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Home / Entertainment

Movie review: The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones

Dominic Corry
By Dominic Corry
Herald on Sunday·
24 Aug, 2013 10:30 PM2 mins to read

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Jonathan Rhys Meyers in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.

In the word game Boggle, no points are scored for presenting words which any other player has as well. If we apply this standard to The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones - i.e. we discount any elements that feature in other movies - all we are left with is a few dodgy tattoos and some mild incest.

Lily Collins (Phil's daughter) plays the annoyingly named Clary, a teenage New Yorker who discovers that she is descended from a long line of half-angel warriors tasked with protecting our realm from demons.

This latest attempt to recreate the commercial power of the Twilight films is, of course, based on the first in a series of Young Adult-targeted books.

I can't speak to the novels, but the film suffers greatly for so shamelessly evoking Harry Potter; Buffy The Vampire Slayer and yes, Twilight.

The tormented romance at this film's core (between Collins and the generically broody Jamie Campbell Bower) never convinces, and the fantasy elements fail to pop.

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Even the weightier cast members (Game of Thrones' Lena Heady; Mad Men's Jared Harris) are unable to class things up. There's a base level of competence here, but this film should only impress viewers who've never seen a movie before.

Stars: 2/5
M; 130 minutes. Out now.

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