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Clary Fray is dumped in at the deep end when she thinks she witnesses a murder in a New York nightclub. It's not an actual murder but a demon-slaying and she's seen and been seen by a group of young shadowhunters, invisible to mundane eyes. Which means Clary is not the ordinary human she's been brought up to think she is. When their apartment is ransacked, her mother abducted and a demon set on to Clary, she turns to the shadowhunters for help, dragging her mundane friend , Simon, into the search with her. They meet Jace (whom she is attracted to) and brother and sister, Alec and Isabelle. The search takes them from Luke, her mother's (werewolf) boyfriend (dishy Aidan Turner) and the witch in the downstairs apartment to Magnus, a powerful warlock. They are both hunter and hunted because Clary's hidden memories hold the secret location of a magical artifact that can create more shadow-hunters. There's a frenetic climax with all the good guys fighting a multitude of bad guys in several different places at the same time and a revelation which doesn't turn out too well for Clary and Jace, romance wise.
Clary is well played by Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell-Bower broods prettily as Jace. I quite enjoyed the book, City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare and this was essentially the same story with bits slimmed down to movie length and with Jace's essential jerk-ness minimised, presumably to make him a more appealing hero. It may have been because of the distracting, giggly, fidgety teens sitting right behind us, but for some reason I didn't quite like the film as much as I thought I was going to, though it was sumptuous to look at with plenty of eye-candy for all. (Aidan Turner, like I said, and Jonatrhan Rhys Meyers if you like that kind of thing, plus a very under-used Lena Headey and a gaggle of pretty teens.)
But, hey, don't I remember a flying motorbike in the book? The film wasn't short of SFX but this bike kept its wheels on the ground. Perhaps they are saving that special effect for the next movie. City of Ashes is in pre-production right now. I liked this well enough to go and see the next one.
Clary is well played by Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell-Bower broods prettily as Jace. I quite enjoyed the book, City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare and this was essentially the same story with bits slimmed down to movie length and with Jace's essential jerk-ness minimised, presumably to make him a more appealing hero. It may have been because of the distracting, giggly, fidgety teens sitting right behind us, but for some reason I didn't quite like the film as much as I thought I was going to, though it was sumptuous to look at with plenty of eye-candy for all. (Aidan Turner, like I said, and Jonatrhan Rhys Meyers if you like that kind of thing, plus a very under-used Lena Headey and a gaggle of pretty teens.)
But, hey, don't I remember a flying motorbike in the book? The film wasn't short of SFX but this bike kept its wheels on the ground. Perhaps they are saving that special effect for the next movie. City of Ashes is in pre-production right now. I liked this well enough to go and see the next one.
