Down and Dark in NYC
As far as Clary Fray (Lily Collins) is aware she is just a regular girl living in NYC with her mum Jocelyn (Lena Headey) and her mother's boyfriend. But when her mum goes missing shortly after Clary wakes up and covering her room with a strange symbol Clary discovers she is descended from a long line of Shadowhunters, a secret group of half angel warriors who protect the World from all sorts of demons. With the demons holding her mum demanding a magical cup Clary joins up with other Shadowhunters to roam Downworld, a very different New York where demons exist.
Movies are like buses, you wait for one type of movie to come along and then there is a whole host of them. As such after we had Potter we had a whole slew of fantasy movies where someone discovers that they are the chosen one and end up on a quest into a world of strange creatures and gothic rooms or fall for someone who is not of this World so to speak. Yep there certainly was a few and it seems as late as 2013 the movie studios were still draining the cash cow of its money with "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" which sees Lily Collins as a human who finds out she is anything but human and ends up in a battle of good against evil.
Now to be frank "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" ticks a lot of boxes; we have the appealing lead, an edgy tough guy, plenty of special effects and costumes alongside a bigger array of bad guys so it feels like it is out doing the last fantasy movie to do the same sort of thing. But it is still like that last fantasy movie you watched because whilst the details change, the bad guys may be more varied the formula is still the same one which worked last time around. And like last time around there will be audiences who enjoy the fantasy drama and action but there will be a growing number who finish disappointed by it all and its heavily choreographed nature to the point that when a mass battle scene arrives so does an out of place techno soundtrack because it has a distracting driven beat.
Now as I said "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" ticks a lot of boxes and in fairness the cast play their parts pretty well. Lilly Collins rocks the human heroin thing and the sexy impact outfits which comes with the role. And then there is Jamie Campbell Bower who brings an edge and oddity to the role which makes him a non standard hero and interesting with it. But the characters are either standard or forgettable and as such don't lead you to think I want to watch these guys again.
What this all boils down to is that "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" might entertain a young teen audience but for those who have already worked their way through the many previous and similarly themed fantasy movies will find it all a little old hat. Okay I will say it, a little too "Twilight".
