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How could a movie resemble both The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Harry Potter while remaining an original teen fantasy flick? With crisp cinematography and a robust story about a supernatural world right under our noses.
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones runs at a captivating pace with eerie, gothic elements and a solid cast to create one of the best movie-going experiences this year.
The film follows Clary (Lily Collins), a young girl who witnesses a gruesome slaying at a nightclub in New York who is suddenly and inexplicably thrust into the supernatural limelight. With a target on her back, she meets Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower) who is a Shadowhunter, someone who kills demons.
Demons in the film can take the shape of anyone and anything – Rottweilers, policemen, and elderly ladies included. These demons maliciously pursue Clary once they believe she knows where to find a magical cup, one of the revered mortal instruments.
The film wastes no time setting the something-is-totally-off tone. Clary’s mother, portrayed by the incredible Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), appears to keep a secret throughout the film, and only when Clary starts to draw a strange symbol over and over again does she become panicky and eager to reveal the secret to her.
The symbol and optical illusions that are constantly employed during the film add to the plot’s mystique, and on-point production design and effects put the film at a level that no other contemporary teen movie could hope to touch.
Clean camera angles beautifully capture a range of settings, from the urban jungle exterior of New York City to the grim interior of ancient buildings.
A scene where Clary finally enters the City of Bones, which is located directly under a cemetery and full of cloaked figures with mouths sewn shut, is one of the creepiest shots that can be found outside of an out-and-out horror film.
Mortal Instruments is most impressive when considered in context with other teen fantasy-romance films. The Twilight series was a loveable disaster, The Hunger Games was a letdown, and, much like these predecessors, Mortal Instruments has the obligatory love triangle.
Though many female viewers will no doubt enjoy seeing numerous guys vying for the leading lady, we don’t often see the reverse. The scenario where two male suitors are each flawed but desirable, and the leading lady ends up with both at some point is repeated too often.
In Mortal Instruments, one corner of the triangle lies with Simon (Robert Sheehan)—sweet, harmless and Clary’s longtime friend. On the other side of Clary is the brooding and mysterious Jace, who complicates things further with a semi-awkward twist to Jace and Clary’s relationship.
The result seems like a trap forcing the female to choose someone, anyone, instead of—oh, I don’t know, possibly the girl choosing no one and vanquishing evil at the same time?
Some might write this film off. It is directed by Harald Zwart and written by Jessica Postigo and could easily be perceived as another teen-movie phenomena adapted from a popular book series.
Those individuals should consider, then, what there is to gain from teen-championed movies. Why did we all look up to Harry, Ron and Hermione? To Peter Parker or Katniss Everdeen? Because as we watched them coming into their own as people, as we all must, they put their lives on the line for others.
Clary rises above all sorts of turmoil thrown her way—maybe not as a Shadowhunter but as something else entirely – with powers and importance that are left for us to wonder about until the sequel that is likely to come.
Though The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones had its setbacks, it is an action-packed adventure that should also be commended—especially at a time when not many will put in actual effort for stories that already have a built-in audience.