The Relic (1997)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Thanks for the memories!

Pretty Good

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Took an absolutely amazing, well written thriller novel, and turned it into a gory monster movie. The best characters were left out, key plot points were abandoned, and characters died when they couldn't have due to the following books. Even if I hadn't read the book I still would've hated this more than the horrid adaption of Timeline by Michael Crichton.

Peter Hyam's The Relic takes a smaller horror idea that usually services a low budget production and gives it the expensive, near blockbuster treatment. The result is a pretty damn fine creature feature flick that holds up better than it has any right too. When you've got a director like Hyams at the wheel though (see End Of Days), who is a meticulous perfectionist and often serves as DoP in addition to directing, you're going to get class and durability all the way. Relic takes an ages old concept and injects wild screaming life into it; When an ancient artifact is brought from the South American jungle and stored at the Chicago museum of anthropology, trouble is not far off, for as we know in movie land, any ancient relic most definitely has a supernatural curse on it. Before too long a gigantic angry lizard thing from olden times awakens, tears through the building like the stampede from Jumanji and starts eating everyone it sees. It's up to heroic police detective Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore in a rare lead role) and professor Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller, what ever happened to her?) to use their wits and survive long enough to defeat it. Linda Hunt, that sweet little munchkin, also has a nice role as the museum director. The film is just pure fun to watch, a solid popcorn banger that has the look and feel of an old school adventure film, or something by Stephen Sommers, albeit with a healthy helping of slimy gore. The creature is truly immense, and one feels the scope of it's rampage as Hyam's camera arcs through the vast hallways and mezzanines of the building, following the action in crisp, tactile strokes. Sort of a forgotten gem, but one that's always fun to check out.

A researcher at Chicago's Natural History Museum returns from South America with crates containing his findings. When they arrive at the museum without the owner there appears to be very little inside. Police discover gruesome remains on the cargo ship that brought the crates, and then another murder in the museum itself. Investigating the murder is Lt. D'Agosta who enlists the help of Dr. Green at the museum. Unknown to both though, there is a large creature roaming the museum, which is preparing itself for a benefit reception......The relic hasn't aged very well since the last time I saw this back in 1998, and the script doesn't hold up either. The film is basically Night At The Museum for adults, and about as entertaining.It's by the numbers stuff, museum gets dark, people get picked off every now and again, the monster isn't seen until the very end, and only two teachers from Kindergarten Cop and Tom Sizemore can save the day.If this were made today, it'd be released straight to Blu Ray and vanish without a trace.The years have been really unkind to this film.Not as good as I remember.

After a strange rash of deaths in a museum, a Chicago detective investigating the crimes and a doctor on the staff learn a smuggled, mutated lizard from South America is the culprit and must stop it before the museum's charity event draws the creature closer.Overall, there's enough here to make this worthwhile. One of the best is the rather intriguing ability where this one tends to feature a bit more suspense in its attacks than expected. There are several quite good sequences, from the killing of the security guard inside a urinal, a strong scene in the basement of the museum where it gets tracked by officers investigating the disappearances and an utterly thrilling stalking scene where the creature takes out the guard dogs and their trainers out searching for it. As well, once it gets shown to the others this one becomes a fantastic mixture of action and suspense with the fantastic final half where the creature gets loose within the museum filled with guests for the ball. The initial dead body appearing at the exhibit starts off the great panic of the group fleeing over each other destroying the exhibits while the creature attacks the guards which seal everyone else inside leads this one into the utterly fun series of action-packed encounters. Letting the creature run wild against the trapped guests as well as the rescue attempts by the firefighters to break in and free everyone all occurring at the same time really gives this some fun with several attacks being real stand-out affairs here where the creature goes through the remaining survivors or going through a flooded sewer tracking the creature that works due to the atmosphere of the dark, damp sewer that manages to set up the explosive finale in here which they manage to deal with the creature in a fun, explosive manner. While in overall size and appearance the beast is a little problematic, the fact that it's still created in a great manner is a nice point about it and when we finally see the beast, he looks impressive and is completely realistic. The effects do look good with all the plentiful gore on display, both in quality and quantity beyond numerous limbs being ripped off, a series of nasty scratches and the decapitations. The fact that the scenes look really good due to the high-quality effects in the prosthetics and the creature itself has a well-rounded base to provide its great qualities on. While these here make for a rather decent entry, there are a few flaws here. The biggest issue with this one is that it does have a bit of a logic problem in most regards, from the seemingly important like the creatures' origins and the science behind it to the trivial matters about how a ship without any people driving it manages to go from South America up through the Great Lakes into a Chicago harbor, these are quite detrimental and enough to knock it considerably. Alongside this factor, this one also suffers from some really lame early CGI for the creature which stands out quite obviously in its scenes here. It's still really good, but it's got a pretty big flaw to hold it down.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and minor drug use.