I don't think im speaking out of turn here when I say that there are very few video game adaptations, if in fact any are worth even watching, let alone could be considered as good films. Studios for one reason or another just haven't embraced video game adaptations in the way they have comic book movies in recent years and with the limp efforts they've been putting out, it's not entirely surprising that neither have audiences.
What the genre needs is a studio willing to commit to making a huge tentpole movie that will open the flood gates and prove that this is an endless well that is ready to be exploited. I thought for a while that Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was going to be the film that finally did it, but despite it having all the right ingredients- a famous director, a great cast and the Pirates of the Caribbean formula sprayed all over it, it just turned out to be too generic and frankly it was crap. Now, after seeing one of its biggest franchises failed attempt at being adapted unenthusiastically for cinemas it's no wonder that Ubisoft is taking a stance and launching its own creative development enterprise as to have more control over their intellectual properties.
At this stage it's unlikely that development won't be fast tracked as Fassbender's star power only continues to rise. Fassbender is a hard working actor starring in several films a year since his eye opening turn as Bobby Sands in Steve McQueen's critically lauded Hunger in 2008, however his schedule is likely to fill up quickly and with 2 other franchises on his plate in X-Men First Class and Prometheus, Ubisoft are going to want to be laying down a shoot date sooner rather than later.
As Prince of Persia showed though having a big name actor on board isn't enough to sell a movie these days. It needs a good story to captivate the already established fan base of the IP and bring in and effectively allow new comers to participate, and whilst there's no doubt that the premise of the Assassin's Creed franchise is ripe material for adaptation to the big screen, perhaps a straight conversion isn't exactly what would be best.
The central unique element of the Assassin's Creed universe is the Animus, a machine which allows the user to connect with his or her ancestors and relive their memories. That alone is enough of a connection to the games and a great plot device that seems perfect in a post-Matrix world where cinemagoers are craving the next Inception. Combine that with the ongoing hidden war between the Assassin's and the antagonistic Templar's and there isn't really any reason to have to retread the same story told in the games, that of Desmond Miles. There's so many potential stories to be told in this mythology I think it would simply be a lazy decision to translate the games straight to film. Instead stick to the roots of the franchise, the sci-fi/period amalgam, the conspiracy theory backstories and of course the climbing and jumping, and give the fans something fresh to get excited about which takes place alongside the games, and gives newcomers an easy way in.
Of course any story speculation would be hard to do at this point as Assassin's Creed III is just around the corner and promises to be a major entry into the canon, but I think possibly the smartest way to do the aforementioned would be to take the idea of the Animus and tweak it so that it more appropriately suits the context of the medium its in. In the games the concept works well as the games user interface correlates with that of the Animus, in that for whoever is using the Animus its almost as if they're playing a game. Perhaps in the film the memories of the Animus user could be viewed and edited as though it were a piece of film. To me this sounds as though it could be an earlier version of the Animus, a perfect opportunity to do a prequel to the games offering a fresh but none too inconsistent evolution of the source material.
The only think lacking then would be to find a suitably creative and well honed filmmaker to direct. For years now Darren Aronofsky- director of Black Swan and The Wrestler - has been on the verge of jumping on a franchise, first with Batman, then Wolverine and then Robocop. It's obvious that he wants to be broken loose on big material like this, but I don't think studios are brave enough to let him run wild with his vision of these characters. What videogame film adaptations need is to take a risk in the way Warner Brothers did with letting Tim Burton direct Batman back in 1989, an action which forever changed the way people regard the genre. It's time for someone to take the jump, and if Ubisoft were brave enough between Fassbender and Aronofsky I don't think there would be anybody who wouldn't get excited over Assassin's Creed.
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