Rarely is a movie adaptation of a worldwide bestseller even remotely comparable to the book. Having been a fan of The Mortal Instruments series, seeing the “City of Bones” movie was disappointing, to say the least. The book was phenomenal. The movie strayed in the opposite direction.
“The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,” which opened in theatres on Aug. 22 is the sort of movie that is reminiscent of week-old cake: it’s not revolting, but it certainly isn’t the best thing you’ve ever had.
“City of Bones” isn’t a copy of the “Twilight” franchise, but there are some striking similarities: a love triangle, which most movies seem to be incomplete without; a secret, fantastical world hidden within our own, some vampires and werewolves, and a seemingly average female protagonist who discovers said hidden world and will do anything to join it. The “City of Bones” book had the perfect formula for a huge summer blockbuster, but Harald Zwart, the movie’s director, added other ingredients that just didn’t work well with the existing ideas.
When Clary Fray (Lily Collins) starts seeing, even drawing a certain Egyptian-like symbol over and over, she knows she needs to find answers, and fast. Clary goes to a club, where she witnesses what she believes is a murder and she does what any rational teenage girl in her situation would do. Call the cops? Try again. Run away? No. In fact, Clary actually decides to talk to the person she believes murdered someone in cold blood. But there’s a catch: for some reason, only Clary can see the mysterious stranger. We’re introduced to Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower), who is just as surprised as Clary is that she can see him. So begins the journey of Clary bombarding Jace with questions and flirtatious one-liners. She finds out Jace is a Shadowhunter, a race of not-quite humans that hunt demons. And thus, the movie begins its downward spiral.
“City of Bones” lacked what made the books so amazing: believable character motives, raw emotion, and suspense. It was filled with too many eye-roll inducing cliches, plot holes and plot twists to count. The action sequences were fun to watch, the characters were easy enough to like (or dislike), but the entire movie was just missing something.
The costumes for too many of the characters can be summed up in a single word: leather. Leather jackets, leather pants, leather armbands, leather boots, you name it. All of the Shadowhunters have a wardrobe that any punk rock fan would be envious of. In addition to their leather jackets, the Shadowhunters have an abundance of tattoos, or “runes” as they call them. They have the power to heal, to protect, and virtually everything else as well. Clary conveniently masters the art of drawing runes on herself all too quickly, and manages to quite literally single-handedly defeat a horde of angry demons.
The acting in “City of Bones” was okay. It’s exactly the sort of thing you’d expect:no major scenes that are going to be nominated for any awards anytime soon, and no mind-blowing dialogue. But, as mentioned earlier, there are plenty of one-liners to laugh at.
The “City of Bones” movie fell short of the mark set by the book, which is a shame.
Don’t let the movie make the first impression. Spend that $12.50 and buy the book instead of seeing the movie. You’ll enjoy it much more.
by HARMONY REILLY
