Review of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) by Jed G — 03 Aug 2014

Oh so many things wrong with this film. I loved the books, I know they're cheesy and formulaic, but I enjoyed them and found them addictive. So I was very disappointed with the film.

The script was dull. There were a few good scenes, mostly the comic ones, but lots of it was just boring. It's action packed, but no suspense. The dialogue was patchy too - some great lines, although most of the good stuff was right out of the books. At times I was cringeing at the tacky, trashy dialogue.

Plot changes - don't mind changes to the book if they work, but some of the changes didn't really make much sense - get the feeling they think the audience is too dumb to notice.

I thought they made a few miscastings:-.

- bloke playing Alec looks way too old. In the books he's 18, a young boy struggling with his sexuality - it's not going to work if he looks late twenties. He seems like a decent actor, just not right for this part.

- Jace - too restrained and boring. They need to inject some life into him. Has decent comic timing and he got a few good lines...and some terrible ones.

Magnus - what were they thinking with that outfit he was wearing at the party, it was horrendous, he always looked outrageous but good in my head. The actor looks the part (apart from that outfit), but his acting was a bit hammy. Magnus is a big character in the books, needs a very good actor to do it justice and it doesn't look like this guy is up to it.

- Clary's eyebrows - nitpicking here, but that girl is very obviously not a natural redhead. Hair and makeup people pleeease sort out the dye-job for the next film if there is one!

It felt like a low budget kids film, thrown together with very little care, affection or ambition. It was cringefully cheesy at times, that scene with the flowers on the roof was like something out of a Disney cartoon.

Not so sure about the chemistry between Jace and Clary, which is a flaw that could kill off the later films. Hope they've tested that out for the other characters who get together over the next few films.

If they make another one, I hope they make a bit more of all the geeky comic, anime and pop culture references, make it slightly cooler than just yet another boring teen romance with vampires.