The Relic

Drawing on best-selling novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (“Relic” and “Reliquary” from 1995 and 1997, respectively), veteran director Peter Hyams crafts an engrossing sci-fi bio-horror film built on a shrewd screenplay that manages to smartly combine two themes that at first blush might seem diametrically opposed: myth and science (here, the former is represented by legends and tribal practices of the indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest, while the latter encompasses endocrinology, evolution, and microbiology).

Beyond being a prime example of conceptually interesting sci-fi, “Relic” also possesses undeniable value as pure entertainment. After the first reel, rich with mystery in the vein of a detective story, the film takes on all the earmarks of a claustrophobic thriller, to the point that some have floated a comparison with Ridley Scott’s 1979 “Alien” (which is all well and good, but let’s not get carried away…).

A pair of energetic protagonists: Tom Sizemore is convincing in the role of the conscientious and obsessively superstitious police lieutenant. Not to be outdone is the lovely Penelope Ann Miller as a biologist with a fiery personality. The mutant creature maintains a sinister appeal while hidden in the shadows, but once out in the open, it inexorably loses its effectiveness. Overall, the second-rate practical effects are still preferable to the computer graphics that were still in their early stages at the time.