The teen-fantasy genre makes a comeback in a fun but largely unfresh way.
Vampire, Demons, Wolves all make a come-back after the teen-fantasy bandwagon went missing since Twilight entered its grave. Now we have a new demon hunting group called ‘Shadowhunters’.
The film revolves a young ‘mundane’ (ordinary human aka muggle) named Clary who spots a strange event when entering a nightclub, she then discovers that she is no muggle.. oops sorry ‘mundane’ and discovers that she is part of another dimension in which Shadowhunters, demons, vampires, wolves etc. exist but not zombies though, they still don’t exist.
When I read the novel (in which the film is based upon) a while back I picked up a number of series familiarities with a bit of freshness with its little twist near the end, and well it was just fun seeing mystic mythology come together. The film is just that.. a fun entertaining mythical ride that flies by without any lasting punch.
The problem with it all is that the familiarities of other box-office hit series shine through it a bit too much with certain scenes directly mirroring them. The Institute is made too look like Hogwarts (The hospital wing, the corridors, the dungeons) while other scenes draw cards from Twilight (Jace on the piano, cough.. Bella and Edward). Wether these similarities are intentional remains to be seen but is certainly an off-putting draw card in terms of originality.
These issues are not helped when the fresh twist from the source material is watered down and ruined.The majority of the film though, follows it’s source material (and works nicely on film) until it goes off-the-rails near the end and poorly reworks its source materials ending.
Everything else the film gets right with the cast being superb, it’s nice-looking cinematography and being well paced. Its only technical fault was that awkwardly placed music!! The soundtrack is great but the incorporation within the film itself was very poorly executed when it suddenly interjects in scenes where it is unnecessary.
All aside, it is certainly an entertaining addition to the teen-fantasy genre that surpasses the Twilight franchise by a mile and offers major potential for the future, that is if the series finds its own feet rather than scrapping from barrels that have already been scrapped to death.
VERDICT: If you want a hybrid of Harry Potter and Twilight than this is something you may love, but do not expect anything particularly new or fresh. Also if your a fan of the book series make sure to go in with an open-mind as you may be left disappointed once the film reaches its climax.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHlwRsl2uFk?feature=player_detailpage]
About The Author
