The Relic

The Relic (1997)

Runtime: 110 minutes

Directed by: Peter Hyams

Starring: Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner

From: Paramount, Universal, and several other companies

Here's a film I saw on the big screen w/ a parent back in January of '97. I may not have seen it in full again until I checked it out Wednesday night on Instant. It's based on the book Relic and needless to say, the literary version is preferable to this. Read why below in my Letterboxd review: 

The book was better.

I know that is a common refrain when talking about movies based on books, but it's almost always true and this is a rare film where I did read the novel beforehand. I first read it in like '96, shortly before a parent took me to see this on the big screen in January 1997. I may not have watched it in full again until last night on Instant. Those that saw the movie without reading the book from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child will likely think that this is fine; me, I'll always compare it to the book and yeah, it was better.

The plot (the novel was set in New York City, the movie is in Chicago, perhaps because that's where they could film) revolves around the Field Museum of Natural History-I grew up in Illinois and yes I have been there before-and how a series of gruesome murders take place there; I mean, brains being ripped out and the hypothalamus being gone. The book had plenty of characters but as they needed the story to be told in a little less than 2 hours, things were pared-down. The two we focus on are superstitious cop-something the movie reminds us of often-D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore) and museum employee Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller), who is an evolutionary biologist and needless to say that does come into play with the big bad monster, which is related to an old Brazilian tribe and the science is preposterous but at least the plot tried to explain it. An exhibit about-of course-superstitions is about to open with a red carpet gala, which is when the creature designs to raise the most hell.

At least I can rate the movie as average. I can't complain with the main cast (Linda Hunt also has a key role), it at least is a hard R movie with a lot of gore and violence, and the direction from Peter Hyams is good; I'll review more of his movies in the future. I have seen some of work and while there are stinkers like A Sound of Thunder, there are a good number of films I've enjoyed from him... from Sudden Death to 2010. A lot of the movie is shot in the dark so it's not the most aesthetically pleasing, though.

I re-read the book in '04 (and also read its sequel, Reliquary, which I did not really care for, as too many stupid and unbelievable things happened) so my remembrance of the whole plot isn't exact but the movie seems to dumb things down and fill it with cliché. Also, the biggest character missing is one that happened to appear in a number of novels after this one, FBI agent Pendergast. The character is kind of ridiculous in someone that you could believe actually exist in this world, but he was still memorable and I know he has many fans and I wish he could have been in the movie also.

Like I said, this may work better for those that haven't read the original novel Relic; if you like reading such books that have plots like this one, I definitely recommend checking it out.