Relic Review This product was delivered quickly and in good condition. If you like monster movies--critter flicks--this is one of the best. The film is better than the book, which was good but in need of streamlining--a minor flaw corrected in the screenplay. The Relic critter is awesome, the FX crew doing a terrific job in creating a credible monster. Only (minor) complaint I have is the use of a few off-the-shelf sterotype characters. This is a foundation flick for the monster buff.
Worth multiple viewings I don't know what it is about this movie that keeps me coming back. I've watched it 20 or 30 times and never get tired of it. It's sort of a horror/thriller with a classic B-movie premise, yet the story feels somewhat original, and is pretty interesting. On top if this, the creators were able to get the atmosphere just right (a phenomenon where the visuals, sound, and acting seem to come together in perfect harmony, allowing the viewer to feel like their experiencing something more than just a movie).
Atmosphere is how I separate the great movies from the just good, and The Relic has it. The slow reveal of the monster is perfect and the lighting sets the perfect mood for the story (most of it takes place in near darkness). The sound is quite good also, highlighted by the monster again, which creates some pretty hair-raising noises. The dialogue is sharp and is delivered by some great actors. The leads Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore are flawless and have good chemistry. Tom is able to use some of his sarcastic wit and Penelope comes off kind of hot in a sexy librarian sort of way.
At least rent this movie if you haven't seen it and please watch it again if maybe you saw it back when it first came out, but sort of forgot about it. It's worth a second viewing.
Grade A Monster Flick As the grand-opening of a new museum exhibit approaches, corpses are turning up in its labyrinthine halls with their brains missing.
This may well be the perfect monster movie: Talented cast that's actually well-utilized, playing likeable or suitably annoying characters, briskly paced build-up towards the climax, some truly suspenseful moments and great sets and FX.
Unlike many of the reviewers here, I saw the movie long before I read the book, so was able to view it much more objectively. I don't know if this would have been possible had I read the book first, as there is one glaringly drastic change made to the storyline for the movie: the omission of what is probably THE major character! The book is the first in a series about FBI agent Pendergast. Imagine Kyle Mclaughlan's amazingly capable and geekily eccentric FBI agent Cooper from the TV show "Twin Peaks" as an albino with a southern accent!
It would have been fun to see a film director's take on that character. But I think of this movie as a stand-alone film (which is probably why Pedgergast was written out of the script; at the time the movie was made, I don't believe there were any other Pendergast novels written yet, and he may have seemed too bizarre a character for a typical audience to believe in while they were already trying to believe in a monster) while I continue to enjoy the Pendgergast novels separately.
Relic Relic is a very good monster film with good special effects, good acting, good script, fine score, and enhanced for 16:9 TVs. My negative comments are: 1) picture isn't very sharp on the DVD, 2) picture is too dark.
Relic The movie is for my collection of scifi and horror flics. Good special effects and story line.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
