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Everything the Assassin's Creed movie trailer tells us

Dive in to our breakdown.

The Assassin's Creed movie now has its first trailer, which shows off Michael Fassbender's main character, the film's present day and historical storylines plus a brooding Jeremy Irons.

The movie will tell a new story set within the main Assassin's Creed universe.

That said, it looks like the first Assassin's Creed game will serve as a major inspiration.

For example, both AC1 and the film star a young man (in AC1, Desmond; in the film, Fassbender's Callum Lynch) kidnapped from his everyday life by the mysterious Abstergo and placed in one of their sci-fi Animus machines to access the memories of an ancestor. The project is overseen by Abstergo boss Alan Rikkin and a young female lab technician.

The action then moves into the past, where the main character's distant ancestor is an Assassin (capital letter). The Assassin rights some wrongs and hangs out with his Brotherhood. After too much time in the Animus, the Bleeding Effect (don't ask) takes hold and the modern day descendant begins to gain Assassin capabilities. He then tries to escape.

Here's the trailer, with our notes below:

Cover image for YouTube videoAssassin's Creed - Trailer World Premiere

It's not particularly surprising that Ubisoft has stuck with a familiar formula - the trailer feels very Assassin's Creed, right down to that final Leap of Faith swan dive (although we don't see any haycarts).

And there are added wrinkles - Marion Cotillard's character is also Rikkin's daughter.

Rikkin - who has appeared in various AC games - has never been properly fleshed out, and hopefully there's some scope for Irons to bring something a little more rounded to the, so far, one-dimensional baddie.

A couple of changes to the lore have Fassbender strapped into a robotic arm while in the Animus. It makes the whole experience more visual for the big screen and you can sort of see how it works - when he moves in his version of the past he also moves in real life. Although how it copes with Assassin dives off huge buildings is anyone's guess.

Fassbender also wears a dual Hidden Blade - the Assassin stabby gauntlets - while in the Animus, too. Again, this is likely more just a visual change, although not one that makes a whole lot of sense. He's not dressed in a hood in modern day, either.

Aguilar, Callum Lynch's 15th century Spanish ancestor, already appears to be part of the Brotherhood - just as Altaïr was in AC1.

Broody McBrooderface.
The Assassin's Eagle motif.
We've seen the Matrix too.

Here's Maria, played by French actress Ariane Labed, a fellow Assassin.

Is she a love interest and/or friend who gets stabbed in the back? Is she Danny Wallace in disguise?

No idea who these chaps are - the Spanish king, perhaps? But they don't look like good guys.
A guy about to get a blade in the neck. This aerial assassination move is straight out of the games.

The last few sequences shown in the trailer look like they are from later on in the film. Abstergo guards march grumpily through the facility where Fassbender is being held.

Oops! Fassbender is free and now appears to have learnt how to use a bow and arrow - presumably through the Bleeding Effect. Or he just really likes Katniss from the Hunger Games.

He's being backed up by what looks like a squad of modern day Assassins. Presumably they come to his rescue?

Not seen in the trailer is Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, Mad-Eye in Harry Potter), who's playing Fassbender's modern day father. If the film follows the plot of the AC game series in this regard too, he may be an important character.

Assassin's Creed the movie is out this December, while the game franchise takes a year off to regroup and get a soft-reboot. Meanwhile, there's already talk of Fassbender being back for a movie sequel.