The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones 2013

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Critics Consensus

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones borrows ingredients from seemingly every fantasy franchise of the last 30 years -- but can't seem to figure out what to do with them.

13%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 126

58%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 57,353

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The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Photos

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

Lily Collins as Clary and Aidan Turner as Luke in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace and Lily Collins as Clary in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Lena Headey as Jocelyn in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Lily Collins as Clary in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

(L-R) Jemima West as Isabelle Lightwood, Robert Sheehan as Simon and Lily Collins as Clary in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Lily Collins as Clary in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace and Lily Collins as Clary in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Valentine Morgenstern in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Lily Collins as Clary Fray and Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace Wayland in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Godfrey Gao as Magnus Bane in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace Wayland in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Kevin Zegers as Alec Lightwood in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Robert Sheehan as Simon Lewis in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Jemima West as Isabelle Lightwood in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Lily Collins as Clary Fray in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

(L-R) Jemima West as Isabelle Lightwood, Kevin Zegers as Alec Lightwood and Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace Wayland in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

Lily Collins as Clary in "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones."

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Movie Info

In New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager named Clary Fray (Lily Collins) learns that she is descended from a line of Shadowhunters -- half-angel warriors who protect humanity from evil forces. After her mother (Lena Headey) disappears, Clary joins forces with a group of Shadowhunters and enters Downworld, an alternate realm filled with demons, vampires and a host of other creatures. Clary and her companions must find and protect an ancient cup that holds the key to her mother's future.

Rating:

PG-13 (Intense Fantasy Violence|Intense Action|Some Suggestive Content)
Genre:

fantasy, action, adventure
Original Language:

English
Director:

Harald Zwart
Producer:

Robert Kulzer, Don Carmody
Writer:

Jessica Postigo
Release Date (Theaters):

Aug 21, 2013 wide
Release Date (Streaming):

Apr 18, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA):

$$31,165,421
Runtime:

2h 10m
Production Co:

Constantin Film International, Unique Features
Sound Mix:

SDDS, Dolby Digital, Datasat

Cast & Crew

Lily Collins
Clary Fray

Jamie Campbell Bower
Jace Wayland

Robert Sheehan
Simon Lewis

Kevin Zegers
Alec Lightwood

Lena Headey
Jocelyn Fray

Kevin Durand
Emil Pangborn

Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

2014 GLAAD Media Awards Winners

Parental Guidance: On DVD The Wolverine, Smurfs 2 and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Parental Guidance: Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Critic Reviews for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

All Critics (126) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (109)

Every fantasy creature except zombies get a workout in this overstuffed spectacle about a teenage girl who discovers she has angelic blood in her veins.

August 22, 2013 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…

Michael Sragow
Orange County Register
Top Critic
This is film-making at its most cynical. But none of it actually makes much sense.

August 22, 2013 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…

Francesca Steele
Guardian
Top Critic
"The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" plays like a "Scary Movie" parody.

August 22, 2013 | Rating: 1.5/4 | Full Review…

Peter Keough
Boston Globe
Top Critic
This desperate Twilight wannabe hits more than its own share of clunky notes.

August 22, 2013 | Full Review…

Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic
This tired mulch of fantasy clichés is hampered by its regressive attitude towards its plucky heroine.

August 22, 2013 | Rating: 1/5

Joseph Walsh
Little White Lies
Top Critic
Every moviegoer will have his own breaking point, when "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" surpasses the mundane and enters the ridiculous.

August 22, 2013 | Rating: 1/4 | Full Review…

Peter Hartlaub
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic
Screenwriter Jessica Postigo serves up a script that feels like a working draft.

September 17, 2020 | Rating: 1.5/4.0 | Full Review…

Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
Certainly has all the ingredients required to pique the curiosity of its target audience, yet offers only a tasteless and uninspired union of its literary conventions.

March 2, 2019 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Patrick Gamble
CineVue
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is a deft piece of fantasy filmmaking, exciting and engaging. Young adults and actual adults alike can enjoy it - it takes the format and makes it feel fresh, fun and even a little scary.

January 26, 2019 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Abbie Bernstein
Assignment X
Outlandishly clichéd and cockeyed, The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones is meshed together with all the conviction of preparing homemade goulash but without a comprehensive taste for escapist originality.

November 17, 2018 | Rating: 1.5/4 | Full Review…

Frank Ochieng
SF Crowsnest
They spend less than five minutes in the City of Bones. Will make you feel bad about your ab routine.

November 16, 2018 | Full Review…

Tara Thorne
The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
The actors wholeheartedly take on their roles, treating the material with the respect devotees expect.

November 6, 2018 | Full Review…

Sarah Gopaul
Digital Journal

View All Critic Reviews (126)

Audience Reviews for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Dec 06, 2016

I like science fiction, so I enjoyed most of the story. This movie does suffer from an un-understandable story line at times, and it is not that unique, but it is fun when Clary finds out what she is.

Red L Super Reviewer
Feb 12, 2015

I'm sure the book series is good...it's really popular and has many sequels, but this is just not a good movie, plain and simple. It's confusing as hell, and badly explained on top of that. The acting is okay, but the writing is awful and makes this feel like a Twilight Clone with magic. So I'll just chock this up as another badly-adapted young adult book series.

Stephen S Super Reviewer
Apr 20, 2014

First of all, I haven't read the books, so I couldn't say if this is a good adaptation or not. Judging by the comments of those who have, I am going to say probably not. I did manage to sit through the whole thing, but it wore it's welcome out by a good forty minutes. Cast are fine, story had potential, but was silly. Then again it's not a favourite genre of mine to start with. I have seen the Twilight movies and wasn't impressed past the first two. This just seemed cliched past those. Cheesy as all hell, but not romantic enough to get away with it. Really am getting fed up with these "fantasy" movies and books.

Nicki M Super Reviewer
Jan 27, 2014

Great action but the acting isn't really on an "immortal" level, if you know what I mean. (I really don't know how Jonathan Rhys Meyers will be able to live with himself.) The story is difficult to follow, frankly, but the faults are made up for in mindless adventure fun.

Christian C Super Reviewer

See all Audience reviews

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Quotes

Jocelyn:	Jesus!
Simon:	Nope! Just me!

Jace:

The world's the same. You're the one who's different.

Jocelyn:	It's okay if you want to hang your head out the window.
Luke:	I'm a werewolf, not a golden retriever.

Simon:

The werewolves are here to save us. Never thought I'd say that.

View All Quotes

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