The 1997 film The Relic is different from the novel it was based on. The setting, pace, and character and monster descriptions are a few of the elements that were changed.
There are several differences between the 1997 movie The Relic and the 1995 book it was based upon. The best-selling novel was co-written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, and was the first of the Special Agent Pendergast series. The movie version - an R-rated creature feature that followed two years after the book's publication - was directed by Peter Hyams and stars actors Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, and Linda Hunt as the protagonists. The general story centers on a detective and a biologist who attempt to defeat a South-American monster as it wreaks havoc inside of museum.
A lot went into making the movie adaptation of The Relic; it was released by Paramount Pictures in the United States and by Universal Pictures internationally. Ultimately, it went on to receive some mixed reviews - but mostly poor ones - from movie critics. Nevertheless, it did open #1 at the box office, grossing $9,064,143 in its opening week, and an overall $48 million worldwide. The movie's popularity, though, has faltered over the years, with viewers usually only discovering it after picking up the book first.
The filmmakers behind The Relic ended up deciding to make numerous changes to its source material. Changes were made to elements like the setting and pace of the story, as well as how the twist ending is delivered. Additionally, the descriptions of nearly every character was altered in some way, and a couple of characters from the book were entirely omitted from the movie's script. The appearance of the monster was also changed - so as to appear scarier on screen - among other things. Below is a list of the key changes The Relic made from the source material for the movie version.
The Setting
The book takes place in New York City, with most of the action happening at the New York Museum of Natural History - which was strongly based on the actual American Museum of Natural History. The movie opted for a Chicago setting, and the action takes place at the Chicago Museum of Natural History.
Originally, the movie was supposed to be set in New York, with production taking place at the American Museum of Natural History. Museum executives, however, were concerned that the movie would scare children away from visiting. So, the Field Museum of Natural History offered itself as a location, and filming took place there as well as in Los Angeles. Ultimately, it would have been better if the movie was filmed in the Big Apple, which houses a more famous natural history museum, and is overall a more recognizable and familiar setting to many viewers.
The Pace
One way the movie version of The Relic deviated from its source material was in its pacing. In the novel, the explanation for everything that's been happening is only revealed in the last few pages, making for an incredibly shocking twist ending. While the movie also has a similar twist toward the end, it unveils information and plot points slowly throughout the story, making for a less exciting sequence of events.
The Characters
Nearly every character description in the book was changed for the movie adaptation. Margo Green, for instance, is a quiet, introverted graduate student in the novel and only indirectly plays a part in killing the creature. In the movie, though, she's a doctor of evolutionary biology and is extremely assertive - she also kills the creature in the end. Additionally, Lt. Vincent D'Agosta is described as overweight and almost middle-aged in the book, and he brushes off superstitions. In the movie, he's young, athletic, and very superstitious. In the movie, D'Agosta's role was combined with that of Agent Pendergast, a key character from the book who was surprisingly entirely written out of the movie. The character Bill Smithback, a journalist, was also completely cut from the film.
In the book, Dr. Frock is one of the survivors of the museum invasion, but in the movie he is killed by the monster. And Dr. Ian Cuthbert's character is changed to a woman character named Ann. The character of Gregory Kawakita was also altered in the movie adaptation. In the book, he's described as having been born in Japan and raised in Britain. He's an independent researcher, and in the epilogue, it's revealed that he is the one to finally figure out the monster's mysterious origins. In the movie, he is depicted as Chinese-American and renamed Greg Lee, he's killed by the monster, and never finds out the monster's origins.
The Twist Ending
In the end of the movie, a computer is the one to reveal the twist that John Whitney (in the book, his name is Julian Whittlesey) is the monster. After the big reveal, the monster crashes into a lab, and Margo starts an explosive fire to destroy it. In the book, Agent Pendergast is the one to kill the monster - shooting it through the eye - and it's not until an epilogue that takes place four weeks later that the creature's origins are discovered.
The Monster
The movie also made distinct changes to the description of the monster. In the book, the monster is named "Mbwun," which can be translated to "He Who Walks On All Fours." In the movie, meanwhile, it's named "Kothoga" - meaning "Satan is my Father." In the book, the monster is described as a "scaly primate," it resembles a massive lizard and has a strange smell and red eyes. In the movie, the monster is bigger and insect-like, with mandibles sprouting from its face like a beetle. At the same time, it resembles a four-legged reptile, and runs like a tiger. It also has a hairy spine, a forked tongue, long teeth, a tail, and green eyes.
In the book, some sympathy is given to the creature; Margo and Ian describe it as a lonely and depressed creature. The monster starts off killing small animals in the book, and years later begins to kill humans — after the plant it needs to survive is destroyed. In the book, meanwhile, that plant is destroyed immediately and the monster begins to kill humans as soon as it arrives at the museum; it even killed the crew that took it to the city. Another change the movie made was adding in another monster. The side monster is a bug that eats the plant and becomes a massive version of itself. Eventually, Margo kills it by squashing it with a textbook.
Which Is Better?
Overall, The Relic doesn't fully end up working as a movie. The changes that the filmmakers made to the story when making the movie were in poor taste. The book does a better job of slowly setting up the premise and then shocking audiences with a twist ending that takes place weeks after the events of the climax, while the movie is paced out differently, opting to spread out how information is delivered. Additionally, the characters in the book are more fully fleshed out and more relatable, and have better arcs.
What's more, The Relic book does a solid job of commenting on societal issues like the dangers of tampering with genetic manipulation and the important role museums play in the world. While the movie is exciting and makes for a fun creature feature - the actors do a solid job with the script - it doesn't have the same feel as the book.
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