Just because the "Twilight" saga is over and done with doesn't mean Hollywood is resting on its laurels.
Over the past few months we've had a number of high-profile contenders competing to be the next "Twilight," most notably Warner Bros's costly disappointment "Beautiful Creatures" (replacing vampires with witches and shifting the setting from the Pacific Northwest to the Deep South) and last weekend's gauzy "The Host" (sci-fi version of "Twilight," also based on a novel by Stephanie Meyer). The latest combatant in the quest for the young adult iron throne is "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones," based on a series of books by Cassandra Clare. Instead of vampires or witches, this time it's angels and demons! Quasi-religious!
The trailer is pretty slick and sets up a world where, just beneath our own, Shadowhunters (half human/half-angel warriors) wage a secret battle against the forces of darkness. Our plucky lead Clary Fray (Lily Collins, daughter of Phil) discovers that she is a Shadowhunter and must use her newfound powers to rescue her mother ("Game of Thrones" queen regent Lena Headey). Of course she also seems to fall in love with one of these Shadowhunters (Jamie Campbell Bower from Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd") and it looks like a whole bunch of supernatural hullabaloo goes down (rendered in inky visual effects razzle dazzle).
Even if you're unfamiliar with the book series and had to extensively use Google just to properly describe the trailer, it still looks pretty cool (we particularly liked the "The werewolves are here to save us" line, even if the creatures are something we've seen before -- over and over).
The cast is rounded out by some impressive character actors (including CCH Pounder, Jared Harris, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and longtime Tim Burton confederate Danny Elfman is contributing the undoubtedly spooky-sounding score. In other words: it could be just the kind of moony, late-summer supernatural romance that refreshes like a tall glass of ice cold lemonade. Or whatever the demon/angel world equivalent of a tall glass of ice cold lemonade is.
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