Saturday, August 24, 2013

Movie Review: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Movie: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
Genre: Fantasy
Starring: Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Rating: PG13
My Rating: One thumb up

This movie is getting beat up by all the naysayers and poohpoohers, but I thought it was okay. I mean, it didn't blow me away or anything. I'm not running out for the soundtrack, or totally in love with Jace, or wanting to watch and watch and watch it over again.

But, it was fun to see this very popular YA book turned into a movie. It started out FAST (much faster than the book I thought) and kept the excitement coming non-stop. As readers of the book will know, this story has it ALL....werewolves and vampires, demons and angels (sort of ), witches and warlocks, creepy guys in robes and creepy girls in leather. It's quite the dark tale, and in fact felt much darker to me on screen than what I experienced in reading.
Simon
For those wanting a little summary, it's about a girl, Clary, who is suddenly seeing strange things... demons, she later learns, that others can't see. Come to find out, after a harrowing experience face to face with one, she is actually a Shadow Hunter, or demon hunter, like her mom. Her mom, who by the way, has suddenly disappeared, and now it's her quest to find her mom and get some answers.

Along the way she is helped by Jace, demon hunter extraordinaire, and her loyal sidekick friend, Simon , and two other hunters Isabelle and Alec. Luke, her sort of step dad figure, is also there in a surprising way.

Anyway, it's very fast paced and crazy and dark and a bit violent. And quite twisty in the end, though this is actually one of my complaints... that twist was very anti climatic compared to the shocker feeling one has when reading it in the book!

Clary and Jace
My biggest curiosity about this film is, of course, the casting. Did the characters feel right to me and match with the ones in my head? Well, Clary was spot on. Luke was most awesome too (but I expected having remembered that he is Kili in The Hobbit!) and Valentine was perfectly creepy too. Simon was okay, I mean yeah, he was pretty good (I'm a huge Simon fan, so he had a lot of expectations to live up to) but Alec was not at ALL like I pictured him.
Luke
And then there's Jace, and I'm not quite sure what I think of the casting on this one. He was pretty good with the whole mysterious swagger thing, but this guy was too gaunt and skinny looking. I needed Jace to be buff, you know? But I liked his hair for sure. And his eyes. And I liked his acting. So, yeah, he was good, not perfect with the Jace in my head, but not bad either.

Valentine
Anyway, bottom line: I liked it! It's not a bad movie at all. It's fun and exciting, especially for fans of the book.

Here's the trailer of course:


16 comments:

  1. Glad to read a positive, balanced review. I'll see the film next week. It comes out on the 28 here in Italy. I liked the books very much. I love the cast for the hard work and the commitment to the story and to the fans they've shown in interviews these days. Jamie Campbell Bower is sort of .. in love with Jace (he is so like Jace in his real life, have you seen him in interviews?) and Lily too loves Clary so much. I loved Robert Sheehan (Simon) and Aidan Turner (Luke) and Kevin Zegers (Alec) even before they were in TMI movie. I also admire Jonathan Rhys Meyer's intensity, I saw him in so many movies. So, you see, I've got so many reasons for wanting to see this film! I hope I'll like it. I'm so angry with those awful, prejudiced, dismissive critic reviews. They are even offensive to the fans of the books. And that is something I can't stand. It's always the same old story. Female stuff = silly. Even before watching it!

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  2. I actually really liked it. I liked all the actors and even though I never/don't picture Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace, I thought he did a good job with Jace's personality. The only thing I didn't like about the movie was the song that played during the kiss. It was way to cheesy and ruined that whole scene for me.

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    1. Jenni: True about that music. I think it was that scene were I was thinking well, this music isn't so good!

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  3. I saw the preview in the theatre not too long ago and thought it looked good. I don't remember the details of the book that clearly (it was the same for Harry Potter) so differences from the book probably wouldn't bother me. I agree with you that Jace should be pretty muscular, not skinny! I always have to laugh when they try to make us believe that actors who are clearly extremely attractive look "nerdy" because they wear glasses.

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    1. Laurie: I don't remember the book that well either. And yes, what's up with the glasses trick. I actually think some people look much nicer with them on!

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  4. I didn't even realize this had come out already. I don't usually like Hollywood's interpretations of books I loved, but I'm willing to give this one a chance ... when it comes to the dollar theater or Netflix, anyway. Glad you enjoyed it!

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    1. Susan: Hopefully you'll like it when you do see it!

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  5. I really quite liked it, too. Though that may have had a lot to do with the fact that I went with my 2 teenage daughters and some friends. We did have issues with the ending (they should have played it closer to the book, and Valentine in the Institute was just LAME), but I thought they got both Clary and Jace better than in the book. Which made me happy. There was NOT enough Magnus, though. Then again, there never is.

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    1. Melissa: No, there was not enough Luke! :)

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  6. I liked it too... I mean there are so many bad reviews out about it. Honestly it's been so long since I've read the book so I didn't remember much from it. I agree about the song that someone mentioned above. I don't know what that was all about!

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    1. Angie: I don't get the bad reviews. Whatever people!

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  7. I don't want to see it until I've read the books.

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    1. Kami: You just need to read the first book really, there are no spoilers for others that I know of. I've actually only read the first two! Ah, I better get going on them! :)

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    2. I need to start reading the other two as well!

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  8. Hahaha. I had pictured Alec to be like that but had pictured someone different as Jace...someone with more of a smirk. But he is incredibly hot, with those damn irresistible cheekbones!

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