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The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones Review


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Fans of Cassandra Clare's book series won't mind that this film is overcrowded and chaotic, but the uninitiated will be worn out by what feels like a superficial mash-up of leather-clad stereotypes. Director Zwart (who remade The Karate Kid) certainly creates a lively sense of energy, zipping through each scene as if he's trying to cram every moment in the book into two hours. But as a result, nothing grabs hold.

Our hero is Clary (Collins), a New York teen whose mother (Headey) never told her that she was a Shadowhunter, a half-angel whose job is to protect humanity from demons. But just as she meets goth dreamboat Shadowhunter Jace (Campbell Bower), her mom is kidnapped. So she and her best pal Simon (Sheehan), who has a secret crush on her, travel with Jace into the city's underworld of angels, demons, werewolves and vampires. At the secret Shadowhunter headquarters, she meets leader Hodge (Harris) as well as siblings Alec and Isabelle (Zegers and West). And everyone warns her about the villainous Valentine (Meyers), who has some sort of nefarious master plan involving Clary and her magical cup.

The film is structured as a series of quests, as Clary learns about her supernatural abilities by visiting the City of Bones under a cemetery, breaking into a church to collect a stash of demon-fighting weapons, consulting with a variety of magical creatures, and so on. But these individual sequences never quite connect together into a story with any momentum. It's simply impossible to get involved in these events without being able to identify with the characters, none of whom are properly developed. Obviously, readers of the books won't have this problem, but such a fragmented film is unlikely to draw new fans to the franchise.

Continue reading: The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones Review

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Trailer


Clary Fray has been made to live as a normal girl all her life with her mother making sure she never discovers who she truly is. However, when she watches a man getting slaughtered in a nightclub and seemingly is the only one who notices, she starts to suspect that there's more to the world than most people can see. The killer is a man called Jace who reveals himself as a Shadowhunter; a half-angel demon slayer with the power to make himself invisible to the Mundane (humans). Soon, Clary discovers that her mother is in grave danger having been brutally kidnapped from their home and she finds out that her mother is also a Shadowhunter who has been having Clary's memories of unusual happenings blocked all her life. Clary must embrace her true identity and help Jace and the other Shadowhunters in the battle to maintain the balance of good and evil and return her mother back to her.

Here comes the latest teen fantasy movie adaptation in the shape of 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones'. Based on the first book of a series by Cassandra Clare, the movie has been directed by Harald Zwart ('The Karate Kid' [2010], 'Agent Cody Banks') and written by I. Marlene King ('Just My Luck', 'Now and Then') and Jessica Postigo in her screenwriting debut. It is due to hit screens on August 23rd 2013.

Director: Harald Zwart

Continue: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Trailer

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The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Movie Review

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Movie Review

Fans of Cassandra Clare's book series won't mind that this film is overcrowded and chaotic,...

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Trailer

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Trailer

Clary Fray has been made to live as a normal girl all her life with...

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