The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is adapted from the first of the series of books by Cassandra Clare but hardly does justice to the text. Its makers should have tapped into richer human stories that we, mere mortals, can relate to.
Directed by Harald Zwart, this 130-minute box office failure is set in present-day New York City and stars Clary (Lilly Collins), a young girl who discovers, after a murder at a pub, that she actually belongs to the clan of shadow-hunters, half angels, who kill demons. These supernatural beings cannot be seen by ‘mundane’ humans. A subplot is the love story: Clary’s best friend Simon (Robert Sheehan) secretly harbours feelings for her.
After the discovery that she is a shadow-hunter, Clary’s primary agenda is to search for her mother, also a shadow-hunter, who has gone missing. Her mission is to find the magical artifact, the mortal cup, which her mother had hidden to protect it from the villains. As Clary embarks on the journey, she is constantly shielded by a fellow shadow-hunter Lace (Jamie Campbell Bower), who needs her for his own motives. With Lace in the picture, the love triangle is completed, as Clary is attracted to Lace’s flirtatious yet insensitive nature and his expertise at combat.
Even though Clary plays the role of the protagonist with punch, her supporting cast fail to back up the plot, and the lame, supposedly witty comments, fall flat. You will be, however, taken in with the action, which the movie wastes no time in introducing right at the beginning. However, the back-story is clumsily managed with thin characterisation.
And thus this soppy love story masquerading as a fantasy flick fights its way through attacks from monsters. Shadow-hunters would not suffice, which is why werewolves and a witch are also part of the picture. The Mortal Instruments fills your appetite with a platter full of otherworldly characters.
Clary does her best to emotionally anchor the movie in some kind of reality, but her transition from an ordinary girl to a vehement fighter does not ring true. Furthermore, the villains seem far too ordinary to make an impact, and the tension between the characters seems remote. For example, Valentine (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), the evil shadow-hunter searching for the mortal cup to further his wicked plans, struggles to bring his supposedly frightening character to life with silly speeches and little pigtails stuck to the back of his head.
The first initiative of the successful book series has definitely backfired, and now the producers must go back to the drawing board, having put the second sequel on hold, in order to save the franchise.
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, September 22nd, 2013.