The Relic

Something's loose in the labyrinthine tunnels and offices of the Chicago Natural Museum of History and it's more deadly than a threatened budget cut. Tom Sizemore is the hapless Windy City flatfoot who suspects that malice at the museum is not the work of your basic killer (he, she, or it is eating people's hypothalamus's, for Freud's sake) and Penelope Ann Miller plays the strong scientist damsel who nevertheless ends up in distress. The first half--which is all set-up--is as tedious as watching C-Span, but director Peter Hyams (Outland) delivers the monstrous goods in the second half, as the genetic mutant beast dines on artsy-fartsy types at a museum fundraiser. Good computer-animated effects, and fine suspense almost compensate for the uncharismatic leads and dull scripting. Based on the bestseller by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Optional. (R. Pitman)