The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

Good movie but grossly overrated

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I found this movie a great one! It had a great storyline, and I liked how the reality was formed into the story, where Clary couldn't see the world as it was after what had passed between her and Jace. However, I personally do not believe them to be related, for the storyline would be too cliche in my opinion. That is exactly why I adored how Clary just steps onto the bike with Jace and they ride into the distance, without any clearance of what would be in store for them and their relationship in future. I close off with what has been said before, I really enjoyed the movie.

- - This review may contain a few minor spoilers - - - In my opinion this is quite a fantastic adaptation of Cassandra Clare's first book in the The Mortal Instrument series. It's fast-paced and full of everything that makes Fantasy fun: friendship, betrayal, magical creatures, witches, the struggle between good and evil although those are sometimes not easily identified... Lily Collins - though lacking book-Clary's signature flaming red hair - is a perfect cast for the character of Clary and funnily enough after watching Aidan Turner's performance as a vampire in "Being Human" I thought he would be perfect for the role of the werewolf Luke. Cudos to the casting director, he truly found the perfect actor for each role and the chemistry between Clary/Jace and Luke/Jocelyn (even if they got very little screen time together) was superb. I also enjoyed that the characters all really had their own distinct voice and personality. Jace's arrogance and hidden vulnerability really came through in Jamie Campbell Bower's performance and the same goes Clary, whose bravery and determination were great fun to watch. You go, girl! All in all this adaptation is pretty true to the books with a few minor changes as those scenes or plot lines would have not translated to the screen too well. I was impressed by the cinematography and the contrast between modern NYC and the Shadowhunters' medieval kind of world and lifestyle. Fortunately the vomit-inducing incest storyline was basically capped from the movie (or at least we know what was what from the get-go unlike in the books).As with most movies this one had a few flaws as well. The screenwriter apparently did NOT understand how the portal worked! Valentine reaching out from beyond it was a cheap horror movie moment that was both point- and senseless. What is going to happen with Simon now that he was bitten? This should have been explained. I'm also disappointed they cut one of my favorite characters from the movie: Raphael Santiago. Not that it actually matters since there won't be a second movie unfortunately. If you paid attention to the background story/flashback scenes you understood why Valentine was adamant Clary drink his blood from the Mortal Cup but I think this may have been confusing for those who didn't read the books. The same goes for Clary's talent to create runes, which admittedly isn't explained in book #1 but on screen this suddenly appearing talent seemed just like bad writing. They needed to somehow magically turn the tables during the end fight and then voilá, Clary discovers this previously never mentioned or explained talent to save the day. I would have loved to see the original trilogy adapted completely. The TV show is so poorly produced, the acting so sub-par and the entire story only loosely based on the books anymore that I couldn't get through more than a few episodes.

Okay taboo to review this film as a fan but honestly don't hate it. From a visual point of view anyway. And yes I've read the books and yes I've watched the TV show (total waste of time. Complete trash). This film falls into a franchise pit of money. They wanted to sell this to all audiences and appeal to people who weren't fans and in doing so f#*ked up the content. The film itself is visually stunning. The cinematography. The costumes. The props. The settings. They are all what you picture when you read the books and picture the Shadowhunter world. The aesthetics are spot on. And my god the score of this film is amazing. But the acting leaves something to be desired mainly down to the scriptwriter who could write nothing but cheese. Pacing was clunky and they tried to cram too much into 2 hours. It just wasn't well thought out. Had they cared about the content or characters this film could have been amazing. It had so much potential but instead it's another franchise that fell through the cracks of the money grabbing film industry

I cannot fathom all the criticism of this film. The actors are beautiful and touching and connected in their characterisation. It is worth watching the movie just to see their faces that are sensitive to every nuance of the interactions. Each scene is carefully crafted and is a masterpiece. The lead actors Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower are a work of art.The film is 'busy' admittedly but not hard to follow. I never lost track. The creativity in every scene is beautiful. Watch it a second times and it is even more stunningly captivating.So superior to the TV series in every way......