Well, I’m not sure where to begin this review other than to make a point to let readers know that I adore Cassandra Clare’s novels and I will always be a supporter of Clary’s story, Tessa’s story, and the upcoming Dark Artifices novels.
With that being said, I’m going to give my completely honest in my opinion and review of this movie. Now, let it be noted that I went to the movie with one of my best friends, who also has read the novels, and our two guy friends–who had no idea what the movie was about.
I had such high expectations going into this movie, because I thought the casting was brilliant and the previews released really made the story look great and as I pictured it for the most part. Things quickly went downhill after the movie began.
The pacing was ridiculously quick, and there was such a lack of description of what was happening that ANYONE who hasn’t read the books or even skimmed the books would have no idea what was happening. There isn’t a super clear description of the shadowhunters, Valentine’s history with Jocelyn and the Clave is glossed over, Luke’s rejection from the Clave and other Shadowhunters is only briefly touched on through the insults that Valentine’s lackey’s sling, and there was NO real explanation for what Simon was going through after the Hotel Dumort.
*SPOILER ALERT* All the audience sees is that he was obviously bitten (by the two fang marks on him) but the only consequence of this seems to be that he doesn’t need his glasses anymore. And that is the last we hear of that until City of Ashes.
Also, did anyone else miss the stolen vampire flying motorcycle? That miraculously appeared at the end of the movie as in the novel?
Another thing that was pointed out to my friend and I by our two guys that went with us, was how terrible it was that the explanation for the application of runes was very glossed over. The boys kept asking how “magic markering” their arms would give these people superpowers. It really showed my friend and I how poorly explained parts of the film were for those just interested in the movie as a whole, and not a previous fan of the novels.
However, I’m not going to go through all of the things that were left out, because we all know that movies will never be able to include everything that we love from the books.
The writing is something I would like to touch on. While I think that Clare’s writing really is great for allowing her books to be read by both teens and adults, the script for the movie was just very, very young. Which is great if I was a fourteen or fifteen-year-old going to see the movie. Believe me, the boys we took with us were immediately turned off by the exceedingly cheesy lines. I just challenge the screenwriters to work hard to allow the characters to act older and more mature in lieu of their experiences.
Please remember that I am not bashing the books. I love and cherish my first editions of all of these novels, and am super excited for the final novel, City of Heavenly Fire. And by all means, I will continue to support the franchise by seeing the next movie and likely purchasing a copy of this film. I just know that next time I won’t go in with such high expectations, so hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.
2 Bards.
Moving! 
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I agree with you all the way. One of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. The most entertaining part of the night was the ride home after the movie when we bashed it into the ground.
I would like to add that every relationship in the movie, whether it was romantic or not, was never explained or given any back story. How do they expect us to care about Clary and Simon, or Clary's realization that Luke betrayed her when we know close to nothing about their history.
And what about the fact that Clary was supposed to have had time to notice that Alec was into Jace? When would she have had time to come to this realization given everything else that was going on in the movie. As an audience, we get no clues as to why Alec would be angry at Clary, and no reason to assume that the reason Alec was being cold to Clary was because Alec had feelings for Jace. Having gone to see the movie with people who hadn't read the book, they thought that storyline came straight out of left field.
And finally, in terms of relationships, Clary and Jace really had no time whatsoever to develop a relationship. The forced love story reminded me of Twilight immediately, where the audience is supposed to believe that the couple fell in love overnight.
It really seemed like the writers/director just gave up halfway through the movie, and hoped we would forget that they forgot to explain most of the story lines. Now all I can try and do is try and forget that I ever saw this movie. I would have given it 1 bard!
I completely agree with your review of the movie. I did think that once the action started (when they go to find Simon) that the movie improved quite a bit but I definitely found the pacing to that point to be too quick. The first part of the movie felt like a giant info dump even with the details you've mentioned being glossed over or left out altogether. The movie clocks in at two hours and eleven minutes so I'm not sure what the solution would be for the first section, but I do think a little more time and attention should have been taken in making that part work more fluidly and having the world building more integrated.