Movies spawned from video games have always had a troubled history. But this is a big year for them to try to overcome that, with the likes of Warcraft and now Assassin's Creed, starring Michael Fassbender. The first trailer can now be seen below.
Assassin's Creed finds Fassbender as Callum Lynch, an alienated, violent drifter who discovers that he is descended from a 15th century Spanish assassin named Aguilar. "Recruited" (read: disappeared after he's apparently been sentenced to death) by a corporation called Abstergo Industries, Lynch taps into his ancestral memories via a device called the Animus to gain the know-how to fight the Assassins' age-old nemeses, the Templars, in a battle for the future of humanity.
In case you're wondering, and a fan of the games, this is not Desmond Miles, the familiar character from the virtual version, to allow for an original story (albeit taking heavy inspiration from the game) that can go where it pleases. Still, there will be plenty of the game's time-hopping plot and action, even if it will have to overcome the hurdle of a film that feels like watching someone else play the title.
Still if anyone can pull it off, it's Fassbender's Macbeth director Justin Kurzel. With Marion Cotillard (another Macbeth veteran), Ariane Labed, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson and Michael Kenneth Williams in the cast, Assassin's Creed will be out in the UK on December 26. For everything you need to know about the movie, go here.