The Mortal Instruments - City Of Bones (2013)

Though I haven't seen it, I imagine this movie might be a bit like Twilight. The main character's a girl, surrounded by guys; there are kisses, romance, flowers blooming, rain falling, laughs and sharp words and the whole world is at her fingertips. Sure she's been through trauma, but she's constantly helped by the men surrounding her, they guide her on, give her a hand if she trips, tells her to shush she she bumps into a stone... there's something very wrong about the naivety and carelessness with which she handles her male acquaintances. How she keeps not knowing what to do and they keep guiding her, and we're supposed to appreciate her as the heroine; main character even when she's both continuously careless and helpless. It's quite different from a series such as Underworld, where everybody is actively fighting to survive and there's no room for continuous gasps and shivers amidst the manufactured madness. That's OK at the beginning, but when it just drags on and on...

Well, never mind that. Apart from her messy relationships and aura of helplessness and naivety Lily Collins constantly radiates, it was a pretty awesome movie! The whole idea is awesome, normal humans bestowed the power of shadow hunters to become mortal instruments, a war between demons and angel-sent humans raging, werewolf's, vampires, all kinds of foul and fictitious beasts. But not zombies. The sceneries are awesome, the characters all radiant and aesthetically charming (sometimes too much so) and the action is intense. I get confused vibes in how I'm really aggravated with certain elements, but still want to see more! It's a good movie but oh at times it's just way too corny. And I'm not even going to bring up Hodges sudden betrayal and retribution, or how the entire clan of werewolves are slaughtered and yet all shadow hunters survive... without lending them even a thought, a little "I'm sorry about your gigantic loss"? Loose ends and annoying surplus focus on the wrong emotions and details are what derail this from perfection to: something in the Twilight zone.

 rated 3/5: not bad