The Mortal Instruments: La Cité des ténèbres

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.

I read this book before watching the film and i was apprehensive to see if they would get all the important things from the book into the film. I think they did a very good job to get it all in, in just over two hours.

Cast: I thought they cast this film perfectly and all the characters played there roles perfectly. My favourite character from the book and film is Jace as he was so witty and he was really witty in the film which is good.

Story line: The story in this film is all very cramped together as the book was quite big so i think the screenwriter done a good job fitting it all in the 2 hours.

Music: The music in this film was perfect and fitted in with the film perfectly.

overall i think this film was impressive but there was some things that they changed which makes me wonder how they will be changing the story line in the second film.

Worth a watch...

7/10

I enjoyed this film although I'm in no ways its target audience. It's a teen film, primarily for chicks, but I'm having a cold and my wife isn't home, so perhaps I'm a little more sentimental than usual.

It starts off like any other coming of age yarn. Clary, our protagonist, is littering the house with drawings of her womb, a clear sign that she's on the verge of Growing Up. Luckily, she runs into the right people first, and they teach her what she needs to know about tattoos and black outfits with buckled boots, and all that other stuff that makes you cool and adult. A romance story is fired up right away as well, between Clary and this guy Jonathan with the cool sticky hair and silky British voice, and the two seem a little naive in that they don't pick up on each other's signals, but I guess that takes some life experience.

The story is very simple, utilizing all the expected elements of the genre, but does manage to keep them fairly fresh, and the plot has sufficient twists to stay interesting, although most of them have only minor impact on later turns of events. At some points it meanders a little and several scenes could have been cut out without affecting the plot at all. It would have suited the film to be a little bit shorter.

The characters are all exceptionally pretty people, and most of them have no character flaws either, yet it didn't become annoying like it very easily does in such cases. Clary is sympathetic enough for one to care about her, and it helps keeping you involved in the story despite the often predictable setup.

All in all, it had good entertainment value, and I think I only zoned out briefly a couple of times. Worth a watch, just don't expect anything from the Deep End of the pool.

Since the success of films like Harry Potter and Twilight, film studios have been looking for the next young adult book series to adapt. With five books already out and a sixth on the way, The Mortal Instruments is latest series to diving into a cinematic adaptation, being more fantasy, than supernatural romance.

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) is a seemingly normal New York teenager, who lives with her artistic single mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey). Her best friend, Simon (Richard Sheehan), has a crush for the young woman, but she sees him more as a brother. Clary leads a normal life, but starts to draw a strange symbol, that leads to changes in her life. She begins to see it everywhere, leading her and Simon to a nightclub where she sees people, no one else can. Soon, Clary's mother is kidnapped and her only ally is Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower), a Shadowhunter, a half-angel, half- human creature, who hunts demons. Clary is thrust into a strange world of demons, vampires, witches, warlocks and werewolves and has to open up her own suppressed memories as an evil Shadowhunter. Valentine (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is looking for the lost Mortal Cup that can create more Shadowhunters.

To get the Twilight comparisons out of the way, yes there is a love triangle and a teenage girl has a romance with a supernatural creature. But, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones borrows much more from the Harry Potter, having a world within world, many mystical creatures, having a term to describe humans and focuses on a young character who could be more powerful then she realises and discovers her real past. The character of Alec (Kevin Zegers) is the Rosalie of the film, having animosity to our major character.

Continuing with Twilight comparisons, Clary is dependence on the other characters, but that is more due to the fact she is in a strange world and the Shadowhunters are much more experience. But, Clary is still resourceful, asks the right questions and is a go-getter who wants to get stuck in with the adventure.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is a standard fantasy adventure that, as already mentioned, borrows highly from Harry Potter. This is a film that has many predictable plot points, that we've seen many times before. This is a film that does follow The Hero With A Thousand Faces formula, but also makes you dive head first into its world and mythology, where other series would be much more gradual when bringing you into their worlds.

Harald Zwart of Agent Cody Banks and The Karate Kid (2010) fame took on the directing duties and he makes a darker film to his previous efforts. Zwart brings in Gothic visuals throughout the film, from the use of a catacomb that is run by creatures with sewed up mouths and the Shadowhunter's being like a church: but Institute's interior looks very much like Hogwarts. There are some gruesome moments (even for the PG-13 rating) involving the demon dog and the extra limbs demons can grow. But despite all this, death is kept to a minimum.

While The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones does have Judo-Christian iconography with its use of angel statutes and paintings, this is a film that actually side-steps being be a Christian, saying all religions are valid and avoids any mention of God or the afterlife.

The acting for the most part is decent enough, though the dialogue is predictable and a little clichéd at times. We do get to see Clary transform from a regular teenager to a Shadowhunter wearing a short dresses, a leather jacket and thigh high boots. While Campbell Bower brings a sardonic wit to Jace and there is strange aspect that all the Shadowhunters speak with English accents whilst the werewolves are Irish. Actors like Headey and Jared Harris do offer a little gravitas to proceedings but there are really extended cameos with the young actors being front and centre.

Zwart did show his action credentials when he directed The Karate Kid; but he seem to regress for his follow up film. The action sequences are for the most part fairly bland, typical fare. But Jemima West's Isabelle has some moments with a whip and looking really bad-ass when she has a flamethrower. Hell, give her a film.

The special effects are nothing to write home about. There are not bad, but due to the limited budget the digital looked obvious at times, particularly the werewolves. Yet, the demons near the end of the film does have a cool, glowing effort and have a similar look to Kronos' minions in Wrath of the Titans.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has been have a torrid time with mainstream critics, but in all honesty, it is a perfectly serviceable fantasy adventure that is better to the Twilight series it has been compared to and will please fans of the novels.

Please visit www.entertainmentfuse.com