Pretty bad, started decent, but the last 30-40 minutes are pretty awful.But yes, Penelope looks great in this movie, and that's basically it's only saving grace.

Released in 1997, "The Relic" stars Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore as a biologist and detective in Chicago who team up after a series of brutal deaths at the Chicago museum where the former works. James Whitmore, Linda Hunt and Chi Muoi Lo co-star as scientists at the museum.This is a gory monster movie made with a whopping budget and an intriguing sci-fi concept concerning the creature, but it's hindered by bad lighting and bland characters. As far as the former goes, this is one of the darkest movies I've ever seen that doesn't take place in a cave. Regarding the latter, Sizemore is good, but Miller is only serviceable with the rest of the characters being merely okay. I suppose it doesn't help that the story lacks dramatic drive. People laud the film for not throwing in a romantic subplot between the protagonists, but SOMETHING needed done to make it more compelling. How about throwing in some teens visiting the museum – something! Nevertheless, there are some legitimate scares, the kills are utterly savage and the monster, location and sets are good.The film runs 110 minutes and was shot at the awesome Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, with interior/studio work done in Los Angeles.GRADE: C+

Researcher John Whitney sends a crate back to Chicago's Natural History Museum from Brazil, but he himself is missing. The crate seems to be empty except for some leaves. Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller) is a researcher who takes an interest in the crate. Lt. Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore) who's investigating the presumed drug smuggling John Whitney's murder also investigates a Museum security guard's gruesome murder. Little did they know that the crate has brought back something more than leaves.This is a well made monster movie. Director Peter Hyams is well verse in the art of horror. He's able to squeeze every bit of scary moment out of this old fashion horror. He makes a great sequence of nothing more than sounds and shadows scaring the bejesus out of Penelope Ann Miller. The monster is best as unseen growls and shadows for the first half of the movie.It's a creature from the great Stan Winston. It's a transitional time when they are trying to marry the mechanical physical model with some animation. Coming after Jurassic Park, it fails only by comparison. Nevertheless, there are some great monster work here.

I remember seeing this movie in the theaters when I was 17 and enjoying it. I saw it was on Netflix instant and gave it a whirl...I'm not going to rip into this movie because it was full of clichés, its a monster movie for goodness sake. As far as the "ancient idol/horrible monster/kill everyone around" genre goes, its not bad at all. I enjoy Tom Sizemore as an actor and while the script was what one would expect of 4 credited (and lord knows how many uncredited) screenwriters, I felt he did a good job as his character. Honestly for a movie of this type, the acting was just fine. They weren't required to do much, but that was OK.However, if you watch this movie, get used to entire scenes where you have no idea what is happening because its so dark. I understand, keep the settings dim to create fear (and realism, the power is out most of the time though why everyone in the museum works in near total darkness 99% of the time is a bit mind-boggling) but I can't be scared if I can't see what's happening when I'm supposed to!Dark, extremely dark shots keep the viewer in the (I can't do it), keep the viewer confused in many scenes. It was bad enough that a moderate length movie (109m) seemed MUCH longer and not in a good way. Much like gimmicky camera tricks or abuse of slow-motion (I'm looking at you John Woo) can ruin a movie, the overly dark nature of so many shots just leaves you sitting there wish you could tell what the hell was going on.I will say, possibly watching it on a larger screen, or a better quality television (mine is a 32" Sony LCD, nothing fancy) might mitigate lighting issues a bit, I don't know.Overall, its an OK movie for the genre that is partially ruined by not being able to tell what the hell is going on.