The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones ***
There’s no surprise at the anticipation surrounding the screen adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s bestselling novel, directed by Harold Zwart (2010’s The Karate Kid). With a gap in fantasy adventure market left by the globally successful Harry Potter and Twilight sagas, studio bosses are hungry to find the next best thing. It needs the right mix of teen passion, independent spirit, fantasy existence and sexy young things to stand a chance. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones may tick most boxes but leaves a little too much unanswered on the adventure front while bombarding us in other respects, relying on its young star attractions to grab interest in a sequel – and one’s already on the cards.
Clary (Lilly Collins) discovers she’s different from most teens when she witnesses a slaying at a local nightclub that no one else seems to notice. After her mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey) is attacked and goes missing from their apartment, unexplained supernatural events begin happening that all have something to do with the symbols she’s been drawing. In clear danger, Clary soon discovers her heritage is that of ‘Shadowhunter’, an angelic demon hunter, like her mother. She is drawn into the new world with best ‘Mundane’ friend Simon (Robert Sheehan) fighting demons and other evil entities, with help from fellow hunter Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower). But the real villain is closer to home than they all think.
Leather bondage Goth gear is nothing new – just look at Buffy and Kate Beckinsale in Van Helsing, but it’s the stuff of deviant character that teens lap up. Zwart and design team know this. Getting the right look is key to this film that generally has all the magical, mystery intrigue of a Potter film but also the glam (Goth chic) that’s missing from Bella Swan’s wardrobe in her earlier Twilight years. Throw in some good-looking young actors in cutesy Collins, self-assured Sheehan and the chiselled-cheeked, puppy-dog-eyed Campbell Bower, and you have a winning formula right there. There’s the prerequisite love triangle too, to keep the young audience swooning and wanting more.
Where City of Bones falls down is where it tries to be too clever, ticking all the boxes of every fantasy trope going in one swoop, and so offering vampires, werewolves, witches, warlocks, angels and demons etc that story elements get missed, say, in terms of how all came about and where each lie in the hierarchy of the centuries-old battle. True, there’s lots of explaining to do for the newbie and there’s a fantasy element for every fan of the genre. Indeed, the filmmakers can get more sinister than a Potter or Twilight film: City of Bones is certainly pitched at the older teen, with subjects like implied incest among other things. A refreshing sarcastic twang to some of the dialogue keeps things not too serious, allowing you to go with the flow, however farcical the plotline is at times.
Like a Dan Brown novel, there are also some ‘real-life’ puzzles to ponder over, one of which includes another surprise talent of composer Johann Bach that should prompt some checking afterwards – a kind of ‘cultural research’ for teens if you will.
Zwart and SFX team are also highly aware that awesome effects are a must nowadays, and there’s no shortage of these to backup the fantasy world they are gleefully creating. That said it’s a little too effects-heavy sometimes to the detriment of some really good, old-fashioned, choreographed fights to prolong the colossal struggle facing the characters. It’s only at the end – resembling a Buffy-styled episode – that these come into some effect with the arrival of corrupt Shadowhunter, Valentine (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who departs too quickly to grasp any real idea of what his beef is, especially as when he locates what he wants, there’s a far easier way of getting it that doesn’t just involve Clary’s coercion.
Still, with more to learn about the markings or ‘Runes’ and the ancient culture, and an appealing-looking cast caught in love’s turmoil, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones may have its major flaws and be a copycat of other standout films, but it will prick hormonal teen interest in a big way now R-Patz and Bella are an old married couple – plus it helps that Campbell Bower cut his teeth in the infamous vampire saga too, adding another draw factor.
3/5 stars
By @FilmGazer
