All the stories are true in this first trailer for THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: THE CITY OF BONES

With Twilight finally riding off into the sparkly sunset, the search is on for the next big thing. with studios just snapping up the rights to YA adult novels like Darryn in a pie shop. We’ve already seen the first big contender earlier this year in The Hunger Games, which showed us that having that tweeny romance angle that Twihards lapped up so much, is made a whole lot more bearable when you have an actress who can actually act, and a story that doesn’t feel like it was written by a drunk 12-year old girl.

Now it’s The Mortal Instruments: The City of Bones‘s turn to take a crack at that recipe. The good recipe, I mean, not the drunk 12-year old girl one.

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder—much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing—not even a smear of blood—to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…

I must admit, based on that synopsis alone, I probably would have given this one a miss. After watching that trailer though… well, there’s still a chance I might end up giving it a miss, but at least I’ll be conflicted about it.

The action certainly seems decent enough, with an almost Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel to it, and from what I’ve read online there is a really deep mythology to be explored here. Also, having the always amazing Jared Harris in your movie certainly helps to get my attention.

Director Harald Zwart may have been responsible for the bumbling idiocy of The Pink Panther 2 (the rubbish 2009 Steve Martin version, not the classic Peter Sellers original) but then a year later produced the Jaden Smith/Jackie Chan The Karate Kid remake, which by all accounts should have been nowhere near as good as it actually ended up being.

And Lily Collins (daughter of old school rocker Phil Collins, and heir of Eugene Levy’s eyebrows) certainly isn’t a horrible actress, so if Zwart can pull off the same quality switcheroo that he did with The Karate Kid, this may just end being something to see.

Last Updated: November 16, 2012