Review of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) by Zoe F — 27 Dec 2013

The first thing that I want to say is that I am a die-hard Cassandra Clare fan. But that doesn't mean that I can't accept some of the issues that this movie had.

The first big problem I had were the issues relating to the flow of time, particularly during the beginning, when characters and plot lines where first being established. Jace's introduction happened very quickly, and didn't really allow the audience to connect with the character. The same can be said for the Lightwood siblings. For those who don't know who they are, fear not, because I'm pretty sure that their last name isn't even mentioned. (They're the two black haired one's that are running around with Jace) Same for Alec, who isn't introduced apart from Clary mentioning that he hates her, and Isabelle, who's name is only used in passing. The way that the characters themselves were portrayed left something to be desired as well. Isabelle was too centred and mature -she was missing the spontaneity, recklessness, excitement and blatant disregard for anyone else that Izzy originally had-, Jace was in no way as sarcastic as he is in the book, Valentine to aggressive and physically overpowering. Valentine was probably my biggest disappointment. In the desire to have a villain worthy of Hollywood, the producers ignored the minute details of the character. Let's just remember that in the book, Valentine loved Jace and spent the better part of their time together throughout the series trying to convince him to join the Circle. That plan does not include beating the crap out of him in the Institute or making him feel angry and hateful.

But these are more problems with the script and production then the actors playing them. Hats off to Lily Collins in particular, who was the Clary that many of us had pictured as we read the books. She was Clary Fray in as perfect a version as we were ever likely to get. Jonathan Rhys Meyers superb portrayal of Valentine Morgenstern was undermined by the fact that the Valentine in the movies was so very different to the leader of the Circle that avid fans had grown to love. Robert Sheehan, Kevin Zegers and Jemima West all did brilliantly in their roles as well. I think that the only member of the cast that might have missed the mark was Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace. While he did the best that he could given that the script left out large parts of this character, he was missing that edge, the snark and sarcasm that had literary fangirls weak at the knees. The adaptation to movie has seen yet another leading man of a hit book series turned into a generic hero-clone. Personally, I reckon that Bower may have been drawing too much inspiration from his days as a Twilight actor.

There were also problems with plot details being revealed too early on. (SPOILERS AHEAD) The introduction of such things as Valentines work with Demon-blood, come to light in the third book in the series. Some other characters, such as Raphael, didn't get any introduction. They might have some problems when it comes time to make the sequel.

But all of those issues - and I know that it's quite a list - still don't detract form the fact that I loved the movie. Even with issues of timing, the sense of magic and wonderment permeated the whole thing. This movie will do well with people who haven't read the books, as the story it tells is totally different from the one originally written by Clare. This movie works well on it own. It's real failings are only apparent when it's compared to it's source material. This is evidenced by the fact the Clare's books are some of the most highly rated and best-selling in recent memory, gaining a huge fan-following and a fandom that outshines Twihards and is on par with Whovians, and is gaining the same reputation as Potterheads (although I don't think there's a fandom alive that can beat them).

And if I have to read one more review about how this a cheap Twilight knockoff, I will find whoever wrote that and bitch-slap the hell out of you. The two stories cannot be compared. They deal with different issues, have different plot-lines, and regardless of what anyone else says, the characters are nowhere near the same.

5 stars to City of Bones as far as I'm concerned.