The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Angel

The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Angel  is a Steampunk Fantasy film released in 2018 based on the 2010 novel by Cassandra Clare. It was the seventh installment of the The Shadowhunters Chronicles film series and chronologically the first. It received positive reviews from critics that praised its Acting, Direction, Cinematography and Screenplay. It was the 4th highest grossing film of 2018. It was the first Shadowhunters film to nominated for an Academy Award. Sam Mendes was nominated for Best Director but lost to Guillermo del Toro.

Plot
In 1887, Shadowhunters and and Downworlders are at an uneasy peace, Shadowhunters protect the Mundane world by fighting demons and Shadowhunters but force the Downworlders to live by their rules. Meanwhile a mysterious organization called the Pandemonium Club is practicing magic plotting to overthrow the Shadowhunters.

In London, Shadowhunters are investigating mysterious demon activity, they discover a symbol on a dagger after a homicide that links to the Pandemonium Club. Meanwhile a young girl named Tessa Gray travels to London by invitation by her brother, Nate. She is taken in by two dark sisters who claim to know her brother. However, they work for the Pandemonium Club and take her hostage. They reveal that Tessa is actually a shapeshifter with a mysterious power allowing her to shapeshift and access memories of powers of those she turns into. They exploit her for her power and use it to access memories of a woman killed by the Pandemonium Club and cover up several homicides by the club. She tries to escape but is stopped by a maid working for the dark sisters. Tessa fights and wounds the maid only to discover that she's a clockwork creature. Tessa mutilates and disables the clockwork maid but is unable to escape.

The Dark Sisters reveal they plan to merry Tessa to their leader the Magister. Tessa is taken away on a carriage but two Shadowhunters, Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs ambush the dark sisters and free Tessa. During the fight the Shadowhunters kill Mrs. Black, but Tessa falls off the carriage and falls unconscious. Tessa wakes up in the London Institute where the team reveals that Tessa is a Downworlder although she has no Warlock mark which makes her suspicious. She meets the team including Henry, Charlotte and Jassamine a woman unhappy with being part of the Shadowhunter world. Tessa learns about the Shadowhunter world from books and discovers the institute has a box called the Pyxis containing the energy of demons fought by the Shadowhunters.

The Shadowhunters visit Nate's employer Axel Mortmain, who reveals that the magister is a vampire named Alexei de Quincey who plans to betray the Clave. While investigating the Dark House Tessa was held hostage in, the team discovers the clockwork maid is a creature called an automaton, robotic creatures made unnaturally and covered in flesh from dead bodies. The team realizes that the Magister is planning to use an army of them to destroy the Shadowhunters with power that's neither holy or demonic.

To Investigate Alexei, Tessa agrees to pose as a vampire named Camille Belcourt. The London Institute communicates with Camille and she helps teach Tessa to act like her and has Jem and Will dress as human servants called subjugates. Camille's boyfriend Magnus Bane also teams up with the Shadowhunters and agrees to assist them at de Quincey's party. Camille says that de Quincey is illegally torturing and sadistically murdering mundanes for entertainment among the vampire clan.

Tessa and the others infiltrate the party and witness de Quincey abuse and maim a hostage who turns out to be Tessa's brother Nate. The Shadowhunters fight the Vampires which escalates to a long and deadly battle. During the fight, Henry uses a light known as a Phosphor to signal the others but it sets the room alight, killing several vampires and putting Tessa in danger as she's still in Camille's form. Will attacks de Quincey and bites him out of spite accidentally ingesting vampire blood. Tessa confronts de Quincey who accuses her of betraying the clan believing she's Camille. While the team fires at him, he's forced to escape by jumping out a window.

Back at the London institute, Will instructs Tessa to bring him potions that induce vomiting. Will manages to get the vampire blood out of his system to keep him from becoming a darkling a person doomed to become a vampire when they die. Tessa kisses Will and is disappointed her first kiss tastes like blood. Will throws water on her leaving her freezing and they split up. Jassamine begins to nurse Nate back to health intending to seduce him into running away into the Mundane world. Jem takes Tessa to the Blackfriars Bridge and tells Tessa about Will's different upbringing and how he left his parents to join the London Institute while most of the teams parent's including his own are dead. The Automatons attack them leading them back to the London Institute. Jem fails to defend himself as he has a withdrawal of a mysterious drug and the Automatron's get his DNA.

Jem reveals he's taking a demon drug called yin fen that's slowly killing him because a withdrawal could kill him. Nate finally wakes up and reveals that the Magister is planning to bind demon energies to the Automatrons and attack the Shadowhunters. The team splits up, Henry and Charlotte hunt down and kill de Quincy. Will and Jem go after the Dark Sisters and Tessa and Jassamine stay at the institute. However, using Jem's DNA, the Magister attacks the London Institute and Nate is revealed to be working for him. Will and Jem stop Mrs. Dark from resurrecting her sister and kill her but she laughs that the team thinks de Quincy is the Magister. The Magister reveals himself to be Axel Mortmain and kills one of the Shadowhunter's maids. Will and Jem rush to the institute to stop Axel from stealing the Pyxis realizing that its energy will make the Automatrons more powerful when infused with demonic energy. The Magister tries to get Tessa to come with him and merry him telling her that nobody will except her for what she is except for him. Tessa fakes her death taking the form of a corpse that resembles herself, the Magister leaves with the Pyxis and Will is happy to see that Tessa survived. The institute decides to continue the search for Axel and allows Tessa to stay with them. Tessa is relieved to discover that she still has the Clockwork Angel Pendant.

Cast

 * Emilia Jones as Tessa Gray
 * Daniel Padilla as Jem Carstairs
 * Asher Angel as Will Herondale
 * Amber Heard as Camille Belcourt
 * Godfrey Gao as Magnus Bane
 * Lucas Till as Henry Branwell
 * Ella Hunt as Charlotte Fairchild
 * Sophie Thatcher as Jessamine Lovelace
 * Brad Pitt as Alexei de Quincey
 * Sean Giambrone as Nate Gray
 * Hugh Jackman as Axel Mortmain
 * Elle Fanning as Sophie Collins
 * Gavin Casalegno as Thomas Tanner
 * Carrie Coon as Agatha
 * Nicky Whelan as Mrs. Black
 * Kristen Bell as Mrs. Dark



Critical Reception
The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Angel received Positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 71% based on 250 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Very seldom does a film adaption come out that's better than the book it's based on, and even more rare is a prequel that's better than the original. The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Angel succeeds at both of these feats." Metacritic gives the film a score of 65 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+".

It received minor criticism for it's plot being extremely similar to The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.

Sequels
Following its success, Screen Gems greenlit the development of adaptions of the second and third books, The Clockwork Prince and The Clockwork Princess released in 2019 and 2021. The subsequent films succeeded at capturing the critical and commercial success of the first film.