Look, we have to be honest. When a movie lands a cast that includes multiple Oscar nominees, a couple of winners, and the reigning king of "intense staring," people expect a masterpiece. That didn’t happen here. The Assassins Creed movie cast is, arguably, one of the most over-qualified groups of people ever assembled for a video game adaptation.
It’s weird. You’ve got Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard—fresh off their collaboration in Macbeth—reuniting for a movie about a parkouring hitman and a glowing golden ball. On paper, it sounded like a guaranteed hit. In reality, the talent on screen often felt like they were trying to find depth in a puddle. But if you look back at the roster, the sheer pedigree of the actors involved is still staggering.
Michael Fassbender as the dual-threat lead
Michael Fassbender didn't just show up for a paycheck. He produced the thing. He actually spent years trying to get this movie off the ground because he saw something "Matrix-like" in the DNA of the Ubisoft franchise. In the film, he plays Callum Lynch, a death row inmate, and his 15th-century Spanish ancestor, Aguilar de Nerha.
Fassbender is great at being physical. You see it in the way he moves during the 1492 sequences. He actually insisted on doing a lot of his own stunt work. He’s gritty. He’s sweaty. He looks like he’s actually in pain when he’s hooked up to the Animus—which, by the way, the movie redesigned as a giant robotic claw instead of the tanning bed from the games. It was a bold choice. Some fans hated it; others thought it looked more cinematic. Regardless, Fassbender sells the physical toll of "bleeding" through time.
The problem? Callum Lynch isn't exactly a barrel of laughs. He’s a brooding, somewhat blank slate. Fassbender does what he can with the material, but the script keeps him so isolated and angry that it’s hard to root for him the way we rooted for Ezio Auditore or Altaïr in the games.
Marion Cotillard and the Abstergo dilemma
Then there’s Marion Cotillard. She plays Sofia Rikkin, the lead scientist at Abstergo Industries. Cotillard is an powerhouse actress. She has an Academy Award for La Vie en Rose. She’s usually the emotional center of any movie she’s in.
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In Assassin’s Creed, she spends most of her time looking concerned in high-tech hallways. Her character is trying to find the "cure for violence." It’s a classic sci-fi trope. She believes that if she can find the Apple of Eden, she can map the human genetic code for aggression and basically delete it.
The chemistry between her and Fassbender is there, but it’s muted. They’re playing characters who are constantly lying to each other, which makes for a very cold viewing experience. It’s a testament to her skill that she makes Sofia feel like a real person with a conscience, even when she’s working for a Templar front organization that is clearly "the bad guy."
Jeremy Irons: The ultimate Templar
You can’t have a movie about ancient conspiracies without a sophisticated villain. Enter Jeremy Irons. He plays Alan Rikkin, Sofia’s father and the CEO of Abstergo.
Irons is basically the king of the "velvet-voiced antagonist." He brings a level of gravitas to the role that the script probably didn't deserve. He makes the Templar ideology sound almost reasonable. Almost. He sees the world as a chaotic mess that needs order, and he’s willing to do some pretty horrific things to achieve it.
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Interestingly, Alan Rikkin is a character who actually exists in the wider game lore—he appeared in the first Assassin’s Creed game, though mostly via emails and a brief cameo. Seeing Irons flesh him out was a treat for long-time fans, even if the movie didn’t give him much to do besides stand in expensive suits and look at monitors.
The supporting shadows
The depth of the Assassins Creed movie cast extends even further into the supporting roles, featuring faces you’ll definitely recognize if you watch enough prestige TV or indie cinema:
- Michael K. Williams: The late, great actor from The Wire plays Moussa. He’s a descendant of Baptiste (a character from Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation). Williams brings his trademark intensity to a very limited amount of screen time. You really wish the movie spent more time with the other "inmates" at Abstergo.
- Ariane Labed: She plays Maria, Aguilar’s fellow Assassin. She is incredible. She has almost no dialogue, yet she conveys a lifetime of loyalty and shared struggle with Fassbender through movement alone. Her performance is arguably the most "Assassin-like" in the whole film.
- Brendan Gleeson: He plays Callum’s father in a few brief, heavy scenes. It’s Brendan Gleeson. He’s incapable of giving a bad performance. He provides the emotional weight needed to explain why Callum is so messed up in the present day.
- Charlotte Rampling: Another acting legend. She shows up as a high-ranking Templar. She’s on screen for maybe five minutes, but she commands the room.
Why the talent didn't save the reviews
If you have all these people, why is the movie sitting at an average score on most review sites?
It comes down to balance. The movie spends about 70% of its time in the modern day and 30% in the past. Fans of the games wanted the opposite. We wanted the rooftops of Spain, the hidden blades, and the leap of faith. We got a lot of talking in a gray concrete building in Madrid.
The actors were clearly directed to keep things "grounded" and "serious." Director Justin Kurzel, who did that visceral version of Macbeth mentioned earlier, wanted to avoid the "cheesiness" of video games. But in doing so, he stripped away some of the fun. You have an Assassins Creed movie cast that is acting their hearts out in a movie that feels like it’s afraid to be a fun action flick.
The stunt work vs. the CGI
One thing that doesn’t get enough credit is the physical dedication of the cast and the stunt team. The "Leap of Faith" in the movie was real. It wasn't a digital double. Stuntman Damien Walters performed a 125-foot freefall, which was one of the highest jumps by a stuntman in almost 35 years.
When you see the cast running across those Spanish rooftops, there's a weight to it. The dust is real. The sweat is real. This wasn't shot on a green screen in a parking lot. They went to Malta. They went to Spain. The production value was massive, and the cast's commitment to the physicality of the roles is the one area where the movie truly excels.
Practical takeaways for fans and collectors
If you're revisiting the movie because of the cast, keep a few things in mind to actually enjoy the experience:
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- Watch the "Spanish Inquisition" scenes as a standalone short film. Honestly, if you edit just the Aguilar sequences together, you have one of the best action movies of the decade.
- Look for the Easter eggs. The movie is packed with weapons from the games. In the Abstergo weapon room, you can see the bows, swords, and hidden blades of previous protagonists like Ezio and Connor.
- Appreciate the costume design. Sammy Sheldon Differ designed the robes to be historically accurate to the period while keeping the iconic silhouette. The detail in the embroidery on Fassbender’s suit is insane.
The Assassins Creed movie cast did their job. They showed up, they performed, and they treated the source material with a level of respect usually reserved for Shakespeare. The fact that the movie didn't launch a massive franchise isn't on them—it's a case study in how even the best actors can't outrun a script that forgets to let the audience have a little bit of fun.
If you really want to see these actors at their best, watch them in the 2015 Macbeth. It’s the same director, the same leads, and the same dark, gritty aesthetic, but with a story that actually knows what to do with them. Otherwise, treat the Assassin’s Creed movie as a gorgeous, well-acted curiosity in the history of gaming cinema.
To get the most out of the lore, track down the "official movie novelization" by Christie Golden. It actually includes several scenes that were cut from the film that explain the motivations of Sofia and Callum much better than the theatrical release did. Seeing the internal monologues of the characters played by Fassbender and Cotillard adds a layer of nuance that was unfortunately left on the cutting room floor.