The Relic
3/4
Starring: Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner, Chi Muoi Lo
Rated R for Monster Violence and Gore, and for Language
Monsters, museums, science (well, what passes for it in a horror movie)...yes please!
"The Relic" is a very silly movie. There's no doubt about that. It's also a lot of fun. But only if you're into this sort of thing. Anyone who doesn't appreciate loving nods to the genre conventions with a sizable amount of gore need not put this into the DVD player.
The film opens up deep in the Amazon, where a scientist (Lewis Van Bergen) is attending a ritual of a local tribe. They give him a potion to drink, but once he does, he loses it. A week later, a ship arrives from Brazil with lots of blood splattered everywhere and severed limbs in a container. Detective Vincent D'Agosta (Sizemore) is on the case, which grows more strange when a security guard at the museum is found decapitated and missing his hypothalamus as well. He's under constant pressure to finish his investigation by the head of the museum, Dr. Ann Cuthbert (Hunt) because in two days time, the museum is hosting a huge gala celebrating the opening of their newest exhibit, titled "Superstition" (ha ha). But the killer is not a "murderer who makes Jeffrey Dahmer look like a cub scout," as D'Agosta thinks. It's a vicious monster with an appetite.
I recall reading "Relic," the book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child a few years ago, not realizing that the movie was based on it (no doubt Universal had "franchise" in their eyes, although the hopes were dashed when the film bombed at the box office). It was a decent yarn, and seeing as this is a horror movie, the plot and characters are simplified. Too much. There's a lack of depth in the material that makes most of the movie, especially everything prior to the bloodbath in the final quarter, a little thin.
The acting by the two leads is effective. Penelope Ann Miller can act, and she possesses a nice set of lungs, but I don't know. There's something off about her. She lacks presence, I guess. Tom Sizemore is better, since presence is something Sizemore has an abundance of. The two veterans in the cast, Linda Hunt and James Whitmore, are very good. It might have been better to center the film around them. It would have at least been more inventive (can you imagine? Tiny Linda Hunt and wheelchair bound James Whitmore running away from a giant monster? Sounds totally groovy!).
The film is effectively directed by Peter Hyams, who doe his own cinematography. That's actually the problem. The DVD has a substantial loss of color and brightness, which makes a lot of what goes on difficult to see (not in a good way). The trailer looks fine, so I'm thinking something got lost in translation. I have to see it on Blu Ray to be sure, though.
Despite that, this is a fun monster flick.
Starring: Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner, Chi Muoi Lo
Rated R for Monster Violence and Gore, and for Language
Monsters, museums, science (well, what passes for it in a horror movie)...yes please!
"The Relic" is a very silly movie. There's no doubt about that. It's also a lot of fun. But only if you're into this sort of thing. Anyone who doesn't appreciate loving nods to the genre conventions with a sizable amount of gore need not put this into the DVD player.
The film opens up deep in the Amazon, where a scientist (Lewis Van Bergen) is attending a ritual of a local tribe. They give him a potion to drink, but once he does, he loses it. A week later, a ship arrives from Brazil with lots of blood splattered everywhere and severed limbs in a container. Detective Vincent D'Agosta (Sizemore) is on the case, which grows more strange when a security guard at the museum is found decapitated and missing his hypothalamus as well. He's under constant pressure to finish his investigation by the head of the museum, Dr. Ann Cuthbert (Hunt) because in two days time, the museum is hosting a huge gala celebrating the opening of their newest exhibit, titled "Superstition" (ha ha). But the killer is not a "murderer who makes Jeffrey Dahmer look like a cub scout," as D'Agosta thinks. It's a vicious monster with an appetite.
I recall reading "Relic," the book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child a few years ago, not realizing that the movie was based on it (no doubt Universal had "franchise" in their eyes, although the hopes were dashed when the film bombed at the box office). It was a decent yarn, and seeing as this is a horror movie, the plot and characters are simplified. Too much. There's a lack of depth in the material that makes most of the movie, especially everything prior to the bloodbath in the final quarter, a little thin.
The acting by the two leads is effective. Penelope Ann Miller can act, and she possesses a nice set of lungs, but I don't know. There's something off about her. She lacks presence, I guess. Tom Sizemore is better, since presence is something Sizemore has an abundance of. The two veterans in the cast, Linda Hunt and James Whitmore, are very good. It might have been better to center the film around them. It would have at least been more inventive (can you imagine? Tiny Linda Hunt and wheelchair bound James Whitmore running away from a giant monster? Sounds totally groovy!).
The film is effectively directed by Peter Hyams, who doe his own cinematography. That's actually the problem. The DVD has a substantial loss of color and brightness, which makes a lot of what goes on difficult to see (not in a good way). The trailer looks fine, so I'm thinking something got lost in translation. I have to see it on Blu Ray to be sure, though.
Despite that, this is a fun monster flick.
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