The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Description

Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother (Lena Headey), Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures. Based on the worldwide best-selling book series.Though The Mortal Instruments springs from a young adult fantasy series, it has more in common with Buffy the Vampire Slayer than The Hunger Games. In this Cassandra Clare-created world, which looks like our own, vampires and werewolves comprise part of the populace. Clary (Lily Collins of the amazing eyebrows) lives in Brooklyn with her mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey, Game of Thrones), and has no idea that such creatures exist until the night she and her friend, Simon (Robert Sheehan, BBC s Misfits), meet Jace, a Shadowhunter (Jamie Campbell Bower, a male model and Twilight Saga veteran). Jace identifies her as a member of his half-angel tribe, who live to fight evil, something Jocelyn neglected to tell Clary before she went missing, so the trio sets out to track her down before a turncoat Shadowhunter (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) gets ahold of her magical chalice and wreaks havoc. Along their travels, they receive help from a few characters, including a mentor (Jared Harris) and a witch (CCH Pounder), and hindrance from others, like disgusting demons and ravenous bloodsuckers. To the chagrin of Simon, Clary and Jace also fall for each other. If it all sounds familiar, that s because it is, and director Harald Zwart (The Karate Kid) doesn t have the lightness of touch that characterizes Joss Whedon s fantastical scenarios. The cast members do what they can, but their insurmountable obstacles involve an excess of plot, awkward dialogue, and a silly Star Wars twist. Here s hoping the proposed sequel resolves some of these issues. --Kathleen C. Fennessy