When her mother disappears, Clary Fray learns that she descends from a line of warriors who protect our world from demons. She joins forces with others like her and heads into a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld.
My general thoughts:
It wasn’t great, but I didn’t fall asleep either so I guess the one plus is that it wasn’t boring? I’m 95% through the first book and there were definitely some differences. Some purists will have a field day ripping it apart. I felt as if it was a extremely rushed in first half. They got to all of the big scenes while cutting out a lot of character development that would allow us to become invested in the cast. Don’t get me wrong, I could have done without some of melodrama we’re subjected to in the books, but I just felt like this cut things down way too much. It’s even harder to buy into Clary and Jace. I think Jace is more appealing in the movie as opposed to the books where I often found him annoying, probably because we’re getting a smaller dose of him here. But I felt no chemistry at all between him and Clary in the film. It felt forced and honestly I laughed at the attempts at romance.
There were other laughs too, but a number of them were probably unintentional. There’s this one scene that feels like the film pays homage to the beginning of the Wesley Snipes’ Blade when he clears out a vampire house set to techno music.
The third act was probably the most entertaining part of the film, but it strays from the book quite a bit in an attempt to cut down running time.
On the plus side, I think it’s better than Twilight’s first film, though admittedly I am not a Twilight fan. I only read the books and then saw the first two movies before tapping out (and no, I don’t think I’m missing out on anything). I also think it is probably better than that disastrous upcoming Vampire Academy movie, though that’s not saying much. The trailer told me all I need to know for that one and really the trailer for Mortal Instruments did as well. There were no surprises in terms of the mood, acting, plot, etc.
The effects were well done, but the demons weren’t how I imagined them in the novel. I feel like they missed out on an extra level of scariness. I would watch the second film if this one grosses enough money to get a sequel. I’m sure it will.
In short, I’ve seen worse book adaptations, but this is far from good even though it was entertaining. Readers of the book should watch it. I’m new to this series so I will be taking my time.
When I first heard this was getting made into a movie I was really excited. Then the trailer came out. I’m probably going to watch it anyway. Thanks for the review. Oh and I absolutely agree with you on the Vampire Academy movie trailer. I don’t think that movie is going to be at all good.
Hmmm. I’m thinking I could miss this. I read the first 2-1/2 books in the series, and didn’t care for the character development at all, so quit. Then, for some reason, I read the Clockwork Angel Trilogy, and was blown away. The writing was light years better, and the characters just broke my heart. It is by far the better of the two series, in my personal opinion. But I would have given this movie a chance, except I’m starting to hear other comments like yours.
The Vampire Academy thing is another downer. It was a big favorite of mine in YA paranormal, and I’m a huge Dimitri Belikov fan. Just looking at the casting and watching that horrible trailer lets me know that they didn’t even try to capture the feeling of the books. It’s like High School Musical decides to put on a play . . . in the barn . . . with fangs. Eeep.
Thanks for the review on this one. I’ll pass.
I only got to the second twilight too, thank god. I think I might see it if I ever catch it on TV but I probably won´t try very hard.
I’ve read the original trilogy. I was entertained but not moved. It was well shot, however, the pacing was off and your right the characters needed more development.