The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes

The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes is an Urban Fantasy film released in 2014 based on the 2008 novel by Cassandra Clare. It was a box office success and the second installment of The Shadowhunters Chronicles film series. It received mixed reviews from critics that praised its Acting, Direction, Pacing, Worldbuilding and Character Development but criticized its Plot and lack of originality.

Plot
Following the events of the previous film, Jace is put on trial by the The Clave which thinks he teamed up with Valentine to steal the Mortal Cup. Clary Fairchild, Isabelle and Alec discover that Valentine has ordered an attack on the City of Ashes and without Jace they fail to protect it and find that Pangborn has stolen the Mortal Sword one of the three Mortal Instruments which compels Shadowhunters to tell the truth. Magnus Bane teams up with the team and manipulates The Clave to allow him to hold Jace hostage until the sword can be retrieved.

The Shadowhunters are invited to the court of Faeries by the leader, Queen of the Seelie. The queen tricks Clary to eat Faerie food which makes them unable to escape unless she kisses who she most desires. Clary is torn between Simon and Jace knowing that Jace could be her brother although she is unsure. However, Clary chooses Jace over Simon which leaves him angered. The Shadowhunters try to gain the support of a vampire clan through a relation with their leader Raphael Santiago. However it's revealed to be a trick and the vampires attack the team, Simon is bitten during the battle and forced to drink vampire blood. The team is traumatized as he is killed during the fight and the team has to bury him so he can come back as a vampire.

To fight Valentine's forces, Clary begins to create a new rune a fearless Rune, meanwhile the team helps treat a Werewolf named Maia. Jace secretly meets with Valentine I the middle of the night at his docked submarine. Valentine offers protection in exchange for Jace to join him, However, Jace refuses the offer but other people in the area report him for conspiring. The Inquisitor, Imogen Herondale is convinced Jace has turned on the team and threatens him with the death penalty if the Mortal Sword isn't returned.

Valentine kidnaps Maia using a demon disguised as her deceased brother and lures Simon in to kill him and use his blood in a ritual. The team attack Valentine to find that Simon is drained of blood. Jace makes an emergency blood donation to save Simon allowing the team to stand a chance against Valentine's army. The Inquisitor realizes Jace is not working with Valentine and helps the team eventually sacrificing herself to kill a powerful demon. Valentine takes Clary hostage and interrogates her with the Mortal Sword in his submarine before the Shadowhunters attack the ship. Clary is thrown into the water but faeries sent by the Seelie Queen save her.

Jace and Clary share a romantic moment and Jace starts to believe Valentine isn't his real father. They promise to keep their relationship secret until they can discover the truth about their connection. As the sun rises, Simon realizes that ingesting vampire blood made him Immune to sunlight.

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
 * Jemima West as Isabelle
 * Godfrey Gao as Magnus Bane
 * C. C. H. Pounder as Dorothea
 * Jared Harris as Hodge
 * Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Valentine
 * Dita Von Teese as Maryse Lightwood
 * Josh Duhamel as Robert Lightwood
 * Noah Jupe as Max Lightwood
 * Robin Wright as Imogen Herodale
 * Christina Hendricks as Seelie Queen
 * Ash Santos as Maia Roberts
 * Nat Wolff as Raphael Santiago
 * Harry Treadaway as Meliorn

Critical Reception
The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes received Mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 59% based on 210 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes Is an excellent follow up to its predecessor, but it's tone, plot and themes fail to impress." Metacritic gives the film a score of 43 out of 100, based on 80 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 the third books adaption "City of Glass" being released in 2015.