“The Core” (Paramount Pictures)
“The Core” is an end of the world disaster film, much in the line of “Armageddon,” “Earthquake,” and others of that ilk. And like them, it is a film enjoyed best when it is accepted for just being an adrenaline-producing feature with no illusions of grandeur.
In this movie the earth’s core is slowing down. This produces death to wearers of pacemakers, insanity in certain bird groups, and eventually a path of heat that melts the Golden Gate Bridge. In order to bring these calamities to a halt, a team of “terranauts” is sent by machine into the Earth’s center. There they will set off nuclear bombs which they hope will re-trigger movement in the core.
The pilots of the craft are Commander Robert Iverson (Bruce Greenwood) and Major Rebecca “Beck” Childs (Hilary Swank). The geophysicists on board are Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) and Dr. Sergei Leveque (Tcheky Karyo). The expert and the designer of the “boring” craft they are using are Dr. Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci) and Dr. Ed Brazzleton (Delroy Lindo).
On the surface of the Earth they are assisted by the military man in charge, General Thomas Purcell (Richard Jenkins), and a computer geek/wizard named “Rat” (D J Qualls). These two help keep track of the time left for the explosions and the possibility of any alternate methods to be used to re-activate the core.
All of this is played with some humor, which is a blessing. There are also the requisite scenes of death as the terranauts die one by one. This is done in a gung-ho manner as they willingly give their lives to save each other and mankind.
The acting is routine but effective with Tucci having the villain role and Eckhart and Swank having the romantic ones. No one is required to do any heavy emoting and no Academy Award performances are turned in. Still they don’t damage their acting reputations either.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.
The special effects of the film are enjoyable and you do wait apprehensively for the next tragedy to occur. This makes for exciting film enjoyment.
“The Core” is a fun film that will hold your interest from start to finish. If you like this kind of movie, and I do, you are going to have a fine time.
I scored “The Core” a deep-seated 6 out of ten.
©2003 Jackie K. Cooper
