279, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Its about time another Teen Fiction Fantasy made it onto our screen after the success of Harry Potter & Twilight (not for me you understand!) but for all those lost kids needing a new focus on life.  Luckily, the Author of the Immortal instruments saga really listed and paid attention to what's already proved popular as this movie has a little bit of everything, let me explain.

Its got Werewolves, Vampires, Magic, Hidden Castles, Warriors, Demons and much much more.  The story is quite simple.  After seeing a murder take place in a club that apparently is lost on everyone else, Clara (Lily Collins) discovers she is the most recent descendant in a long line of Shadow Hunters (defenders of a dark realm) and after the disappearance of her mother realises its time to take on her own destiny as she joins a band of warriors takes with keeping the demons at bay.

Its a great idea and one that is executed brilliantly.  As you've most probably guessed - I haven't read the books but it didn't matter.  I heard it on pretty good authority from a 'reader' that in all honesty, the movie is a really good adaptation.  All of the basic requirements are covered and it quickly gets into the 'who's who' of the storyline.  Clara heads the pack, with her 'bestie' Simon (Robert Sheehan) playing the besotted puppy following her every move, albeit nicely.  They team up with the Warriors - Jace, Isabelle & Alec played by relative unknowns but all of them brilliant.

The bad guys are led by the ever impressive Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Valentine) who's right hand man Pangborn (Kevin Durand) reprises a role similar to the one he plays in 'I Am Number Four', just without the teeth! There are plenty of others characters but to name them all would wipe out the rest of this blog!

What I loved about this movie is it takes the best bit of all the preceding franchises seen over the past 10 years, drops the pointless parts and focuses on all the good stuff.  Its got all the magic and captivation of the Potter films mixed seamlessly with a Twilight styled (and albeit brief) love story that soon comes to a crashing irreversible halt (you'll see).  The Vampires are more like Zombies than sweet an innocent 'day walkers' and the Werewolves proper 'Hulk' out when needed. 

The Demons are quite startling, taking form from everything from the sweet old next door neighbour to a snarling Rottweiler.  These are brilliantly hidden from the outside 'mortal' world leaving the Warriors to wherever possible deal their destruction in the shadows.

Lily Collins is fantastic and the 2nd part is already in pre-production for a 2014 release date so hopefully, we will get one of these a year to see the saga through and with each book taking a different direction I am hoping for a good run of films, each improving as they go. 

To be honest - I was expecting a lame Twilight rip off but this takes out all the fluff and really gets down to a cracking story line with more violence than you'd expect and a great twist that flattens any kind of romance before it really gets going, Who wants romance in a Vampire / Werewolf / Demon / Warrior movie any way?