Of all the young-adult book series adaptations to come out recently, “Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones” (based on the book series by Cassandra Clare) is the most convoluted. Whereas “Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters” just felt uninspired and phoned in, “City Of Bones” tries to incorporate too many ingredients, without any of them really making much of an impression. It’s almost as if it was conceived entirely in a focus group.
The movie is essentially a mashup of “Harry Potter,” “Twilight, “Blade” and “Underworld,” along with some “Star Wars” thrown in. Here’s a movie that’s densely plotted and only concerned with how many cool things from other fantasy and supernatural works it can toss in.
Set in modern day New York City, the story revolves around Clary Fray (Lilly Collins), an average, too-cool-for-school teenager. She’s just doing her thing, hanging out with her goofy, hipster friend Simon (Robert Sheehan) and not getting along with her mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey). But, then, her world suddenly turns upside down when she discovers a secret world hidden within the real world that’s full of demons. They take the form of Mundanes and like to hang out in freaky raver nightclubs.
One day, two thugs break into her home and attack Jocelyn. They’re searching for a cup, and Jocelyn is the only one who knows where it is. But instead of being tortured or killed by these guys, she takes some kind of potion and sends herself to another dimension.
Amidst all of this commotion Clary meets Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower), a tattooed, leather-jacket-wearing hunk known as a Shadowhunter (a half-angel, half-human, demon/vampire hunter). Jace completes the movie’s love triangle with Simon and Clary. Jace, of course, is Clary’s obvious choice for a suitor, which also means he’s a gigantic bore. Bower delivers his lines with almost no emotion, keeps the same serious expression on his face and does a lot of intense staring across the room at Clary.
Moving on, Jace takes Clary and Simon to an invisible safe haven in the middle of the city, where he and all of the other Shadowhunters live. While there, Clary discovers that she, too, is a Shadowhunter, and for a little while, you think the movie is going to turn into “Clary Fray: Demon/Vampire Hunter.” But it all goes back to that cup, which they must retrieve before a rogue Shadowhunter named Valentine (Jonathon Rhys Meyers) gets it first and does evil stuff with it.
There’s more. Instead of building character, the movie is just one left turn after another, introducing more and more fantasy/supernatural elements, with no nuance and very little coherence. In short, the movie is a tedious mess that ends up being too complicated and bloated for its own good.
It’s not difficult to see why Clare’s book series (there are six) would be so popular among young adults — they have everything! But by having all of this shoved into a movie to appeal to everyone, “Mortal Instruments” amounts to practically nothing in the end, except another worthless attempt to capitalize on a young-adult book series for some box-office dollars.
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