The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) User Reviews

All the same old but with a new haircut.

[HorusEye · 6/10 · 28 January 2014]

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.

Movie was fine in my opinion. :)

[brooke_gaylene · 6/10 · 1 February 2014]

Movie was fine and entertaining.

I'm not going to give lots of details about what happened in the movie but just wanted to comment about what a lot of other people had said about it.

It feels like much of the hate must be from people trying to just buck the trend or with some emotional spur of the moment thing going on lol. Some people gave it 1 star which... according to them... makes it one of the worst movies ever made (worse than Battlefield Earth, or Killing Spree?? lol), but there are a lot of 10 star ratings... (So it was as good as The Godfather, Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction etc??)... too which always makes you think they were people involved with the movie but then again maybe people rate them in on their expectations of the movie compared to what they actually get, rather than rating in comparison to other movies?

It had a budget of $60 million and box office was around $76 million most likely way down on what they though it would be but not exactly a big flop, yeah there was probably millions spent on promoting but they probably made up for that and more with DVD and BR sales and rentals, and looking through various sites, the critics reviews seem to be around average or just below and cinema goers reviews seem to be average to above average. At the time of typing this it has a 6.1 rating on IMDb which shows that most here think it is at least better than average.

This movie is about getting to know the characters, an intro into the series if you like, there will be loose ends because there will be at least one sequel. The next movie will be much the same plus developing the characters with a big finale or if there is a 3rd and final movie the big finale will be there, that is usually how it works. There will always be similarities and comparisons... (Twighlight, Harry Potter, Stargate, Underworld... whatever!)... to other movies when especially when they are in the same genre, it would be almost impossible to make the movie 100% unique.

As for always comparing movies with books people will nearly always prefer the 1st version of something they read, see, hear etc which most often than not is the original, whether it be a book, movie, TV series or music. Its pointless reading the book and then moaning that it is not as the same. Making it exactly the same... which is hard anyway across the two completely different formats... would be also pointless as once you have read or seen one then there would be no point reading or seeing the other and people would still moan because its the same.

I agree it was a little too long and also agree with someone who mentioned the film score, it does seem somewhat out of place, like it was taken from another movie plus a lot of scenes were too dark, not much point spending money on filming a scene that no-one can see, but over all it was fine and entertaining. :)

BTW Took me a while to recognise Robert Sheehan, he was funny in Misfits TV series. :)

Better than Most are Making it Out to Be

[illyria250 · 7/10 · 21 August 2013]

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.

Harry Potter meets Twilight via Season of the Witch

[siderite · 6/10 · 24 October 2013]

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.

Worse than Twilight, and I loathed Twilight.

[sasha-tifton · 1/10 · 13 October 2013]

--- SPOILERS AHEAD ---

I watched this fim with a friend who has never read the book. I, on the other hand, read it years ago, but wasn't interested enough to continue with the series. However, I was willing to judge it as a film on its own merits, not as a book adaptation. By the end of the movie, we were left disappointed. It was rushed, choppy, unevenly paced, and made no effort to define the world it was set in. All the characters could have died and we would have felt nothing because the film did little to make us care them.

FLAWS IN THE FILM:

• The script was so atrocious that we began predicting what characters would say next during the cheesiest scenes. 95% of the time, we were right - word for word. When Jace said to Clary, "I told you I'd never met an angel…", I said, "Please, for the love of god, don't say: 'now I have'". He did. We died a little.

• There was zero character development. Clary had no personality. When we tried to describe her, we could not come up with a single adjective as we knew nothing about this girl. (Actually, that's a lie. When she pulled the mortal cup out of the card in front of the witch who was obviously a demon, and then again in front of Hodge, my friend yelled, "How are you so STUPID?".) Clary was presented as the protagonist even though we were given no reason to root for her or care about her. We. Knew. Zilch. About. Her. (Beyond being prone to dumb and reckless behavior). It didn't help that Lily Collins, while pretty, has no on-screen charisma. She was just a bland attractive girl. The other characters suffered equally. We could tell that Simon was nerdy, Isabelle liked slutty clothes and fighting, Valentine was evil, Hodge was sketchy, Luke was some kind of family friend (why, who knows?) and Jace was the standard romantic lead with a penchant for sappy lines and rescuing Clary. Beyond that, nothing.

• Words like 'the Clave', 'the accord', and others were thrown in without explanation.

• We were expected to believe that the mortal cup was some kind of holy grail even though the movie hardly explained how it functioned beyond a couple of statements about its necessity for making more shadow hunters. After all the build up with no clarification, my friend began to expect that the cup's powers would be demonstrated at the climax, making things clearer. Of course, this did not happen, and she was left unsatisfied. We cared about the mortal cup as much as we cared about the characters - which is to say, not at all.

• The Silent Brothers were never explained. They were just creepy dudes living under a graveyard.

• The weapons were ill-defined. They just did whatever the characters needed them to do at any given time - be it tattooing runes, slaying demons, or drilling magical peepholes through bookcases. They might as well have been Harry Potter wands.

• Clary inexplicably accuses Alec of being in love with Jace even though we saw no indication that he was even gay.

• The Clary and Jace romance felt forced. There was no build up. We were never shown why he would be attracted to her, or why she returned those feelings. When they finally kissed in the garden, it was uncomfortably awkward.

• In a seemingly random act, Valentine wanted Clary to drink his blood from the cup and no one knew why. Said my friend at this point: "Is he Jesus?"

• Loose ends. Simon is bitten by a vampire. At no point in the film does anybody bother to tell him this. Even when he storms out of the institute, Clary doesn't think to say, "By the way, a vampire bit you." We waited for the effects of the bite to manifest - to find out if he was a vampire or not. But in the end, we were forced to conclude that in the world of The Mortal Instruments, being bitten by vampires only improves your eyesight.

• The werewolves only existed to serve as expendable extras in fight scenes.

• Speaking of fight scenes, many went on for far too long. Time could have been better spent on character development so that we actually cared if anyone died in a fight.

• In the ultimate deus ex machina, Clary draws a rune that freezes all the demons. No one else has ever seen this rune. No one figures out how Clary knows how to draw it. It was like the screenwriters realized that their heroine had been useless and needed her to do something powerful to prove why she's the protagonist, since her talents thus far largely involved leading others into mortal peril.

• Why were they using fire to battle demons that looked as if they were made essentially out of fire? Do we spray water to stop a flood?

• The portal in the wall was supposed to take someone to the place they focused on or keep them in limbo. How did Valentine reach out of the portal to grab Clary after he gets shoved in?

• Clary draws a cleaning rune at the end of the movie and magically tidies her apartment. At that point, it just became ridiculous. Are there runes to trim cat toenails and enable WIFI as well?

I thought the whole Twilight franchise was awful but despite the dreadfulness of those movies, the plot was never unclear to even those with IQ deficiencies. I can't say the same about The Mortal Instruments.

More Harry Potter then Twilight

[freemantle_uk · 6/10 · 22 August 2013]

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

Horribly disappointed

[mpurdy1030-772-496775 · 2/10 · 23 August 2013]

Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments is one of my favorite series and I was so excited to see this movie. I've been to plenty of book-to-movie showings, so I knew not to expect the exact same thing, but regardless, I went in with high expectations. The beginning was... weird (and out of order, but that's just my OCD, no biggie). However, this movie was so horribly different from the book that it lost all of it's value. I don't just mean the events were slightly moderated to save time, I mean they changed the entire plot. Jace wasn't terrible- could've been cockier, Clary was horribly over-dramatic, Magnus was expressionless, and they managed to ruin my favorite character: Valentine. He became a bland, one- sided villain, unlike the ingeniously dynamic character Clare made him out to be. The movie had changes in it that ruptured the foundation of the book and a lot of what it stands for, ruining the ingenuity of the plot and the world that Clare built which had me so enraptured from the beginning. It's a shame because they had such potential with this movie. I still can't understand how they could take such a great story line and decide that it was only acceptable to warp it to a point beyond recognition....

Great Movie for everyone, not just the Twilight crowd

[wraytogo · 9/10 · 20 August 2013]

First of all you need to know this review is coming from a 39 year old Male who has never read the books. Having heard the hype that this was the next twilight series (which I dutifully, but barely endured as a good husband)... this movie is NOTHING LIKE TWILIGHT AT ALL. Heres why:

This is a movie made for more then just teenage girls and soccer mom's. It's has real action, solid acting, good cinematography, and dwells more on the storyline then romance.

Having never read the Mortal Instruments books, I was a little leery of seeing the movie and being totally lost. My fears were unfounded as the first hour of the show does a solid job of laying out the storyline. The first hour did seem a little long for me, but was well worth it and necessary as it made the last hour understandable and fly by with its non-stop action. This is nothing like what I was expecting after having to endure the twilight films with their horrible acting and cheesy cinematography. As well as multiple one-hit wonders of werewolf/vampire/demon shows that have come out since. This show had legitimate effects, great action scenes, and some really good acting performances. Here's my breakdown:

Effects: From the beginning this film proves it's a step above with cinematography and effects. The demons were gruesome, scary, and awesome! When supposed humans turn to demons, this is done very well. One questionable effect towards the beginning of the show was easily forgotten due to the many excellent effects during the whole show.

Action: Having seen Jamie Campbell Bower on the red carpets just moments before seeing the show, I had serious worries about him being able to pull off a believable action figure due to his skinny frame. Oddly, it was the action scenes where I enjoyed his acting the best and believed he was the main man. On the whole, the fight scenes were very engaging, particularly the ending sequences. There were two times though, I wished they had made the fight scenes a little longer to show more of a struggle to overcome.

Acting: This is where I was most pleasantly surprised. Lily Collins and Robert Sheehan stole the show in terms of solid, believable performances. Jamie did a convincing job and exceeded my expectations, but did fall a little short at subtle times as his skinny frame could not be overcome in the shot. His attempt to be seen as tough when his stature said otherwise caught me at times. I felt like all the performers were engaging though, with the exception of the role of Magnus. I'm not sure if it was his acting or the role they put him in, but it just didn't seem to fit the character he could/should have been. Readers may feel differently here, I was just confused if he was intended to be a tough guy or a joke.

Storyline: Understandably they had to lay the foundation of the storyline, which for the first hour they did. There was a lot of information to take in the first hour and honestly I began to doubt how they were going to take this load of info and tie it all together by the end. I was amazed at how well they did it! The last hour flew by as they did an excellent job of tying in each element and doing it with very compelling drama.

Overall I'd give the movie a B+. Solid acting and action stood out and will make a very satisfying experience for any non-reader who watches the show.

I read the book and still loved it!

[georgiax-434-620312 · 7/10 · 21 August 2013]

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

Such harsh critics!

[n-deschryver · 10/10 · 1 February 2014]

Although they had to cut out a lot of things from the book (like every movie based off a book does!) I thought the movie was wonderful! I finally got to see everything my imagination put together and I wasn't disappointed. You also have to consider that the first movie always has a low budget to work with just like twilight did. I really hope they continue to make the rest of the movies and I can't wait to see them! Also, I thought the actors were really great and one thing I noticed throughout the whole movie is that Lily Collins wasn't afraid to get dirty when she was suppose to. It just bugs me how in some movies the female can be dragged all over the place and her clothes and skin don't have a speck of dirt on them because they are trying to be beautiful all the time. I think Lily Collins is going to go far and her eyebrows aren't that bad, you get used to them and they are kinda her trademark.

The Vast Rest Of Us, We're Mundanes

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 5 September 2013]

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.

This can't be true:(

[frswlaliwth · 3/10 · 31 August 2013]

I went to see this movie the other day and since I'm a big fan of the books I was all so excited to actually be able to see my fantasy on the big screen. But as the movie started playing everything went down the hill. They have changed basic dates which play a big part in the whole story since certain events happen at specific time and they actually change the whole story. With the exception of the funny poetry scene with Erik everything else was.. how can I put it politely? Bad. I couldn't even understand the feelings the characters were supposed to be feeling before they were spoken out loud. In the books there is a certain motive, communication-battle- communication-adventure, so you're able to understand what's going on. But in the movie you just don't get it. The movie itself is a spoiler, it gives way too much information which is supposed to stay hidden because it makes the upcoming story more interesting and breathtaking.

In conclusion, I really think that the books had good potential for becoming a movie without changing everything, which unfortunately happened.

(Read the books, they are amazing. and skip the movie)

Dear Hollywood, make a remake.

It was entertains- Better as the Series

[cowboylove-77444 · 6/10 · 24 September 2022]

This movie was not bad. I never read the books so I can't compare, but I saw the TV series "Shadowhunters" first. I feel the TV series did more for the story than the movie. Especially when they were able to fit the whole book into seasons. The movie was rushed and so much left unclear.

Yes the they hit the bullet points, but I still felt lost. I think they left out major characters, they left out major storylines, they didn't work with the characters properly, and they changed the importance of many charters.

Another thing I'm not sure of, but noticed. It seemed they mixed various parts of the other books and put them in this movie. Not sure if they ever planned on doing the entire series of the books.

I do recommend watching the series "Shadowhunters", its well worth it.

Horrible experience (I read the books)

[tenlegdragon · 1/10 · 21 August 2013]

This was terrible.

Honestly. Terrible. I've seen Jonah Hex and Catwoman at the cinema, (yes I paid real money to see both movies), so trust me to recognise a bad movie when I see it.

This was worse than Percy Jackson. Go see that instead.

I've read the books for this, the entire Book 1 and 2 and I've skimmed the key parts of 3. It does not help. People are saying that it might have been better if you read the books? NO.

This is a horrible adaptation. It's in the vicinity of "Eragon bad."

I am not lying. If you're asking yourself, "should I watch this movie?" the answer is NO. There's nothing to gain. If you generally like bad movies, then feel free, (sometimes you just get the urge for a stinker, this is fact), but otherwise - avoid.

The writing is atrocious. The direction is atrocious. Some of the lines will crawl your blood, even if you're the youngest most movie-naive teenage girl in existence. There are scenes that'll make you feel embarrassed for the actors. I'm serious. There is this one scene that is so cheesy... I can't even describe it, but it's like all the cheese and all the corny from all five twilight movies condensed into 30-45 seconds.

This makes the Twilight Saga look worthy of an Academy Award. Every single joke falls flat. Every single one. Jace is supposed to be the witty one, and he's supposed to have this banter-prone persona - he doesn't. This Jace is almost shy. The dialogue is horrendous. The clichés hit you so hard you start thinking it's a parody halfway through, (it isn't). Geezus.

The Tudors king guy is in it, but he can't save it. I think his appearance was the proverbial nail, in fact. The end is almost incomprehensible as you just lose yourself in a storm of clichés. The movie's plot contradicts all logic and all pathways of common sense, and I'm not exaggerating here.

Now, I grant that the source material wouldn't win any awards either. There won't be any Team Jace or Team Simon T shirts on sale. Not sure how many Clary fans there are in the world, but I'd guess, not much because the original book characters are not the best characters ever. The book's plot isn't the most original thing ever. The books themselves are crap, being honest, but they're tolerable crap. This movie takes that crap and makes crap soup with it. They bring the crap to a boil. They season it... All the better to bring out that smoky crap flavour.

Movie adaptations seldom ever are better than the book, (and I count LOTR as the only exception), but when the bar was set this low, you have to ask "How did they F''' this up?" They had a decent cast. Decent acting too... It's just the writing! It's like the first draft of a screenplay that gets hammered out in a dark latrine while the writer is suffering from food poisoning. Who approves this stuff? Really. Who signed off on this as a good idea. Somewhere along the way, while this movie was being made, someone should have said NO. I feel like this movie should have some controversy to it. Someone should have stormed off the set. I feel like drugs were involved? Maybe?

Mindblowingly bad. The opposite of epic. Painful and embarrassing to watch. Hands down the worst movie of the year.

And there's going to be a sequel?

NO. Say NO, people. Just say NO.

I found this film truly amazing!!!

[grace-mccormick10 · 10/10 · 31 March 2014]

Coming from a teenager who loves fantasy films, I found this one of the best iv seen. Before I watched the film, I had not read the books, and I was able to follow the film, I found it quite capturing and enchanting. I felt like I was there: as immature as that sounds, it really was true. I have watched the film over 10 times since I bought the film last week, I find it exciting to watch and I love the whole aspect of the film, I feel mesmerised from start to finish of the film, and therefor I find it, one of my favourite films; if not, my favourite! I cannot wait for the second film, and I am reading the series of books currently. I think this film is amazing, although "adults" opinions may differ.

Something Is Missing to be a Great Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 13 October 2013]

In New York, the teenager Clary Fray (Lily Collins) goes to a night-club with her best friend Simon Lewis (Robert Sheehan) after seeing a strange symbol on the billboard that only she can see. She is also the only person capable to witness the murder of a man by a stranger in the club. Her mother Jocelyn (Lena Headley) and her boyfriend Luke Garroway (Aidan Turner) are worried when Clary tells about her weird ability. On the next morning, Clary finds that she has drawn lots of symbols in her room and she meets Simon to tell him what she did. Meanwhile Jocelyn is abducted by two men but she warns Clary that Valentine will chase her. Clary returns to her apartment that is completely destroyed and is attacked by a demon. However the stranger Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower) rescues Clary and brings her with Simon to a fortress called The Institute. Soon they learn that Jace and Jocelyn are Shadowhunters, warriors that fight against evil in an alternate world to save mankind. Jocelyn has stolen the Mortal Cup, one powerful Mortal Instrument, to avoid that the traitor Valentine Morgenstern (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) becomes powerful and dominates Shadowhunters and demons. Clary is also a powerful Shadowhunter and she has the location of the Mortal Cup hidden in her mind by her mother. Further, Clary and Jace fall in love with each other and together with Simon and the Shadowhunters Alec Lightwood (Kevin Zegers) and Isabelle Lightwood (Jemima West), they try to discover where the Mortal Cup is hidden in a dangerous journey.

"The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" is a movie with good cast and top-notch special effects. However something Is missing to be a great movie. There are lots of information to be disclosed and many characters are not well developed like, for example, Valentine. But the worst is the lack of emotions, like the incestuous relationship between Clary and Jace that is not well resolved. Clary is also a rebel teenager that shows no affection to Jocelyn and when her mother is kidnapped, she changes her behavior. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Os Instrumentos Mortais: Cidade dos Ossos" ("The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones")

what happened?1

[rodent-781-490788 · 1/10 · 2 September 2013]

i never expected "the mortal instruments" to be a great movie, but the poorly directed steaming pile of crap that it is?! for frag sake, you would think with the quality cast in the film it would at least entertain.

now, i like movies. even bad ones...

however, everything from the shabby ruins that look like sharpie marks to the sadly displayed comic relief, this 2+ hour film begs the question, "is it over yet?"

unfortunately, there's a sequel in 2014. wonder how many actors in the film will be asking to be payed per scale...

in closing (10 lines of text? i could use 10 lines of text to describe "poo" or i can just call it "poo"...) save your money. i just watched a lady go crazy in a mcdonald's drive thru on youtube for free and i give that a better review than the mortal instruments.

Pretty good

[miced-860-487603 · 7/10 · 23 July 2019]

I don't understand the negative reviews. It's a quite nice movie and definitely is a lot better than the serie. I also don't understand the obsession of comparing the movie with the book. A movie is an artistic work, not a copycat. If you want the book, read it. A movie will always be something else

fantastic dark fantasy film

[gerry_barnaby · 21 August 2013]

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.

Bit Disappointing, still pretty enjoyable.

[mr_bickle_the_pickle · 6/10 · 25 August 2013]

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.

Lame but entertaining

[tinovalkki · 4/10 · 5 October 2013]

City of bones is more CGI effects than serious movie. Script is confusing and strange. City of Bones doesn't have anything to catch and storytelling is weak. None of the characters feels natural and familiar. I am sure that the story in book is much richer and stronger than here. Despite of that City of Bones is not too bad to watch. Especially if you compare it to Twilight saga. It was good thing to go to see this movie without knowing much about it, so I was entertained enough to watch the whole movie. I just hope that if they are going to film more movies to this series they focus on characters more. Better script is unconditional if they want to succeed with this series.

Way better than the first Twilight movie!

[erinacolonna · 8/10 · 26 July 2020]

The acting could have been better in some parts, but it is the first adaptation and there was room to grow in the movies to follow. I thought the storyline was followed very well, other than changing some things here and there to hook viewers who HAVEN'T read the books. Overall the movie is good and I was excited to see more of them. I'm sad they didn't get the chance they deserved.

The show is great - but I really enjoyed the movie more. The actors in the movie didn't fit the description of the characters in the book, I do think the show has one up on that front.

Maybe one day they'll make another and try again, but if it's anything like Divergent then probably not.

It had such potential, but didn't quite get there

[comedie00 · 7/10 · 18 October 2013]

When I first heard about this movie and saw the trailer I was EXCITED. This is exactly my type of movie, and learning they were based on a few books, I stood with the choice of either seeing the movies or reading the books. I chose the first. I am starting to regret this.

The basic story is phenomenal, the effects of the movie are great, I like the actors. My biggest complain about the actors is that the most competent one spends most of the movie in a coma, and the others could really have benefited from exploring a wider emotional range when filming this movie. The acting is a bit flat, which I don't get because I have like these actors in other movies.

The biggest problems for me were the screen writing. The lines burped out by the actors all came across very "gossip girl meets twilight". It wasn't too funny, it wasn't too believable and it was plain out awkward statements at times. The best parts of the movie was when they said nothing at all and let the story speak for itself!

So please, producers of this movie, when planning the filming of the sequel, please replace ur screen writer, so that we can have equally edgy characters to complement the story.

Thanks!

I want my money back.

[Big_D_Box_Office_Score · 2/10 · 23 August 2013]

You know, I really wanted to give The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones a fair shake. I mean, it LOOKED like another Twilight clone...it SOUNDED like another Twilight clone...it even FELT like a Twilight clone. (Don't ask me how I know how it felt.) But, I was determined not to judge a book by it's movie (ha!), and went to see City of Bones last night. It's a Twilight clone. And a terrible one, at that. Listen, it's clear that this type of movie has an audience, and I am by no means a typical member of that audience. On top of that, I am not familiar at all with the books. But none of that should matter - a movie should have enough merit to be watchable by anyone, even outside of the usual demographic. And this was nearly UNWATCHABLE. Let's try to do pros and cons. This should be fun... Pros: - Lily Collins, the main character and poor man's Kristen Stewart, was also in Priest...one of the lowest-scored movies in BDBOS history. So...she's consistent. - You know those people who ALWAYS say, "The book was waaay better than the movie"? Again, never read them myself, but I can't imagine the books being ANY WORSE THAN THIS, so at least that will be an easy argument to win. - Lena Headey, aka 300's Queen of the Spartans, still gets to kick a little bit of ass. Cons: - I've read that a considerable amount of the book was cut from the movie, simply because it was impossible to fit everything into a 2-hour film. I feel like whatever was cut from the book would have made a better 2 hours of movie. So many plot holes, so many needlessly unanswered questions, so many things that DON'T MAKE A GODDAMN BIT OF SENSE. - Twilight did this already. If you're a Twilight person, you've seen this movie already. Awkward, ordinary teenaged girl, thrust into a secret world where supernatural beings battle each other, and gaining multiple One-Direction-looking love interests along the way. If you told me that this movie was really called "Twilight: The Other New Moon's Eclipse At Dawn", I'd believe you without argument. - In God's name, WHY IS THERE AN IMAX VERSION OF THIS??? STOP IT, Hollywood. It's hard enough to justify watching 2 dimensions of this crap. - This movie might actually be cheezier than Twilight. Terrible one- liners, public shows of affection at awkward times, and a plot twist that will make you feel REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE about things you saw previously in the film. - When the audience (which was practically empty in my theater, by the way) starts laughing at parts of the movie that aren't supposed to be funny...you have a problem. - It's over 2 hours long...and you'll feel EVERY LAST MINUTE of it. City Of Bones scores a 1 out of 5 on the BDBOS, and should not be watched by human eyes. Vampires and werewolves should probably stay away, too.

Went in with low expectations, came out pleasantly surprised!

[MissLaurelle · 7/10 · 24 August 2013]

OK, first off, I have read the book (though it's been a few years ago) and I loved it.

After watching the terrible trailers for this movie and the short clip posted on IMDb, I was honestly not impressed. So when I went to watch the movie in theatres I was honestly very happy with the results.

Obviously not everything was perfect like the book, but the story held together and it was entertaining. What's great is it has a kind of Harry Potter feel to it instead of the dreadful Twillight mood. IMDb just happens to be featuring a clip with the worst acting moment in the movie with the corniest joke.

Overall, entertaining with some good laughs too! I recommend to at least see it once on DVD.