Seems a bit desperate to say that something is the "last hope" of a genre, but I think it's safe to say that the video-game-based part of the film industry is something that has been...lacking...since it's inception. Wreck-It Ralph doesn't count because it isn't technically based on any existing IP, it just has cameos from certain games or characters that do little to advance the story (although Ralph does get overly jealous when Pac-Man shows up, so, maybe that's not entirely true). Point is that video game movies are terrible, and Assassin's Creed is the last straw either way.
Now, there will be some among you, and many more on the Internet, who think that this isn't the final straw. That there's hope for a "Call of Duty" or "Uncharted" movie to come out and fix all of these things, maybe show that there is room for innovation. I'd be inclined to agree with you except for 1) "Call of Duty" can probably be substitued for any other war movie and 2) Games like "Uncharted" are so cinematic in quality anyway that you're essentially playing through the events of a movie.
The inherent problem with developing a modern videogame into a film is how large they've become. Gone are the days where you just walk along the critical path to victory. Games like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the "Fallout" series show us that the world of a videogame goes beyond the critical path (sometimes that outer world is even better than the critical path).
So where does Assassin's Creed fall in all of this? Well, the game is always focused around getting the character to the proper place in the story while also opening up the world at large. Because the game often focuses on an Assassin that's either down-on-their-luck, rising to power, or isolated in a region with little outside support, the open world mechanic makes that much more sense. They alone have to work to make their presence known. By that same hand, they have to complete their ultimate goal of the game. Sometimes in games I've felt it strange that I can do a million different side-quests and only a day has passed in the real-time, but with this series it makes sense. Fast-travel is a mechanic that, honestly, has to be implored. You can't just go from Damascus to Jerusalem in ten minutes. Doesn't happen like that.
Assassin's Creed the movie has to strike that same gameplay mechanic that the games obviously do. It needs to give us an idea of the world while also isolating us into the setting. We know that the main character, Aguilar, doesn't work alone. That's fine, we've seen examples of this (Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood/ Revelations, Assassin's Creed Syndicate), but there is always a focus on the main lead(s) we're following. I doubt the movie is going to go off on a random subplot in the past for a good portion of the film unless it's to get an idea to set the character back on "the critical path" of the movie.
The main worry that a lot of people are having is the balance between the present-day and memory aspects of the story.
If you're unfamiliar with the structure of the series, here it is: Abstergo Industries, a front for the malevolent Knight's Templar, have found a way to tap into the memories of certain individuals and use these memories as research, discovering where they went, what they saw, who they encountered. Through this, they've managed to locate dozens of "Pieces of Eden," which are tools from a long-lost civilization that formed thousands of years before Mesopotamia was even a thing.
Because of this, the player finds themselves in a small mission in the present as well as a much larger mission in the past: to locate the Piece of Eden. The present-day material, while pretty vital to the overall plot, has often taken a backseat so that we can see the innovative new characters in certain periods of time. Most of the side-story video-games (Assassin's Creed: Chronicles) take place almost exclusively to the past to allow these characters to be fleshed out.
As you can see, there is worry to be had. While this all seems simple to explain online in a text-based format, it's going to be a little more difficult to do in a film, where they're appealing to an audience beyond just fans of the series or fans of gaming in general, but the general audiences. I've explained the basic premise before, but that was all without detailing the finer points of the Animus, how the technology works, and without chronicling the history of the series up to this point (not to mention how the movie may or may not affect the ongoing Phoenix Project storyline).
Another thing to throw gas on the fire is the ongoing rumor that the film takes place 70% in the present and only 30% in the past. To be fair that's still around forty or so minutes of screentime dedicated to what will likely be a ton of action, but like I've said: the mass appeal of the games lies within the material in the past, meaning that most of the appeal is non-existent.
I've always enjoyed the plots of the present day and found them to be just as interesting as what was going on in the past. Perhaps that's because we get little of it over the course of the games, but perhaps it's because I want to see how these shadow organizations can exist in today's world. It's what made the present-day element of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag so much fun: we got to see the evil industry operate under the guise of a game-development company! That's so fun. In the movie it looks like we'll be going back to basics, with the idea of Abstergo plucking Assassin's off the streets and revealing "hey, your memories are the key to using items of GOD so yeah." It was a big deal in the first game and will be just as big here (in fact, in the original Assassin's Creed I always wanted more from the present-day to understand just what the hell was going on).
But why is this the last hope? Why this series, which is complicated enough as a video-game?
Well I think it's because we know that games are evolving. They don't need a movie to be more cinematic. Metal Gear has been doing this since the beginning. Dark Souls is one of the largest, most in-depth stories I've ever encountered. Many games nowadays can construct a world so believable and alive that it rivals other mediums, much like how a comic can suck you into a brand new world with just twenty pages.
Not to mention that this is just a failed part of the industry financially. Sure in China freaking Warcraft was killer, but domestically, it bombed pretty hard. Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are enjoyed ironically nowadays, but aren't the greatest financial successes. It's tough to appeal to a major market when some of these games are made for a niche market. Assassin's Creed has the fortune of wrapping in history, gaming, and fantasy geeks under one umbrella, but now they have to make a story that appeals to everyone.
Another problem is that Assassin's Creed, while not the most unique thing, is pretty much it's own thing. Not many games or stories are executed quite like it, where you take the role of two main characters in two completely separate time periods that are fighting for the same goal. Uncharted is, at it's core, an "Indiana Jones" story. The Last of Us is a survival story. And while there's nothing inherently wrong with that, it's again the idea of "been there done that."
If Assassin's Creed fails, either critically or financially, then it should spell the end of an era in Hollywood. This should be the signal that there can truly be no successful video-game movie. Assassin's Creed has lost steam in recent years due to controversy and an overall feeling of lost quality (that I thought was regained with Syndicate but whatever) and this is a film to revamp the franchise. This is a big movie. The trailers have done little to get me excited, mostly because I know what's probably going to happen, but I've heard some good buzz recently about it, both from people just talking about the movie as well as some recent feedback for the film.
I do want it to succeed because I want something to show that video-game-based IPs can work as films, you just have to be smart and innovative about what you're doing. It's all about adaptation and development, folks.
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