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shadowfireflameI can’t believe I haven’t heard anybody talking about this movie! C’mon, fanfiction fans! Long story short: it’s not terrible, which is more than can be said about some other young adult franchises, but it’s not particularly good either.
On the plus side, I thought the casting in general was fantastic—particularly of Jace (played by Jamie Campbell Bower), but also of Clary (played by Lily Collins, whose acting skills were convincing). Jace doesn’t get much to do, but he looks great doing it, perfectly matching my vision of both Jace and fanon!Draco. At one point when Simon (Clary’s best friend), Clary, and Jace are on a mission to rescue Luke (the werewolf), I started longing for a Harry Potter fanfiction in which Draco replaced Ron in the Trio, Harry and Hermione had some one-sided pining, and Hermione and Draco had some sexual tension while on missions together. And then I realized, oh, I’ve basically just described wanting to re-read The Draco Trilogy. By Cassandra Clare. *facepalm*
However, many of the problems that plagued the book come back to haunt the movie, primarily in the messy worldbuilding. For me, the main issue, and a debilitating one, is that the Shadowhunters and their runes are never fully explained—hell, or even partially explained—, so the stakes are unclear from the beginning. This isn’t helped by the numerous info dumps by Hodge (Jared Harris) and others, which just serve to add random other supernatural elements to the confusing mix. In addition, while I was interested in certain characters, there were just too many to follow any of them closely, not even Jace or Clary. And nothing is resolved, just like in the book.
That’s all right by me, though, because there’s a particular scene in the sequel (new-vampire!Simon drinking Jace’s blood) that I desperately need to see onscreen. So even though I didn’t like it that much, I will definitely be watching any follow-up movies.
On the plus side, I thought the casting in general was fantastic—particularly of Jace (played by Jamie Campbell Bower), but also of Clary (played by Lily Collins, whose acting skills were convincing). Jace doesn’t get much to do, but he looks great doing it, perfectly matching my vision of both Jace and fanon!Draco. At one point when Simon (Clary’s best friend), Clary, and Jace are on a mission to rescue Luke (the werewolf), I started longing for a Harry Potter fanfiction in which Draco replaced Ron in the Trio, Harry and Hermione had some one-sided pining, and Hermione and Draco had some sexual tension while on missions together. And then I realized, oh, I’ve basically just described wanting to re-read The Draco Trilogy. By Cassandra Clare. *facepalm*
However, many of the problems that plagued the book come back to haunt the movie, primarily in the messy worldbuilding. For me, the main issue, and a debilitating one, is that the Shadowhunters and their runes are never fully explained—hell, or even partially explained—, so the stakes are unclear from the beginning. This isn’t helped by the numerous info dumps by Hodge (Jared Harris) and others, which just serve to add random other supernatural elements to the confusing mix. In addition, while I was interested in certain characters, there were just too many to follow any of them closely, not even Jace or Clary. And nothing is resolved, just like in the book.
That’s all right by me, though, because there’s a particular scene in the sequel (new-vampire!Simon drinking Jace’s blood) that I desperately need to see onscreen. So even though I didn’t like it that much, I will definitely be watching any follow-up movies.
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Date: 2013-08-25 06:05 pm (UTC)