Dark Relic

I give this flick a two because of the good idea. Finding a part of the real cross and being attacked by demons, could have been a good story.

But ... At the first pictures of the movie you see crusaders after the war in clean cloth, with clean faces and fingernails. Well thats the point where you have to realize that it will be something like a lame Scifi channel production. But it gets worse.

The discussions are what makes this movie really unrealistic. From the beginning of the movie everybody permanently tells the crusaders that the crusade maybe was a bad idea and it may not have been a holy war. When this the first time happens i got a smile on my face because i thought: All right heretic, that were your last words and now the slaughtering starts. But the crusaders in this movie are real open minded. They are open to discuss everything. Its allowed to call the crusade a bad idea all the time, its allowed to tell them that muslims and christians are basically the same religion and it is also allowed to tell them that Jesus was not the son of god. They are fine with all of that. The Muslim warrior which joins them later is also open for all this questions. The crusaders and the Muslim warrior do not have any problems with each other because ... the war is over.

Oh, by the way. Now and then some bad made CGI creatures appear and disturb their discussion.

I did not watch the movie to the end. If i want to see a hypocritical debate about religion which includes some ugly creatures, then i just will watch the next TV debate about this subject.

So what is this all about? It seems like someone wanted to make a movie about religious tolerance between muslims, cristians and atheists based on the example of a happy group of crusaders and Muslim warriors. Well, good for him. But next time he should show this to his left wing lesbian vegetarian discussion group in private and do not publish it and steal 1,5 hours of the live time of fantasy movie fans.

The idea was interesting, so I was willing to forgive the budget quality if it was a watchable movie at the least. Apart from this odd if very interesting idea and the good performances of James Frain and Alyy Khan, Dark Relic was anything but. Apart from these two performances, the rest of the acting is at best mediocre. A number of things didn't help them at all. The characters are little more than obnoxious stereotypes that we learn nothing about, while the dialogue constantly has a very awkward feel to it. There is nothing exciting in the story at all, which suffers further from a complete lack of coherence. The special effects are of really poor standard, I wasn't expecting high art of course considering the budget but these looked like examples of somebody not even trying. The camera work is hackneyed, while the direction is flat and the monster is very underused and as far from menacing as you can come. So all in all, dull and cheap, essentially a pretty poor but slightly redeemable SyFy movie that doesn't have much if any kind of value. 2/10 Bethany Cox

I cannot believe I sat through this whole thing, but that's how bored I was before -- mercifully -- having to head off to work Sunday afternoon. Tepid tale about a group of knights carrying home a piece of the one true cross at the end of one of the Crusades. Unfortunately, this piece of wood attracts a demon, which in turn unleashes various plagues on them, including assaults by dead birds, wolves and bats -- or maybe they were locusts. It was hard to tell. Most of the time, the soldiers and others they meet along the way just stand around and talk. And talk. And then stand around some more. The demon is on screen for a few seconds in the middle and then for a couple of minutes at the end, but clearly this is where the majority of the movie's budget went. The film is just another in the endless stream of bad Sci-Fi Channel CGI creature features. The acting is not as bad as the dialog, thank God, but we do have to suffer listening to accents that range from veddy British to straight outta Brooklyn. What a waste. The occasional sword fights are clumsily staged, and the final battle with the demon is even worse. A brief sequence involving possessed monks in a monastery looks like it was pieced together from outtakes from Sam Raimi's ARMY OF DARKNESS. I am giving this dreadful flick a 2 instead of a 1 for the two very hot-looking babes who accompany the ragtag band of soldiers. It doesn't say here, but clearly this was shot in either Canada or Romania. Same difference. Boring scenery, bad mix of accents. By the way, instead of watching this, catch the Hollywood oldie-but-moldy, THE MAGIC SWORD (aka ST. GEORGE AND THE SEVEN CURSES). It has a similar plot and is a heckuva lot more entertaining and fun.

God love those Syfy TV productions. The medieval horror "Dark Relic" ticks all the boxes, from what we come to expect. It's a glossy (even though the visuals are poorly staged - fake looking backdrops), but terribly bland outing with dismal computer effects (this especially goes to the wolf's attack), cheap set-designs and props, preachy dialogues and a real lack of pacing. Aside from one or two creative moments (possessed monks in a monastery), it was a complete bore. A small group of ragged crusaders are returning home from the holy lands with a holy relic, which they come to discover, is cursed as dark forces begin to make their journey hell. The lackadaisical plot is routine in its narrative drive, the lousy action simply lumbers along and the characters are lazily pitched ("They are our friends"). The performances (led by James Frain) are suitable enough. There's little in the way of fun, as it's stiltedly uninteresting entertainment.

Probably looked good on paper. A legend about the crucifix surviving until medieval times, some knights on a quest to find and secure it, and some demonic plagues besetting the knights. Lots of action, story, and special effects about supernatural power; right? Wrong.

A rag-tag group of people are thrown together on this Indy Jones type relic hunt that argue about everything, from spirituality to the best brand of toothpaste. Argue, argue, argue. It gets annoying real fast, and one can only hope they have a sword battle that shuts them all up permanently.

The premise held potential, but is hopelessly obscured behind this foolishness. You could watch one of those cable TV political argument shows and get the same thing.