Watching the first installment of the big-screen adaption of Cassandra Clare’s best-selling young adult pantasiya novel, The Mortal Instruments, felt very much like watching the first Twilight film. To me, that meant laughing loudly at parts that were probably not intended to be comical and cringing at what may only be described as extremely cheesy romantic scenes. However, that withstanding, I should point out that the production value, pagganap and special effects were much better for The Mortal Instruments, now that Hollywood has learned that it is worth it to invest some big bucks in young adult novels.

Clary (as portrayed sa pamamagitan ng the very thick-eye browed Lily Collins) gets a distressing call from her mother (Queen Cersei! I mean, Lena Headey) and then finds out she has disappeared, leaving their Brooklyn apartment in shambles. Conveniently, this black leather attired guy named Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower) followed her tahanan from the night before and informs her she is not a mundane (normal human or Muggle) but a Shadowhunter, someone who is half angel and born to slay demons. Jace takes her to this old Gothic cathedral in New York where she meets some fellow hunters, Alec and Isabelle, also dressed in the Shadowhunter uniform of Goth. Apparently, all Shadowhunters are British too, except Clary.

Clary also meets Hodge (Jared Harris, the ad man who killed himself in Mad Men), an older and wiser(?) Shadowhunter, who gives her some history and tells her they need to find the Mortal Cup, one of the mortal instruments, and the reason that Clary’s mother was taken. Clary quickly learns about werewolves, vampires, and humans in the form of demons. She also starts to learn about how best to use her powers and makes up for all those Nawawala years of training sa pamamagitan ng possessing special powers the other hunters do not have. This is because not only is her mother a Shadowhunter, but her father is a very powerful and very evil hunter named Valentine (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). For all the romantics, there is the requisite “falling in love” scene between Jace and Clary, with Demi Lovato’s latest single suddenly bursting through the speakers and completely ruining any semblance of ambiance. (Spoiler alert if you haven’t read the books!) There are also some obvious similarities to bituin Wars (Jace, I am your father! My ring does not say “W,” it says “M” - nooooooo) not to mention some highly cringe-worthy moments where you wonder why the may-akda decided to explore the issue of incest (don’t ask). Perhaps I should be giving the producers credit for not changing the book too much?

Recommendation: really only for fans of the book.