The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones [DVD]

I should say up front that I haven't read the Mortal Instruments Books (although I have read other books by the same author) so I am judging the film as a film alone, not in comparison to the book.I didn't really know what to expect, although I had heard some pretty sharp criticism of Jamie Campbell Bower's acting beforehand. As it happened, I love the character he plays, Jace. I suspect much of the objection is because is he is sarcastic, incendiary and self-effacing and uses attack as a form of defence; to get that much out of a movie with lots of action, J C-B must have some acting skills, although the character will not be to everyone's taste.There are reviewers on here who say they had difficulty following the plot: I didn't. The tale is that of a quest to find a missing cup of power; a standard motif in fantasy literature but not one fantasy fans are likely to tire of.The other characters; Clary, Simon, Jocelyn, Luke, Magnus, Isabelle and Alec all stand as individuals and it's easy to imagine that there is plenty of backstory to expand on in forthcoming films (and presumably already done in the books - I must get them!).It shouldn't be necessary in this day and age to say that it was nice to see gay people treated as in and out of love the same as the non-gay people, but it was. I'm rooting for Alec and the hot witchy guy :DEdit added, March 2014: I've now read all Cassandra Clare's books, and whilst I can now see why people have passed comment on the divergence of the film's plot from the first book, I still love the film. It's exceptionally well-cast, and the actors have the characters off to a tee. Terrific.

I read the book and loved the story, so when it was made into a movie, I was a bit skeptical about it being as good. However, I was pleasantly surprised and actually enjoyed it very much. I understand that it is impractical, not to mention unrealistic to expect that everything will stay the same as the book. However, I think that the screenwriter/s did a fantastic job in bringing the characters alive on the big screen. The action and special effects were spectacular and the actors were pretty convincing too. However, I felt that Clary's father in the movie was too young looking. But, I think, all in all, the casting was pretty accurate. I purchased the DVD because I wanted to relive the movie and watch it whenever I wanted. I am definitely looking forward to watching the next movie in the series!I am a huge Cassandra Clare fan, and highly recommend this DVD to everyone who love paranormal romances with tons of action and danger thrown in, not to mention Angels, Demons, Warlocks, Werewolves etc. Some "Twilight" fans will either love it or hate it. But I definitely LOVE it.

Firstly, I have not read the books and like with most films you shouldn't really compare it to the books anyway, as they would need to make changes to make it a film!! This film had vampires (the bloodsucking evil ones, not the loved up indecisive ones, lol), some romance and a good storyline. I would say the few problems I found with this film was the way they left it at the end, meant it definitely needs a follow up film, although it doesn't look at the moment likes it going to get one. However you never know they might. The other problems I had was with Jace and it was a mixture of things like he would just turn his back if it was something he didn't like instead of doing anything (this happens towards the end of the film). Couple of other small things, but I don't want to give out any spoilers. Its definitely worth giving this film a watch, you might be pleasantly surprised.

As a somewhat older person ( a 40 something mum of 2 small offspring) this is not the typical film I d pop on and think of watching , but I caught a bit of it on TV and enjoyed that small section I caught so much, I thought I'd buy the film on Prime to watch as a bit of light entertainment when I want to stop worrying about the world . Being based on a series of books aimed , I imagine, at a more youthful group there are of course similarities with Twilight movies and the Divergent cluster of films - but there are a few big names in the cast and even with the plot , the special effects are great fun and it is a very watchable film.I was actually upset that it was a flop and the sequels won't be made. Of course watching the ethereally beautiful Jamie Campbell Bower as demon stalker Jace , was definitely a perk and there are some funny moments - sometimes you don't need a cerebral dark plot line to make a great movie. I ll happily watch this a good few times without getting bored. If you like teen films with vampires and werewolves this film brings that with a bit of added sophistication.

awesome

I usually like the settings of YA movies but this one was trying entirely too hard to be dark and edgy while all the character direction felt like they were the out of highlander (love that movie but the dialogue sucks) or the well meaning but mostly dumb-fun series Sanctuary.Overall, big budget (beautiful sets and FX), atrocious dialogue/pacing.The visuals were pretty dammed good the fight scenes were a mix of stabby stabby and silly lookingThe pacing was downright sluggish (for a 2 hour movie it felt like it was never going to get to the point/endthe cast was was better than this writing/directing(/adaptation?) deserved plus the quantities of black eye-liner, mopey rune-inscribed people and teenage/YA melodrama was set firmly to "yes".Imagine if every character in a movie was either Angel (no soul) or late-series Giles from buffy and you get the general idea.Alas the one thing that stood out most for me is that they were trying to play the heavy-stakes game with the plot but almost none of the cast took any hits or damage of note and the goth-ish theming would have worked a lot better if everyone didn't act like such utter posers most of the time.