click for new

click here for current front page

Festivale movie reviews, Autumn 1997

The Relic The creature returns, and this time he has to deal with the chicks! Chick movies be damned! This is your traditional creature film. You know the recipe, boy meets creature, creature eats some people, girl is captured by creature, boy destroys creature and gets girl. Well, not in this film, because in The Relic, that creature has to deal with the superstitious big cop and the scientist in a little black dress. And you can bet in this Nineties creature film that Penelope Ann Miller is not sitting in a corner weeping silently until the big brave man comes along and saves her. Bloody good show too.

De coroner delivering decapitation humour

Penelope Ann Miller as Margo

Here's a tip. If you see Gale Anne Hurd's name on a film (she's a producer, so you have to look hard), then you can be pretty sure that the actors are going to get messy. She soaked the cast in The Abyss, blew them up in Terminator 2, shook them up in Tremors and just recently coated them with fine grey dust in Dante's Peak. In The Relic she wets them down with sprinklers then we watch the wonderful Linda Hunt practically float away in subterranean coal tunnels. Ah, me. This is a film to watch. It didn't scare me much, it didn't seem to move me much, but when the felony-arrogant character got his just desserts I was all for it. So I guess it did move me. I knew who was a good guy, and who was the bad guy. I wanted to spend hours in the company of the acidic coroner (Audra Lindley), and I would trust the detective (Tom Sizemore) to the end of the earth.

Search for: UK's largest videos store

Which means that the actors, many of them with long histories of developing believable characters, did a good job. The film was lovely to look at, the set is fun, which you would expect considering that the director, Peter Hyams spent his childhood haunting museums such as the one the film is set in. Strong cast, the story carries you along at a good pace, definitely worth seeing. Ali Kayn see also Terry Frost's review

Enter movie, TV show, or person   Provided by Internet Movie Database.	Just the facts: Title: The Relic (Polygram) Written by: Amy Holden Jones, John Raffo, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver Based on: Novel by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child Directed by: Peter Hyams Produced by: Gary Levinsohn, Mark Gordon (Execs), Gale Anne Hurd, Sam Mercer Edited by: Steven Kemper Director of Photography: Peter Hyams
	The Players: Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, Clayton Rohner, Audra Lindley
	For session times of current films, use the cinema listings on the Movie links page. For scheduled release dates, see the coming attractions section.

Like us on facebook

Movie images, sounds, and video clips are solely owned by their respective companies.
No other uses are permitted without the prior written consent of owner.
Use of the material in violation of the foregoing may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.

disclaimer

Festivale Online Magazine
Celebrate everything!
www.festivale.info
ISSN 1328-8008
Published in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
disclaimers | contact the editor | Festivale revision history

Published in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia copyright © Festivale 2009 All rights reserved
Filed: Apr 1997
Last tested: 3-Jul-2014 Last Compiled: 3-Jul-2014
Entire site refreshed: Dec 2008-Feb 2009 | Site URL transferred: Jan 2005 (previously www.festivale.webcentral.com.au)