The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is a 2013 German-Canadian action-adventure science fantasy film based on the first book of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. The story takes place in an urban and contemporary New York City.
Synopsis[]
Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray, discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother, Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures.
Plot[]
New York City teenager Clary Fray (Lily Collins) begins seeing a strange symbol, worrying her mother Jocelyn Fray (Lena Headey) and her mother's friend Luke Garroway (Aidan Turner). Later, at a nightclub with her friend, Simon Lewis (Robert Sheehan), Clary is the only person who sees Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower) killing a man. Meanwhile, Jocelyn is abducted by two men, Emil Pangborn (Kevin Durand) and Samuel Blackwell (Robert Maillet), but she is able to call Clary and warn her about someone named Valentine. Jocelyn drinks a potion putting her in a comatose state. Returning home, Clary finds her mother missing and is attacked by a demon. Jace, appears and kills it. Jocelyn like Jace was also a Shadowhunter (also called Nephilim), a warrior that slays demons and rules over the downworlders, and Clary has inherited her powers, including the ability to use runes.
Madame Dorothea (C. C. H. Pounder), the Fray's neighbor and a witch, deduces that Pangborn and Blackwell seek the Mortal Cup, one of the three Mortal Instruments given to the first Shadowhunter by the Angel Raziel. It allows normal humans to become half-Angel Shadowhunters. Simon, now able to see Jace, arrives and they go to Luke's bookstore. Pangborn and Blackwell are interrogating Luke there, who claims he cares nothing for Jocelyn and only wants the Mortal Cup. The trio escapes to the Shadowhunters' hideout, the Institute, where Clary and Simon meet two other Shadowhunters Alec Lightwood (Kevin Zegers) and Isabelle Lightwood (Jemima West), and their leader, Hodge Starkweather (Jared Harris). He reveals that Valentine Morgenstern (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an ex-Shadowhunter who betrayed the Nephilim seeks the Mortal Cup to control all Shadowhunters and demons.
Hodge instructs Jace to take Clary to the City of Bones so the Silent Brothers can probe Clary's mind for the Mortal Cup's location. The Brothers uncover a connection to Magnus Bane (Godfrey Gao), the High Warlock of Brooklyn. Bane says Jocelyn had him block the Shadowhunter world from Clary's mind. Vampires then kidnap Simon. Clary, Jace, Alec, and Isabelle trail them to their hideout and rescue him but are outnumbered. Werewolves (that share a truce with the Shadowhunters) intervene and save them.
At the Institute, Clary shares a romantic evening with Jace, ending in a kiss. When Simon confronts Clary about it, she downplays the incident, angering Jace. Simon confesses to Clary that he is in love with her, leaving her feeling guilty because she does not reciprocate his feelings.
Clary realizes the Mortal Cup is hidden inside one of Madame Dorothea's tarot cards that were painted by her mother. The group goes to Dorothea's apartment but she has been replaced by a demon sent to steal the Cup. Simon and Jace kill it, but Alec is critically wounded. Clary retrieves the Mortal Cup.
Clary gives the Mortal Cup to Hodge who betrays them by summoning Valentine Morgenstern and giving him the cup. Valentine reveals he is Clary's father and wants her to join him. She escapes through a portal that transports her to Luke's bookstore. Luke, revealed to be a werewolf, confirms that Valentine is her father and says Clary had an older brother called Jonathan who was killed. Luke and his werewolf pack return to the Institute with Clary to fight Valentine, who has summoned an army of demons through a portal he created. Simon and Isabelle close the portal with help from a repentant Hodge, who sacrifices himself. Meanwhile, Magnus Bane arrives and heals Alec.
Clary and Jace fight Valentine, who falsely claims both are his children. They refuse to join him and, following a battle, Clary pushes him through the portal after giving him a fake Mortal Cup. The portal is destroyed, and Jocelyn is rescued, but she remains in a coma at the hospital. Clary tells Simon that someday someone will love him. Clary heads back home and uses her new-found powers to repair the apartment. Jace appears, confessing he needs her and wants her to return to the Institute. Realizing she belongs in the Shadowhunter world, she goes with him.
Cast[]
- Lena Headey as Jocelyn Fray
- Lily Collins as Clary Fray
- Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace Wayland
- Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Valentine Morgenstern
- Robert Sheehan as Simon Lewis
- Jared Harris as Hodge Starkweather
- Kevin Zegers as Alec Lightwood
- Aidan Turner as Luke Garroway
- Kevin Durand as Emil Pangborn
- Jemima West as Isabelle Lightwood
- Godfrey Gao as Magnus Bane
- Robert Maillet as Samuel Blackwell
- CCH Pounder as Madame Dorothea
- Stephen R. Hart as Brother Jeremiah
Videos[]
Trailers[]
