The Mortal Instruments: La Cité des ténèbres

In the tradition of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson etc. the Canadians have started a series of films based on Mortal Instruments. This first in the series, City Of Bones has a strong resemblance to the quest for the Holy Grail in modern times.

Young Lily Collins when her mother disappears she discovers that she's a belongs to a group of demon hunters and these demons seem to be everywhere. Among the great unwashed of Mundanes which is what these kids call the vast rest of us here on earth.

These demon hunters led by the leather clad Jamie Campbell Bower search in and among us Mundanes for demons. Lily makes their acquaintance when after going to a Goth type club she sees a murder no one else sees. It's Bower and he's done in a demon. After that mom disappears and Lily joins Bower and his crew searching for the Cup of Immortality which mom very skillfully hid.

I see already another film is in the works for this series. City Of Bones was nicely done with an attractive cast. But it will have to go some to reach the popularity of Harry Potter or Twilight.

I wanted to enjoy this movie, I really did. However a very annoying lead character coupled with a below average direction made it really difficult for me.

The story is the classical teen who discovers she has special powers. They probably are trying all of these movies with female leads as to attract the female audience to the productive teen fantasy movie segment. Yet, of course, the chick needs at least two guys fawning over her and protecting her until she finds out how awesome she really is. That's really lame. This year is the year of witches, all movies and series have to have one, this is one of those films.

Anyway, back to the story. Lena Headey is the mother of a freak again, married with a weirdo again, widowed again. The casting holes actors fall in these days are really specific, aren't they? The plot proceeds like a mix of Harry Potter finding he is a wizard and the Twilight love triangle ... err... angle. There is even a medieval castle in the middle of New York (that, of course, people cannot see).

Bad people are after the main character, of course, but one of them is Kevin Durand in a really tiny role. Give that guy a break, man, he is too cool for these evil henchman roles!

Since I watched Twilight and I watched Harry Potter and I can safely say I wasn't terribly impressed, but I enjoyed myself, it would have been expected to at least enjoy this film as well, but I couldn't. The love scenes are ridiculous, the fight scenes don't make sense, the magical scenes either (check out the one when they battle demons, she freezes them up, and then they try to move around them rather than just kill them like they would do just a few seconds later when the demons unfreeze) and some of the roles in the movie are really confusing, like the one of the great warlock that seems to know all, appear out of nowhere when you need him and everybody trusts him.

The acting wasn't bad, but the direction and individual scenes were clumsy and sometimes outright bad. I have no choice but to rate it a failure.

Wow i've never read the books on this film but what I stunning visual film this was, right from the start it throw you into a world of mystery that open up to a whole new world of beauty & darkness as the story is revealed. I will say tho this film might not be for everyone as it does come across as a Gothic teen feel to the film which is a cross between i'am number four & the seeker: dark is rising, but with a much better storyline & concept. I love the storyline & concept of this film, mundane , born human with immense power half angel/half human shadow hunters guardian of the light against the dark, this is what fantasy film's are all about. Lily Collins who plays Clary, wow she looking so beautiful in this film & a brilliantly done performance from her with her character as she really shows motion & believable character as she come to term with her destiny as a shadow hunter when she see things that go beyond reality.Like I said before this film is visually stunning with special effect & concept, the special effect on the face change was brilliant don't to show a dark horror tone to the demons as well as the beauty of the garden at midnight. The action scenes were fair there are a few moments where it does get a little slow but it acceptable as you don't fall asleep or get board of watch it because it does throw you into special scenes where things get interesting. I also love the back story of the angel warrior Azazel who gave his own blood to create the mundane to protect the world from demons. Like I said before a well this film won't be for everyone if you like the dark fantasy films this film you will probably like, but if not your going to find this film is bad or sucks because it won't be your type of film. But it worth watching & making it a part of the DVD collection. Dislikes : There wasn't much in describing the demonic world other than that there are people that have been taken over by demons that was the only thing I kind of felt should of gone more in depth with since the concept of the film is about a war between the light & dark but if you can over see this then you find this film brilliantly done.

I just got done watching a midnight showing of City of Bones. First off I will say that I am a fan of the series and I will try to make this review as middle ground as possible.

I have spent the last few days reading over threads on the discussion board and once the critics reviews came out I read most of those too. Yes I know a lot were negative and abrasive, and sometimes even childish in their mockery of the young adult genre. I went into this movie as open-minded as possible knowing that there were some changes made to the film.

Firstly, several reviews, both good and bad, had issues with the pacing. The time line is very condensed at the start of the film so things do seem to be happening in a whirlwind. This is because they condensed a few of the events from the novel into a shorter time span to enable the movie not to drawl on and be way too long. I didn't mind how they chose to change things up a bit and thought they tied things together fairly well. I just could see it being a bit hard to follow for the non fans that don't know what was cut out.

I was worried about the romance being played up too much since some reviews were so caught up in the triangle. It was a small part of the bigger story much like in the book. Parts of it did come off a bit cheesy, but overall it did not overpower the movie like I thought it was.

I really enjoyed the action sequences. They weren't too short or too long and I felt they were well coordinated. There's definitely enough action for the guys that will be dragged to this with their girlfriends.

Some of the changes will probably be unsettling to the fans or upsetting because more of the film was different than I was warned or expected. Many reviewers were adamant that it kept to the book most of the time, but I would say it was a pretty even mix.

Like most fans I had a certain idea how some scenes or characters would be and I felt a little let down because characters weren't how I imagined or expected them. Magnus falls flat and lacks the charisma and attitude of his book counterpart. I also felt the way Valentine was played/portrayed did not fall in line with how he was in the book. But everyone who reads has there own interpretations and he wasn't close to he Valentine I had envisioned.

Lastly I feel this is a pretty solid movie for the fans and non readers. I wouldn't say it's perfect, few movies have ever come close to achieving that status. There are a lot of good elements going on here and a lot of decent acting from people I least expected it given the time they had to actually develop the characters. If you have any interest in watching the movie don't let all the negativity sway you. Go in with an open mind and make your own judgement. I won't say I loved this movie, but I did really enjoy it and would definitely see it again.

I liked the book, but was quite disappointed with this adaptation.

First of all they just changed so much about it. Secondly, they added in lots of cheesy lines. And the whole film ended up with this twilight-esque vibe about it. I just found myself rolling my eyes or snorting a number of times throughout the film. Magnus Bane who is so cool in the book, ends being really watered down and uninteresting. I don't know if it was the direction, the actor or a combination of both, but he came off really flat. Also Lily Collins is not really much of an actress. She's not terrible, but she needs help. I also felt like they glossed over details. I wanted them to take a bit more time explaining things better.

I still like the overall story and plot. And Robert Sheehan is fantastic. I definitely want to see more of his work. I also enjoyed the action scenes and the special effects.

So even though there were flaws, I still managed to enjoy myself. It was decent, but far from amazing.