The Relic | | Cast : | Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore | | Director : | Peter Hyams | | Studio : | Paramount Studio | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 10, 1997 | | DVD Released Date : | August 19, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | Too slow getting started, but one very cool monster. | Content
 | I like this movie for one very simple reason. I enjoy a cool monster, and the creature in this film is really, really cool. Unfortunately, he doesn't show up until the third act. In the meantime, there's a handful of off-camera deaths and a lot of set up. It's handled well enough, and the acting and directing are solid on all accounts, but for a lot of monster fans, it might take too long to get to the action. Just hold on because it's worth it.
The last act is crammed with action / scares, and the monster is just plain neat. And when he finally shows himself, he does a lot of damage, eats a lot of people, and just generally makes a helluva nuisance of himself. All the buildup ultimately pays off because even the minor characters have personalities and seem like real people so that when they die, you feel something.
As for the monster, like the dragons in 'Reign of Fire' it's so dangerous that we humans have little hope but to run for it. But never does the story seem hopeless, despite the situation, and suspense is maintained throughout.
It's a good movie, not great. But the monster is great, and isn't that the point of a movie like this? |
| Rating | | | Date | May 27, 2005 | | Summary | GREAT MOVIE | Content
| This movie is one of the most enjoyable films I have seen in years. A must see. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 12, 2005 | | Summary | The Relic (1997) | Content
| Director: Peter Hyams.
Cast: Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore.
Rated R for extreme violence, language, and lots of gore.
Running Time: 110 minutes.
A supremely underrated monster mash, "The Relic" is one of the better of its kind produced in the last 1990's. Director Peter Hyams does a great job staying true to the acclaimed 1995 novel of the same name (written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child), using a great balance of humor and terror to entertain. The premise revolves around a frazzled researcher (Penelope Ann Miller) working at the Chicago Museum of Natural History who happens to come across a strange shipment. The shipments are empty besides a strange kind of plant life that is unknown to the scientist. Miller thinks nothing of it until museum workers start showing up dead, jeopardizing the grand opening of the museum's biggest exhibit opening in history.
Tom Sizemore (in a refreshingly funny performance) stars as the detective assigned to the case, not realizing the terror that is running amok in the museum. Both Sizemore and Miller work together to put the pieces of the mysterious deaths together, all the while attempting to survive against a fiendish beast of a monster that is eating everything in sight. Both Linda Hunt and James Whitmore are very good as a museum coordinator and supportive old scientist, respectively. Superb special effects (conducted by none other than the great Stan Winston himself, who created the "Alien" monsters), a fine ensemble cast, and a riveting musical score that gels well with the film. Scary, humorous, and devilishly entertaining.
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| Rating | | | Date | February 23, 2005 | | Summary | More fun than you might think. | Content
| This movie has been compared to Alien(&s) and Predator(&2). Some would go so far as to say this movie is a "rip off" of those other works.
That is pretty narrow minded, as this movie really does stand on its own; just like many other good flicks of the genre. The movie is based on the novel of the same title(ISBN: 0812543262), not the other way around as with so many novelizations of movies. It's a good book and worth a read, if that is your cup of tea.
Anyway, the movie is a fun experience with good acting and a picture that is almost always interesting to watch.
I especially loved the delicious little plot point of what one tribe of "primatives" did to an arrogant American Anthropologist who'd come to study their "quaint" little beliefs. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 13, 2005 | | Summary | not worth the time | Content
| do your self a huge favor pick up a copy of the book it is a hundred times more enjoyable. and dont forget to get part two of the story, Reliquary, being a fan of the authors i recommend their books before any movie. |
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