I am going to start this up front with a disclaimer.
There has been a lot of hate floating around, and a lot of fans becoming very
defensive of the movie and books because of this hate. I am a huge fan of the
books, and I did not dislike the movie. I am not here to hate or crush people’s
happiness. I am simply going to explain what I liked and disliked about the
movie, as a fan of the book series and
book world, as a reader, as a movie lover, and as a writer myself. These are my
opinions, and may be very different from other peoples. Anyone and everyone can
feel free not to like them. I am certainly not going to be the one to say that
I am the queen of all and know more than anyone else about films and books.
Please feel free to disagree, though I elect to ignore senseless hate. However
I will again iterate, what is to follow is not hate. I do not hate the movie. I
am merely going to explain likes and dislikes. I usually don’t have to explain this
kind of thing up front, but with trolls rampant and fans getting more than a
little upset, I wanted the record to be straight.
As a book to movie
interpretation I give this one a 4 out of 5. Granted, there are a lot of things
changed, especially in how the movie handled the end of the story. However, as
a reader I cannot say they messed anything up. There was a lot of the same
amazing wit from the book, something I loved about the writing. Many lines were given verbatim, and that is
just something great to see when analyzing book adaptations. It really brings
the story to life. Also, the things they did change helped move the story along
in the film version. There is no way to make an exact replica of a book’s story
when transitioning it to film, but the story was, I have to say, very intact.
The ending, though different in the setting and the way it was approached
(including with some minor changes in scene and happening) stuck with the original
story, and there wasn’t really anything important that was left out, torn
apart, messed up, deluded, or any of the other numerous horrors that book fans
fear when their beloved reads hit theaters. Lovers of the books breathe a sigh
of relief, the story was intact!
Also, another sigh of relief,
the characterization was spot on and amazing. In my opinion, just about all the
characters hit me in just the right way. I was very happy to see that the actors
and actresses were their characters. The only character I was massively disappointed
in was Magnus. Now, I will say Godfrey Gao looked the part perfectly and he was
not a bad actor, especially considering English is his second language.
However, I was not sold on his performance of the infamously snarky and
flamboyant warlock that the Mortal Instruments readers have come to know and
love. There was just something in his lines that lacked that emotion and
personality that is Magnus. I hated to say it, but the moments with him felt,
to me, very wooden and rehearsed. I do hope that it has something to do with
how little screen time he had in this film, and I am hoping it will become
better with more in the future films. If I had not read these books, he would
have been a pretty forgettable character to me, and Magnus written is anything
but forgettable.
On a lesser note, Valentine
was another character that I didn’t quite expect to come across as he did. He
certainly was the perfect psychopath. However, I’d always seen his character as
a cool and collected socio-path, ready to screw maliciously with your mind
until you want to die. His truly crazy snap doesn’t really come out until much
later story plot in the books, and not until the very last moment. I’m willing
to blame this on the actual actor’s diva like performance, than the writing of
the script.
And now further into the film:
For this second part I
wanted to give a little input on the film itself and how it came across as a
narrative. I personally give it a 3.5 out of 5 simply as a film. It was not a
bad movie, nor was it amazing. I felt in the middle about it, though I did come
away pretty happy.
One of the issues I had
with it was that many of the scenes came off as so dramatic, almost to a degree
that was unneeded. The fact that I wasn’t a big fan of the music selections for
said dramatic parts might not have helped. On the other hand, the Mortal Instruments
middle name is drama, and perhaps coming to film emphasized that in a way I
noticed much more than when I read the books.
Another major issue
that I noticed even more was the “convenience” of exposition and happenings. Exposition
is such a hard thing to work out in this kind of situation. It can be the
biggest challenge of a book to movie adaptation to give the exposition so that
non- readers and newbies to the story world can keep up, but without becoming bored.
This film did a pretty good job of explaining things (a fact I can back-up after
speaking with a non-reader of the books after he saw the movie). There is
enough that the watcher can keep up with the story-line of this film,
understand what is going on, and be engaged. However, my problem was less with
the content of the exposition and more with delivering of it. The way it came
out just didn’t seem natural to some of the characters who were giving it, and
even seemed to answer the questions before the “mundane” characters of the
story even thought to ask further. I do understand what with a strict time
setting and other film concerns, characters have a limited amount of time to
deliver story in-between the action, especially in this film. I don’t think
this film did a bad job per say. I just walked away feeling that it felt convenient
the way it came across, and couldn’t get it out of my head. This especially
came across for me in the scene where Isabelle is speaking with Simon, and
again when Clary is with Magnus. Neither Isabelle nor Magnus would have naturally
given up so much information, Isabelle not to a strange Mundane, and Magnus at
least not without being coy, tight lipped, and slightly irritated at the
Shadowhunter intrusion.
These nitpicks and
critiques are just on the whims I felt personally as I watched the film. Overall
I was pleased and I definitely urge fans to see the movie. Certainly it had
some critique, but I still liked it, found it immensely entertaining, and was
able to be emotionally attached to the film characters. I am also glad I can
very safely say, they didn’t mess it up!
-Special love to all
the Mortal Instruments fans.
By: Alissa Tsaparikos
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