The Mortal Instruments

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 8/26/13 at 2:16am

Please tell me someone else saw this over the weekend!

This kinda sums the whole thing up.

"Throws everything at the wall to see what sticks - Werewolves, vampires, warlocks, love triangles - because what is a tween story without one of those, gay demon hunters, incest...Wait, what? It is a mess, but somehow it works"

Cant wait for the sequel .

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 8/26/13 at 8:34am

I saw it and pretty much hated it.

I thought the books were fun, but to quote a friend who saw it with me, "The person who wrote the screenplay must have REALLY hated the book because nothing was the same!"

I know you can't keep everything the same when adapting a novel, but this was a mess- plus they gave away so pretty big spoilers from the second and third books.

Lily Collins was surprisingly decent after her ghastly turn in Mirror Mirror, but she is too pretty to have been cast in that role.

This series could have been an amazing companion piece to The Vampire Diaries. I mean, this has The CW written all over it.

After it bombed this weekend I doubt it will get a sequel. Both this and Beautiful Creatures were box office duds and thought could put a damper on the genre for a while.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 8/26/13 at 8:44am

Lily Collins was at least watchable ( god i wanted to slap her off the screen in Mirror Mirror ) having not read the books. I found the movie a camp stupid mess, scenes made no sense ( the two shadow hunters with the grey stuff on the floor above the witches apartment! )

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 8/26/13 at 9:11am

Oh yes! They didn't explain what Alex and Isabelle were doing up there at all.

Isabelle had ZERO characterization (she's a lot of fun in the books) and Alex didn't get much better.

Magnus was the worst though. He's my favorite character in the books and is very funny. I always envisioned him as a young, Asian Nathan Lane(!). This guy read his lines like he just had a lobotomy- not that he had any good lines to work with, but still.

The last third of the movie didn't resemble the book in the least. The ending in the book has them in an abandoned insane asylum on Roosevelt's Island and the final showdown is between Luke and Valentine, not Jace and Valentine.

The fight with the vampires was pretty disappointing too. In the book Simon drinks that blue drink to impress Isabelle and he turns into a rat. One of the vampires steals him to get back at Jace who sabotaged their flying motorcycles earlier. Only Clary and Jace go to the Vampire Hotel and save Rat Simon, but they also meet Raphel, the vampire leader, who plays a role in future books. That sequence ends with them stealing one of the motorcycles and flying over the East River all the way to Brooklyn!

[bwayrose7]

Posted: 8/26/13 at 10:38pm

I saw it too. Didn't have quite as negative a reaction as you all, but I still love the books far more. Izzy wasn't characterized nearly enough, but I thought Alec fared better. Mostly because Kevin Zegers really made the most of his reaction shots and the two main moments (the fight with Clary and the held gaze with Magnus). And speaking of Magnus, I really wanted to like him but he was nowhere near the glittery, funny, charismatic guy from the books.
I guess Rat-Simon was cut for budget reasons? And I know there's been a lot of fan debate over revealing Valentine's lie two stories earlier than it is in the books, but, come on, how likely would it be that people would come back if they really thought it was true?
Not a bad movie, but I admit I hoped for more for a book series I've loved since I was a teenager. If the sequel does get made (supposed to start filming in 3 or 4 weeks), I hope they take this as a learning experience and improve.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/27/13 at 1:49am

I tried reading the first book. I could not get through the first half, and I tried twice. That genre is just not for me. I feel like it's a ton of Harry Potter and Hunger Games rip offs. It was not always like that, but sadly that's what the young adult/teen sci-fi/fantasy genre has become.

[broadwayboy101]

Posted: 9/12/13 at 2:01am

Am I the only one who loved it? It wasn't what I was expecting at all, but it got me interested enough to buy the book. After finishing all of them, the books are better, but the movie is fine as its own entity. A lot of the changes don't make sense, I admit (SPOILER: Valentine's deception being a HUGE issue; neither me nor my friends noticed it on first viewing, however, it was such a quick comment), but I still found it enjoyable. Thought it was unfairly viscerated by the critics - their main issue seemed to be the plot itself which was lifted straight from the book. I also thought the acting was much better than a lot of other book-to-screen adaptations.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 9/12/13 at 3:24am

This is the only movie I want to see that's playing at the movie theater I used to work at. I'm wondering if I should even call in a favor on this, or pay the $6.50 for "Early Bird Showing".

I love cheesy, stupid, campy supernatural horror movies.

I won't be able to see it until Wednesday, though. I hope it stays in theater that long.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 9/12/13 at 7:24am

Jungle, its worth the 6.50!