The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) poster
2013 · fantasy · action · mystery · supernatural

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Directed by Harald Zwart2h 10m2013
ElsewhereIMDb5.8141kRT13%Metacritic33
  • sombre
  • kinetic
  • extreme
  • inventive
  • twisty
  • epic-stakes
Movie DNA

Sombre, breathless, extreme fantasy / action, surreal in texture. Ambivalent, epic, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

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In New York City, Clary Fray, a seemingly ordinary teenager, learns that she is descended from a line of Shadowhunters — half-angel warriors who protect humanity from evil forces. After her mother 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.

Our read · The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) reads as a sombre, breathless, surreal fantasy · action · mystery entry — extreme in intensity, epic-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of The Mortal Instruments

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want glossy YA urban fantasy with demons, romance, and secret bloodlines.

ends triumphantyou’ll be fine aftergrabs you earlygrips from the openattention 2/5feels its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upjump scares

Skip it tonightSkip if derivative franchise bait and muddy lore will frustrate you.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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