The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass

The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass is an Urban Fantasy film released in 2015 based on the 2009 novel by Cassandra Clare. It was a box office success and the second installment of The Shadowhunters Chronicles film series. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics with praise for it's direction, performances, pacing and world building, but criticized it's poor execution, villains and story. It was the sixth highest grossing film of 2015.

Plot
The New York based Shadowhunters decide to return to Idris as Madeleine Bellefleur claims a magician named Fell can awaken Jocelyn, Clary's mother. Unfortunately, the team is attacked by The Circle attack with an army of brainwashed mundanes called Forsaken. Madeleine Bellefleur is killed during the attack and the team is forced to split up and use separate portals to travel to Alicante the City of Glass the only city in Idris. Upon entering the city Simon is arrested and accused of being a spy working for The Circle. In Alicante, Clary meets a Shadowhunter named Sebastian and discovers the Fell was killed by Valentine. Magnus Bane claims he can save Jocelyn but will need a spell book owned by Valentine.

Clary and Jace break into Valentine's secret lair and steal the book known as the Book of the White. They free a dying angel named Ithuriel who was held captive by Valentine who give Clary a vision of a new rune. Jace allows Ithuriel to kill himself with his blade putting him out of his misery on Earth. When Jace and Clary return to Idris, they discover an army of demons attacking the Glass City. The Shadowhunters are left to ally with downworlders to survive. The rune Ithuriel taught Clary will allow Shadowhunters and Downworlders to share powers with each other. Clary and Jace free Simon and Magnus Bane awakens Jocelyne who reveals that Jace is not really Clary's son but she does have a brother. Hodge Starkweather, another prisoner for allying with Valentine exposes Valentine's plans for the Mortal Instruments. He claims that Lake Lyn is the Mortal Mirror the last of the artifacts. Sebastian attacks and kills Hodge before escaping, Jocelyne says that he is Clary's real brother.

The Shadowhunters have a funeral for their fallen comrades who perished in the attack. Jace leaves a note in Clary's bedroom and hunts down Sebastian. Izzy and Jace find Sebastian and kill him. The Vampires lead by Raphael offer to help the shadowhunters in exchange for Simon so they can execute him. The shadowhunters follow through the deal but Clary protects Simon with a magic rune. Clary uses a portal to go to Lake Lyn to stop Valentine. She reunites with Jace who tracked down Valentine. Valentine uses the three mortal instruments for a ritual to summon the angel Raziel. He binds Clary with a Rune of Quietude and duels against Jace with the Mortal Sword. He kills Jace with the sword and uses his blood for a summoning ritual. Then, he throws the Mortal Cup and Sword into the lake and the Angel Raziel rises from the mirror. Valentine wishes for Raziel to create a new race of Shadowhunters to replace the one that's currently active. Raziel claims Clary summoned him by switching the name on the pentagram. Raziel uses a bow to shoot heavenly fire at Valentine killing him instantly. Raziel grants Clary one wish which she uses to revive Jace.

The Shadowhunters celebrate their victory over the Circle.

Cast

 * Lily Collins as Clary
 * Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace
 * Robert Sheehan as Simon
 * Kevin Zegers as Alec
 * Lena Headey as Jocelyn
 * Kevin Durand as Pangborn
 * Aidan Turner as Luke
 * Mila Kunis as Amatis Graymark
 * Jemima West as Isabelle
 * Godfrey Gao as Magnus Bane
 * C. C. H. Pounder as Dorothea
 * Jared Harris as Hodge
 * Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Valentine
 * Ash Santos as Maia Roberts
 * Robin Wright as Madeleine Bellefleur
 * Andrew Garfield as Sebastian Morgenstern
 * Nat Wolff as Raphael Santiago
 * Aaron Eckhart as Raziel

Critical Reception
The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass received Mixed to Positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 69% based on 250 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass Is an entertaining and faithful adaption of the book. However, it stumbles to provide it's own ideas." Metacritic gives the film a score of 50 out of 100, based on 150 critics, indicating "generally favorable views". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore were more receptive to the film, giving it a CinemaScore grade of "A".

Sequels
The franchise received many more prequels, spin-offs and sequels with a second trilogy starting in 2016 with the 4th and 5th films being filmed back to back.