Assassin's Creed: Lineage (2009– )

The story is a prequel to the video game Assassin's Creed II. It centres around the father of the game's main character Ezio Auditore de Firenze. Giovanni is an assassin living during the ... See full summary »

Stars:

Romano Orzari, Claudia Ferri, Devery Jacobs

Cast

Series cast summary:
Romano Orzari	...	Giovanni Auditore (3 episodes, 2009)
Claudia Ferri	...	Maria Auditore (3 episodes, 2009)
Devery Jacobs	...	Claudia Auditore (3 episodes, 2009)

Storyline

The story is a prequel to the video game Assassin's Creed II. It centres around the father of the game's main character Ezio Auditore de Firenze. Giovanni is an assassin living during the Renaissance in 15th century Italy. At this dawn of a new era, a conspiracy is being plotted by one corrupt family to overthrow the powerful Medici family and destroy a unified Italy. As an assassin, Giovanni must face this threat and bring justice. The story introduces the situation before Assassin's Creed II, and the enemies of both characters.

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Plot Keywords:

assassin | italy | renaissance | 15th century | prequel | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure

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Details

Country:

France Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 October 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Assassin's Creed: Rodowód

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hybride Technologie, Ubisoft Digital Arts (UDA), Ubisoft

Technical Specs

Runtime:

36 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Spin-off Assassin's Creed II (2009)

User Reviews

Renaissance of film-making?

...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.