The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

  Another day, another YA adaptation.  This one isn't the worst but it's not great.

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) is a normal teenager, or so she thinks, when she starts having visions of a certain symbol which no one else seems to be able to see, not even her best friend, Simon (Robert Sheehan).  Clary's mother (Lena Headey) knows what the symbol means but is kidnapped before she can explain.  Clary gets a crash course in demon hunting from taciturn Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower), head of a team of rune-wielding Shadowhunters based in New York City.  He tells Clary that because she is able to see the super-secret symbol, she is also a Shadowhunter and her mom has obviously hired someone to magically repress her memories.  The people who kidnapped her mother were looking for a magical cup, one of three objects of power given to the Shadowhunters.  Clary's mother stole it when became clear that her lover (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) was planning to use it for nefarious purposes and hidden it.  Clary and Jace must find the cup before everyone else.

Instead of following the trend of having the doe-eyed teen girl be unable to choose between two equally hot men, this one immediately friendzones the human kid and throws all its weight behind the broody outsider.  The twist is that he **SPOILER ALERT (highlight between the asterisks to read)** is possibly her brother.  Not even half-brother.  Full siblings.  **END SPOILER**  Obviously, this is not a tactic that will be emulated often but it does serve as a quick douse of cold water and also a source of hilarity for those cynical viewers like me.

I can't really say that I would encourage anyone to watch this.  I had read previously that this novel series started as Harry Potter fan fiction, with the Jace character explicitly based on Draco Malfoy.  I cannot find any actual evidence of this other than hearsay, but if you look at the movie through that lens, it's hard not to credit the rumor with truth.  Slap the dude in a green hoodie and he practically screams House Slytherin.  If you liked Harry Potter, you might like this film.  Personally, I felt that it was wildly uneven in tone, used a mashup of character cliches, and wasted several very talented actors.