Review of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) by Maksim B — 29 Apr 2014

Generic and totally sharp-less, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is yet another attempt to start a young adult movie franchise, based on a famous teen series or novels. As most similar attempts for a new Twilight or Harry Potter-like franchise, City of Bones is a fiction filled with plot holes, annoying leading performances and even worse: lack of any originality. With occasional laughs, mediocre action sequences and a decent level of mysticism it would probably manage to partially entertain viewers in the early teens, but to the rest it would be a clichéd teen movie.

In an attempt to create a clash between the living world and the world of dead, director Harald Zwart (Pink Panther 2; The Karate Kid) takes the audience on an overlong 130-minute trip in which a supposedly normal girl discovers that she is actually quite gifted and gets herself dragged into a war between demon and demon-slayers protecting the world of the living. This all seems intriguing for a young adolescent, even for adults. Yet, the biggest problem of City of Bones is the simple fact that director Zwart's delivery is completely unfocused.

Torn between three different sub-plot lines: the fight demons vs. demon-slayers; Clary (Lilly Collins) vs. parents relationship and the "romance triangle" between Clary, Jace (Jamie Bower) and Simon (Robert Sheehan) water down the whole focus of City of Bones. As a result of this The Mortal Instruments never really reach a level which could actually thrill the audiences. Sadly, it had the potential to do it, but never materialized it. With Lilly Collins and Jamie Bower (if you exclude the "romance sequences") leading, this movie has a more likeable and action oriented cast than for example the annoying one of Twilight. Add up the initially dark, gothic premise of the movie and you would have a potential that deserved to be developed in a better way.

Unfortunately (and most expectedly), The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is one of those young adult wanna-be-franchise-starters, which would not only be forgotten shortly after seeing them, but also would be a financial and critical bomb. If you are a die-hard fan of the young-adult-novels-to-movies genre, then you would be pleased with City of Bones; if you hated Twilight and similar deliveries, then it would be better to skip this one.