The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
WARNING! There are tons of spoilers from both the series & movie!!
Starring: Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Zegers, Jemima West, and Robert Sheehan
Director: Harald Zwart
Day of Release: August 21, 2013
Day I saw it: August 25, 2013
Who I saw it with: Two of my friends and some of their friends
Review: The
City of Bones is one of my favorite books. Actually, the entire series is one of my favorite series, so you can imagine how excited and anxious I was to see this film. I really wanted it to stay true to the book, and it did. I liked how many of the quotes from the book even made it into the film!
The sequence of some of the scenes changed a bit, but I didn't mind that, the scenes were still the same. Some of it was a bit different from the book though. In the film, Simon goes with Clary and Jace to the Institute earlier than he does in the book, and surprisingly, I was completely okay with this. The change wasn't that drastic and I actually liked having Simon there. It's weird because in the book I hated Simon, but in the movie, I thought he was adorable and I liked him (Not as much as Jace, though). Robert played him really well. Speaking of Simon, I actually liked what happened to him when the vampires took him better than what happened in the book.
However, I am not sure how I feel about all the shadowhunters going in to save him and not just Clary and Jace. That was a very important scene for Clary and Jace in the book. It showed how much Jace really cared about
Clary and was willing to even help her find the other boy who loves her. Oh, well. There was also some drastic changes towards the end of the film. Some of the changes I wasn't sure why they did, but I'm not complaining. One main change was the venue of where the big fight scene was, which to me, wasn't that important, and obviously if Cassandra Clare approved of the changes, then as a fan, I shouldn't care either. I think the biggest change that surprised me the most (and horrified me at first) was that Hodge told Valentine to lie to Clary and Jace and tell them that they're siblings to make them heartbroken. When that happened, I was like "WHAT?!" Major
City of Glass spoiler for those who haven't read the books! However, I assume the reason why they did this is to prevent an uproar occurring from the nonreaders. If that part wasn't in the film, people would actually think that they were siblings and that incest was going on and would be truly disgusted and that would prevent them from seeing the future films. So I understand completely why they made this decision.
However, some nonreaders might not even notice Hodge saying that to Valentine. My friends who haven't read the books didn't and asked me if they really were siblings or not. Needless to say, I told them the truth. There were also some other changes at the end that I'm not going to discuss because that will take to long.
The acting was phenomenal! It's hard to believe that it was just over a year ago when I posted a post about how I felt about the actors whom were going to portray each character. Click
HERE if you want to read it. I read through it right before starting this review, and I was pretty hard on Lily (Clary), Robert (Simon), and Aidan Turner (Luke). They all proofed me wrong, and I'm so glad they did! They are all fantastic actors and they all played their characters very well! When I saw Jamie and Lily, I didn't think "Oh, that's Jamie" or "Oh, that's Lily." I saw them as their characters and not themselves!
I simply loved the scenes between Jace and Clary. They were so cute, and it reminded me of how much I like them together and of how much I LOVE Jace. Jamie did amazing as Jace. He was able to portray the rude, arrogant attitude and still be completely likable! Gosh, I can't wait to re-watch those scenes again and see more scenes with the two of them in
City of Ashes!!
Overall, I am still in Mortal Instruments mode after seeing this film yesterday. I seriously cannot wait to watch it again and to watch
City of Ashes next year!!!
The sequence of some of the scenes changed a bit, but I didn't mind that, the scenes were still the same. Some of it was a bit different from the book though. In the film, Simon goes with Clary and Jace to the Institute earlier than he does in the book, and surprisingly, I was completely okay with this. The change wasn't that drastic and I actually liked having Simon there. It's weird because in the book I hated Simon, but in the movie, I thought he was adorable and I liked him (Not as much as Jace, though). Robert played him really well. Speaking of Simon, I actually liked what happened to him when the vampires took him better than what happened in the book. 
I was really surprised when Jace called Valentine by his name because in the book, he thought Valentine was Michael Wayland. I agree with you that the change was most likely made for the benefit of those who haven't read the novel, and I'd been wondering how the movie was going to handle the sibling story line. I wasn't sure what to expect from the movie overall, but I ended up enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't that surprised at that part because I didn't remember that part in the book. During the final scenes I was like "That didn't happen in the book" but I was getting frustrated because I couldn't remember what really did happen. lol Yeah, I think they handled the sibling story line well. It was sad. I'm glad you liked it! :)
DeleteI thought the actors all did a phenomenal job and I was really impressed with Jamie as Jace because I wasn't too thrilled at first with that casting. But he was so good! But the changes at the end did bother me and I'm wondering about how that's going to affect future movies. And it was confusing. From movie, it seems like Jace wasn't really raised by Valentine. Unless somehow his memories were altered. But I don't think the movie was really clear about that at all. It shows the scene where Jace remembers the bird, and then suddenly it's Valentine's face he remembers. Was that a real memory with Valentine? And the fact that they think we can't handle Clary and Jace being brother and sister. If the readers could handle it, why not movie goers? :) Anyway, great review! I still loved the movie, but some of those changes were just irksome. ~Pam
ReplyDeleteThanks!! I was a little worried about Jamie as Jace too, but I'm glad he proved us wrong! And yes, I agree. Clary in the movie still has the cup (in the book, she didn't). I'm wondering how that will change City of Ashes and City of Glass (if they make City of Glass). I see what you mean regarding Jace's memories. Were they altered in the movie? Or what? And lol! I was thinking the same thing. If book readers can handle it, why not movie goers? I don't know. Then again, I'm sure many people didn't even realize Hodge saying that to Valentine. My friends didn't. It might be something only a few nonreaders noticed.
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