting, martial arts, wall running, parkour escaping, etc. They really attracted our eyes, especially the famous “Leap of Faith” that was pretty awesome. As for fan, I really wanted to see more of these actions. Good job on the actions, BTW, I loved it. But, I wanted more!

【1】信仰之跃：指游戏《刺客信条》中，成为刺客的必备条件。在坚守信条的前提下，高处完成跳跃动作。即爬到处于风景秀丽的建筑顶端，一览众山小，然后纵身一跃，伴随着鹰叫急速下降，最后背朝下落入草垛中。这种带有宗教信仰的跳跃，被称之为“信仰之跃”。
The Leap of Faith is an acrobatic free-running maneuver in Assassin’s Creed in which the game player performing it dived off of the game’s tallest towers, but walk away unscathed whenever they managed to land in a pile of soft, dependable straw. The move was integral for the members of the Assassin Order and served as a requirement for their initiation for many years, though the practice fell out of use in modern times.

当电影主角进入Animus【2】后，依旧是老鹰在高空翱翔主导视线，紧随其后便是刺杀营救的开场，让我想起了游戏《刺客信条:兄弟会》，多名刺客强强联手合力营救。但毕竟是电影有播放时长限制，没法如游戏般一下子把故事前后，以及伊甸苹果【3】的来龙去脉都讲全，因此制作方为第二部埋下了伏笔（各位会有续集哦）。
When the main character entered the Animus, it triggered his memories back to the ancient Spain. Followed by the eagle that roaming over the sky, we soon opened a rescue scene where assassins were trying to save someone, which’s reminded me of the game, or Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. After all, due to the limitation of play time, the movie couldn’t tell us more background of the Assassin’s Creed, let alone the story of the Apples of Eden. So, let’s wait for the next movie to be released.

【2】Animus：游戏中一种能让用户体验祖先记忆的虚拟现实机，有点像VR但更先进。一旦进入该设备，便能读取用户的基因记忆，以三维立体图像投射到外部显示屏上。属于Abstergo的项目，用于获取刺客信息及伊甸苹果，还能在进入记忆前进行训练项目。
Animus is a virtual reality machine rediscovered, developed, and sold by Abstergo Industries. It allows the user to read a subject’s genetic memory, and project it on to an external screen in three dimensions. The machine was notably used in Abstergo’s Animus Project and the Animi Training Program. The former analyzed the genetic memories of several select subjects, usually to gain information on the Assassin Order or on Apples of Eden, while the latter was used for the training of Abstergo employees.

【3】伊甸苹果：游戏中即伊甸碎片，是一种科技产物，也是一种武器，由先行者制造。贯穿历史，它们作为许多非凡超人事件的起因发挥着重要作用，诸如特洛伊战争，穿越红海，或亚当与夏娃被逐出伊甸园等等。
The Apples of Eden are Pieces of Eden, a type of technology and a powerful weapon made by Isu. Having outlived their creators, the Apples featured prominently, although abstrusely, throughout recorded history as the cause of several ‘divine’ and ‘superhuman’ events; these included the Trojan War, the parting of the Red Sea, or Adam and Eve being cast out of Eden.

该电影的服装，我个人觉得设计未很好的突出刺客这一角色。据了解，刺客服装由剧装设计师Sammy Sheldon担任，因参与电影《蚁人》、《机械姬》、《X战警：第一站》而闻名于世。然而，我觉得的还是游戏设计师设计的漂亮，毕竟是专门开发刺客信条系列的，他们熟知背景设定、人物角色，为此更能诠释刺客。通过历代的变迁，刺客的着装也会随之改变，从第三次十字军东征，到意大利文艺复兴，再到美国独立战争，亦或法国大革命等等，不同的时期，穿着及武器装备合理搭配，服装设计风格与色调也从简约到奢华或时尚。
Now, let’s turn to the film costumes. They were designed by Sammy Sheldon, a Costume Designer, who’s known for her work on Ant-Man (2015), Ex Machina (2015) and X: First Class (2011). But, I didn’t like the costumes in the movie, which didn’t depict the profile of assassin quite well. I more favored the game designers’ work for they were the first person to really know the game, not only the background as well as its characters. They would change the costume design and weapon outfits to fit the eras they’d love to put them in. Such as it’s style and color would be transformed from simple, delicacy, luxury to fashion as the ages changed from the time of the Third Crusade, Italian Renaissance, American Revolutionary War to the French Revolution, etc.

电影服装 VS 游戏服装 | Film Costume VS Game Costume
I 电影服装 | Costume & Ornaments from the Movie
II 游戏服装 | Costume & Ornaments from the Games

以上两张来自我收藏的多本设定集中的一本内，它向我们阐述了人物衣服、帽子的演变过程，以及人物的跳跃姿势和袖剑的使用，在早期科技不发达，只能断无名指才能使用袖剑（这在电影中也有呈现）。
This two pics are from one of my game’s artwork collection, showing the process of clothes and hood transformation. It presents the character’s weapon, the mechanism of the hidden blade. In the early time, assassin had to cut his ring finger to use the hidden blade due to the undeveloped technology, which’s appeared on the movie as well.

小编更喜欢的是意大利文艺复兴时期的服装，华丽又不失典雅，色调舒适，腰带也很好的诠释了刺客的LOGO，与武器完美匹配。
I more favor the costume design from Italian Renaissance, which’s outfits are elegant and delicate while the weapons are deadly and beautiful. Check out Ezio, the game character’s belt and waistband, the assassin’s logo really stands out.

值得一提的是，试映期我发现一哥们还穿着刺客服装，左手臂也佩戴了刺客专属袖剑(当然没有剑)，看来是资深粉了。总之，值得一看。正如魔兽电影一样，该片动作效果不错，情节紧凑，可惜剧情欠佳，缺少了游戏的内涵，且在观众没看过瘾的前提下，刚有了胃口，便草草收尾。对于本片，我打8.0分（满分10分）(分数计算：7分+1分情怀分＝8分)
It was worth mentioning that I found out a senior fan who dressed in assassin costume with a weapon ornament for the hidden blade on his left arm when I was participated in the preview. In a nutshell, the movie was worth watching as the Warcraft offered us stunning actions, clock-ticking plots. However, it lacked of stories that didn’t capture the games’ essence. And the film rushed to end too fast that just aroused our appetites. I scored it to 8.0 (10 was a full score), which’s 7 for the movie and 1 for the game.

PS: 电影结束后，小编等到最后，告诉大家本片没彩蛋哈，各位24日首映结束后，就可以走了。
I wanted to tell you guys that there are no Easter eggs. So no need to wait after the end of the movie. You could leave as you finished watching the movie on the premiere, Feb. 24.

撰写/编译：BubbleSwan
Edited & Translated by BubbleSwan

Click here to read more: The Review of Assassin’s Creed (Movie)