Evening everybody, as promised I have a new feature for Friday's. Film Friday is going to feature posts from all areas of film, whether I want to do an in-depth analysis of a cultural drama, or freak out about the attractiveness of an actor (can we talk about Dylan O'Brien please.) I've procrastinated starting this, surprise surprise, for so long that I've actually now seen the film that my first post was going to be about. City of Bones is the film adaption of the book of the same name by Cassandra Clare. COB is the first book in the Mortal Instruments series which as many of you will now know, are second only to the Potter books in my 'all time list of best series.'
To start off with, I cannot speak highly enough of the casting for this film, in terms of looks, the actors are absolutely perfect. Other than possibly the casting of Jemima West as Isabelle Lightwood, the cast have been praised universally, and rightly so. I don't think there's ever been an actor to character description that is as accurate as Robert Sheehan's casting as Simon.
For the interests of time, I'm going to speak about the film as though you've all read the book, but I've posted multiple reviews for the series/book which I'll link here for anyone who wants to catch up before seeing the film. I've also linked the trailer here too! Now, there were inevitably going to be some changes made from book to film and there is one in particular that I felt would possibly bother the most people. By revealing in the film that Jace and Clary are not actually siblings, you remove a lot of the terror/awkwardness/injustice/denial felt by the fans who've read the book. However, in the long run I totally understand why they felt they had to do it and overall it doesn't distract from the film. The added early Alec/Magnus and Isabelle/Simon moments were VERY appreciated too!
You know how sometimes you're excited for something and it doesn't live up to your expectations? This film did not do that, and basically, it's AMAZING. While I feel like the cast as a whole will really carry this film franchise by itself, there has to be a special mention to Jemima West for her portrayal as Isabelle, I mentioned earlier that her casting was the most debated among fans but she shone as Isabelle. She completely conveyed both her vulnerability and completely bad-ass-ness. One of my favourite moments of the film is when she challenges Jamie Cambell-Bower's character, Jace, and calls him out on his admittedly suckish behaviour. If I had any lingering doubt before hand, she totally blew them out of the water. Lily Collins was a wonderful Clary and her chemistry with Jamie C-B was just right. Obviously it helps that the two are in fact together in 'real life' too!
I had a lot of concerns about whether the film would fairly represent how wonderful Cassandra Clare's book is and I have since been completely reassured in the directors/cast's handling of one of my favourite books. A must read and a definite must watch for all movie fans, particularly in the young adult genre!
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