Ultimately, "The Relic" all feels familiar enough to prevent it from being anything really special, but it's actually decently directed and produced and does get a fair amount of mileage out of its central location. The cast is above average, the music appropriate, the atmosphere respectable, and the effects - a combination of practical and digital - are generally well done. Those familiar with the source novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child could understandably be disappointed, especially with the elimination of some of the best characters, such as Smithback the reporter and Prendergast the FBI agent. But "The Relic" does kill time easily enough, and should be adequately entertaining for creature feature junkies.
The description ""Alien" in a museum" is apt, as the story deals with an enormous, continuously evolving form of life that makes its home in the bowels of the Natural History Museum in Chicago. Of course, this is bad timing, as the museum is about to launch an all- important exhibit designed to pull in investors. The hero on the case is superstitious police detective Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore), who's assisted by sexy researcher Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller).
Sizemore is engaging in one of his earliest lead roles; Miller is likewise quite appealing. The supporting cast includes such familiar and reliable actors as Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner, Robert Lesser, Lewis Van Bergen, Constance Towers, Francis X. McCarthy, Audra Lindley, John Kapelos, Tico Wells, Gene Davis, John DiSanti, David Proval, Eddie Jemison, and Don Harvey. Director Peter Hyams shot the movie himself, but unfortunately he tends to under light scenes too much of the time. Action scenes are not always that coherent. But once the lights go out, things do start to get genuinely spooky and exciting. The monster design is courtesy of Stan Winston and studio, and they do their usual bang-up job.
Good fun overall.
Seven out of 10.
The description ""Alien" in a museum" is apt, as the story deals with an enormous, continuously evolving form of life that makes its home in the bowels of the Natural History Museum in Chicago. Of course, this is bad timing, as the museum is about to launch an all- important exhibit designed to pull in investors. The hero on the case is superstitious police detective Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore), who's assisted by sexy researcher Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller).
Sizemore is engaging in one of his earliest lead roles; Miller is likewise quite appealing. The supporting cast includes such familiar and reliable actors as Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner, Robert Lesser, Lewis Van Bergen, Constance Towers, Francis X. McCarthy, Audra Lindley, John Kapelos, Tico Wells, Gene Davis, John DiSanti, David Proval, Eddie Jemison, and Don Harvey. Director Peter Hyams shot the movie himself, but unfortunately he tends to under light scenes too much of the time. Action scenes are not always that coherent. But once the lights go out, things do start to get genuinely spooky and exciting. The monster design is courtesy of Stan Winston and studio, and they do their usual bang-up job.
Good fun overall.
Seven out of 10.