The Core

3/28/03 - Review

There is no better time to release a movie about the end of the World then when the United States is in a major conflict in the Middle East.  Could you sense a bit of sarcasm?  The Core is what I like to call Armageddon 2: The Inside.  In any case, it is a new disaster picture. 

On a clear and sunny day in Boston, 17 people die mysteriously which prompts a US General, Thomas Purcell (Richard Jenkins), to confer with a couple of scientists to see if the deaths were caused by an enemy’s electromagnetic pulse weapon.  It is determined by Dr. Josh Keys (Aaron Eckart) and Dr. Serge Leveque (Tcheky Karyo) that all of the victims had pace makers that and it was not brought on by an enemy. 

Soon, things start to happen all over the World as birds go crazy in London, and the Space Shuttle veers way off course during reentry.  With the quick thinking of Major Rebecca Childs, (Hilary Swank) she prompts the commander to land the shuttle in an unused storm canal. 

Dr. Keys starts to put two and two together and realizes that the core of the Earth has stopped spinning, if you can believe that, and that the Earth will be gone in a year.  He explains his discovery to Dr. Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci) who at firsts dismisses him but then agrees with him later.

Together they explain their findings to a government board who decides to send a team to the middle of the Earth, which has never been done before.  But, one man has spent his last twenty years developing a machine that could some day take people to the core of the Earth.  Dr. Ed Brazzelton (Delroy Lindo) is this man, who with the help of a $50 Billion dollar check, his train-like vehicle with giant lasers is built.  The government hires a hacker, “The Rat,” to keep information about this mission secret. 

The four doctors, Childs, and her commander, have now been assembled to save the World.  They must travel over 2000 miles to the center of the Earth and detonate an incredible amount of nuclear weapons which they think will jump start the core.  Their mission starts out okay but they soon realize that the core is not what they predicted which prompts General Purcell to look into the backup plan, Project Destiny.  Project Destiny was a top secret government program that caused all of the problems in the first place.  The Earth craft, Virgil, ends up loosing contact with the ground which leaves Purcell no choice.  But will they be able to re-start the core of the Earth, let alone get out alive?

I only have one world for this movie.  CHEESE!  This movie is a big fake turd.  At no point in the movie was I really that interested.  How in the World can the core of the Earth stop spinning anyway?  Well, even if you can get by back there are still a host of other problems with this movie, not to mention the huge plot holes. 

Weeks ago, I complained that movie studios drop scenes from movies if something tragic occurs in real life that resembles what they are showing us.  In this case, Space Shuttle Endeavor has problems re-entering Earth and performs an emergency landing in San Francisco.  The scene should have been pulled from the movie because it felt “too real” while I was watching it.  At least they didn’t call the shuttle Columbia. 

After the last person is introduced, Delroy Lindo, I guess the director decided to fast forward the training and the building of this special ship and get right into the mission.  I thought they were still training and getting ready, but all of a sudden they launch into the ocean.  There really wasn’t any buildup of story leading up to this point. 

From there the movie seemed to drag on and on for what seemed like hours.  It was about 2:20 but it seemed far longer than that.  The journey to the center was so fake and predictable that I thought I was in fantasy world.  This ship can withstand an unbelievable amount pressure like it was floating on top of the ocean.  Oh yeah, the 5,000 degree temperatures don’t seem to harm the ship either nor the crew when they venture outside. 

I read an article a couple weeks ago saying that the director, Jon Amiel, was all about character development instead of special effects laden movies like Star Wars.  He could have used some more special effects because the characters were lifeless.  You really only care for the two main characters, Swank and Eckart, with the others only there to pass the time.  Amiel tries to make the movie funny at times but I think he tried a little too hard.  It has its moments of comedy but I can recall myself laughing alone during one scene. 

A story like this deserves more special effects.  The special effects in the movie were decent, although in small doses.  Even though I curse the director for the Space Shuttle scene, it was quite well done.  The attention to detail was great even though I doubt the shuttle would ever survive that landing.  The destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge was pretty good too but that was about it.  I did like the birds going crazy in the beginning and flying into walls and monuments.  More special effects next time are needed if the characters suck.  I need something to assure myself that I am getting my money’s worth. 

What really caught my attention was the fact that people clapped at the end of the movie.  Did I miss something here?  Maybe they were clapping because it was finally over like I would have done.  If you want to see a disaster picture, watch Armageddon, because that is a hell of a lot better than this offering. 

Grade

What do you think?