Spoiler alert! (Duh)
I’ve been a diehard Mortal Instruments fan for a couple of years now. Jace is by far one of my favorite characters that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting – his sarcastic, snippy, humorous, yet still tender personality embodies what I picture to be the image of strength. He is strong for those he loves, and what better strength is there to have? On top of that, I picture him as a blond god.
The story line was beautiful and captivating, with plot twists that held me – and the movie, for me, destroyed that.
I went with a few other friends who were just as excited for this movie as I was, and we left utterly disappointed, upset, and enraged. First of all, the guy who plays Jace? He looks like a butthole and he can’t act to save his life. All of Jace’s snarky comments and bravado and charm were completely lost with Jamie Bowen. Every line that I recognized from the book fell completely flat. The relationship with Clary was botched as well – as I said, snarky Jace doesn’t play well with others, and throughout the majority of the series he simply WASN’T nice to her! There were a few moments he was, but especially in the first book he was very haughty and sarcastic, and their relationship was far different – and more complex and richer – than what was portrayed on the screen.
The CGI was terrible. Those demons made me laugh. Literally, sitting in the movie theater laughing.
Valentine – oh goodness. I will never understand why directors and screen casters find it necessary to deviate SO far from what was in the book – the book was great because of what was in it, and you already have a built in fan base! Why ruin something that doesn’t need to be? Book Valentine was charming, well dressed, well-spoken, and, while he was inherently mad, also had some traces of humanity in him. For god’s sake, Jocelyn fell in love with him! He had followers! Jace loved him! Yet, Movie Valentine was the complete opposite – grungy, dressed in black from head to toe, and obviously someone you would NEVER want around your children. He had freaking DREADLOCKS. COME ON. There is no way that anyone, let alone someone like Jocelyn, would fall in love with him, ever.
Clary drawing a rune on her hand. Holding it up. And freezing demons. Uhh…no. That’s not how it works. She doesn’t even know about that power until the second book – all she knows is the picture thing. Even if she did know, runes don’t give you super powers like that! And even if they did – and let’s say they did for a moment, since the movie does – WHY wouldn’t you kill all those demons while they were immobile? You had seraph blades. But no, instead you decide to weave your way through them and let them wake up. Real smart.
The portal? Uhhh what? That’s not how it’s supposed to work.
And for the cherry on top – the brother-sister thing. I CANNOT believe that they decided to tell the ENTIRE AUDIENCE the truth. That was the ENTIRE crux of their relationship! They struggled with this the entire series; it was their struggle, and in my opinion it was a very different plot twist from other books I’d read. Also, as a reader, it was a struggle with yourself – you want Clary and Jace together, but you’re sitting there going “they’re brother and sister…that’s gross…KISS. KISS NOW.” And now the movie has taken that away from every single person who watches it that hasn’t read the book. They are in the know when they shouldn’t be. When that scene took place, I literally yelled in the theater because I was so angry.
So, in conclusion – crappy casting, dreadful acting, terrible CGI, and poor “creative” choices made on the behalf of the director. I truly despise that movie. And that’s saying something, seeing how I love Eragon and the Twilight series, too.