There is something so resonant about Oliver Stone’s movies. He usually has something to say with each of them. Many of his contemporaries choose to explore subjects closer to home, or even fantastical, he chooses to look hard into uncomfortable spaces. Much of what he looks at is both unnerving and introspective. His contemporaries like De Palma and Coppola look for escapism or what they see as real people. He speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves.

His movies peer into subject matters that speak for the scarred veteran whose wounds are both external and internal as in Born On The 4^Th Of July.  Then there is the actual war effort, where many young men, still trying to figure out their way in the world, often are confronted with life and death choices as was seen in Full Metal Jacket. There was always a truth to be found in all of his movies, something many young filmmakers strive to look for. In a tale told in the same setting as many of Stone’s movies are, we find a young assassin looking for truth in the place of his fallen brethren in the Vietnam War in the story, Assassin’s Creed: Bloodstone.

We meet Tomo, a young man in 2000, where his father is the leader of the guild in Kyushu , Japan, and the Templars has just suffered a betrayal by one of its own, making every Templar leader both cautious and fortified to face what threats may come. They are attacked by the scorned Templar, taking out dozens of their people, forcing Tomo and his father to flee for safety. Fast forward to 2017, and Tomo is undercover with the Yakuza trying to trace the scorned templar, Maxime Gorm, who seems to be hiding in Switzerland. Tomo heads to Switzerland, where he finds Elisa Adler, Gorman’s daughter and maybe the answer to why they killed Tomo’s mother.  Soon the trail that Tomo is following leads him to some secret CIA operations during the Vietnam War, where they were working a mind-control machine based on ancient artifacts.  He soon finds out through a memory machine that the Templars use, that not everything as was written is what it seems, and as he continues to use it, he delves into the minds and memories of Templars past, especially those who were on the Bloodstone mission. As we find out that the mission became bigger than the people they worked for, eventually killing a President as part of the mission. By story’s end, Tomo gets close to Gorm, but leaves him for dead and looks to use the same memory revival technology to bring back more Templars.

Overall, an action-packed thriller that feels like a cross between Homecoming and Homeland. The story Guillaume Dorison is enthralling and well developed. The art by Ennio Bufi is gorgeous. Altogether, a story that shows sins of the past sometimes finds their way to the present.

Story: Guillaume Dorison Art: Ennio Bufi
Story: 9.4 Art: 9.3 Overall: 9.5 Recommendation: Buy