Movie Review: MORTAL INSTRUMENTS

Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (2013)
Starring Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Zegers, Jemima West, Robert Sheehan, Godfrey Gao, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Directed by Harald Zwart.

Genre: urban fantasy YA

About Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (2013):

Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother (Lena Headey), Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures. Based on the worldwide best-selling book series. Written by Sony Pictures Entertainment

Source: Info in the About Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (2013) was taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1538403/ on 24/08/2013.

Movie Trailer:

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Review:

I love the world building in the story! Sure, it is recycled, still fantastic though. But the plot depended loosely on the characters acting stupid to give the story a bit more drama. Not the most sturdy of plots. Clary Fray and Jocelyn Fray are just this side of stupid and quite annoying to watch. It makes me wanna shake them and scream for them to use the brains they were born with. Not having read the book yet, it made me wonder if they are even more stupid in the book than they are in the movie... it does not encourage me to read the book after that thought... And then as if that is not enough, the scenes just looked too contrived. It wasn't very convincing. So you have big, scary demons bearing down on you, so everybody takes 5 minutes to look at each other and look dreamy??? WTF?! If it was in "slow motion" to give a scene emphasis, yes, that I could buy. But the actors to act in slow motion? What was that all about?!? Brought the suspension of disbelief down to the boots! It makes me hope that the next Mortal Instruments movie would NOT be directed by Harald Zwart again because this obviously shows that he does not pay that much attention to detail. Or it could be a lack in the talent department. Either way, he ruins what should have been a good movie. I don't even blame Lily Collins for not giving her character a very convincing performance seeing that she is suppose to be stupid and Harald Zwart for a director. She is beautiful though. Her acting is just not as good as her looks. Now, Jonathan Rhys Meyers... he makes a very good villain! The movie makers got that one right! Another thing this movie aced is the cinematography. They have the most talented CGI (computer generated imagery) team ever! The mixing of the CGI effects and live actors/physical set was seamless! The paranormal elements of the story was brought to life in fantastic ways on the silver screen! And I think that was the best feature of this film.

Empirical Evaluation:
Cinematography = 5
Script/Story Itself = 2
Ending = 3
World building = 4.5
Attention To Detail = 1.5
Plot = 2
Acting = 3

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries

The book from which the movie was based from:

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Book 1 of the Mortal Instruments series
Genre: urban fantasy YA

About City of Bones:

Don’t miss The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, soon to be a major motion picture in theaters August 2013!

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Source: Info in the About City of Bones was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256683.City_of_Bones on 24/08/2013.