I went to see this at the cinemas tonight as The Mortal Instruments seems to be the new promising movie sequel, and at first I thought 'Here comes another twilight saga with the love triangle and monsters' but the film has many variations from the other typical story lines with added twists and turns that will ensure a few gasps from viewers. As I have read all The Mortal Instrument books by Cassandra Clare, I'll admit I was keen to see the film and see how it compared. And thought I may as well take my mum to see it for some family film bonding. After asking for my mum's opinion after we saw it, this is what she had to say - "Had a good storyline with a fantastic twist at the end. I especially liked the special effects when the rottweiler turned into a demon with the sound effects *chuc a chuc a cucha*" and yes she actually made that noise when describing what she thought.
So this is the tale of a young girl called Clary Fray who thought she was just an ordinary human girl or Cassandra Clare names a 'mundane' but it turns out that she is anything but normal as she is in fact a shadowhunter. For those that do not know, a shadow hunter is a line of people created by the angel Raziel that protect the world from evil beings from demons to down worlders to shadow hunters gone astray to the dark side. Clary's mum had erased her memory's in order to protect her from seeing the things that us humans cannot see and inevitably being a shadow hunter. All Clary has is her mum, her mum's friend called Luke Garroway thats adopted the father role and her best friend Simon that is secretly in love with her. I say secretly but it is very plain and obvious, she is the only one who cannot see it. After going to a night club Clary see's shadow hunters killing a demon and begins to draw runes which turns out to be a special gift she has. This is where the story gets going with her life completely changes within a day.
After her mother is taken by Valentine's henchmen (Valentine is a shadow hunter turned bad), Clary is then introduced properly to Jace and the two lightwoods - Alec and Isabelle at the institute which is like a safe haven place for their race. In a mission to find the mortal cup which is one of the mortal instruments that created them and that Clary's mother hid in a bid to stop Valentine who she was one married to and turns out to be Clary's father, not a very caring one as he cares for nothing but power. Clary and Jace fall in love with each other much to Simon's dismay and you cannot help but feel sorry for him and his geeky ways, and the five of them: Alec, Isabelle, Clary, Jace and Simon go through different lots of distressing situations from Magnus Bane's party, to a vampire facedown at the Hotel Dumont, to facing a greater demon in the form of Clary's neighbour who has become posessed all these life threatening adventures should potentially have you on the edge of your seat wondering if the'll come out alive but for me it was pretty clear they would all survive. Then comes the final showdown between werewolves, Valentine, Hodge, the group of five and a whole lot of demons at the institute where lots of stuff goes down. Valentine tells Jace and Clary that they are both his children and therefore brother and sister cue the heartbreak and impossible relationship between the two of them. It is revealed in the film that this is actually a lie however the characters do not know this so begins the secrets and lies theme. This could potentially anger fans of the book as the film approached this plot twist in a different way than the book, another change from the book is that in the film Valentine is given a replica mortal cup whereas in the book he escapes with the real thing. This could make the next film more complex or more intriguing depending which way you want to look at it. You can't please them all!
I think the chemistry between Jace and Clary played by Jamie Campbell Bower and Lily Collins was well done and very believable as they managed to portray the sexiness and mysterious nature of the characters complex relationship of not knowing how the other one feels but both longing for each other. The film's use of establishing shots was immense with the powerful settings creating just the right atmosphere and mood for the scenes to play out. The Mortal Instruments special effects were spot on with the huge range of demons they created that were so close to being realistic, if you saw these creatures in the flesh there is no doubt you would run away screaming. City of Bones contained the right amount of action, romance and fantasy setting to keep you watching and enjoying the film. I'll admit at some points I did find the plot to be slow moving but I understand the need to explain the storyline to viewers, as I had read the books I didn't need the extra background information so it felt unnecessary to rehash things over and over. Overall I think the casting was perfect with them doing the characters justice, the plot of a world within a world is one that may fascinate and draw in a large audience. So good luck to this new film franchise! I will be coming to see City of Ashes.
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