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The Core film review
THE CORE
Running time: 135 mins
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Nicole Leroux, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Stanley Tucci , DJ Qualls , Tchéky Karyo, Richard Jenkins, Bruce Greenwood
It's the end of the world as we know it, in this big budget actioner directed by Jon Amiel (Copycat, Entrapment).
As a result of secrets experiments conducted by the US government, code-named Project Destiny, the Earth's inner core has stopped rotating, causing a gradual deterioration of the planet's vital electromagnetic field. The ramifications are catastrophic. A devastating electrical superstorm reduces the Colosseum in Rome and the surrounding area to rubble; pigeons in Trafalgar Square lose their in-built guidance and swarm blindly into crowds and plate glass windows; and people with pacemakers in Boston drop dead without warning.
Worse is to come however. Unless the inner core starts rotating again, the planet's electromagnetic field, which protects mankind from the sun's deadly radiation, will fail completely. In a few weeks, the globe will be plunged into another Stone Age, without any electrical equipment; in a few months, all life on Earth will perish in blazing heat.
At the behest of the US president, General Thomas Purcell (Richard Jenkins) convenes a crack team of scientists and NASA experts in Washington D.C. to figure out a solution to the dilemma, and fast. After hours of head-scratching, the experts hit upon a novel and decidedly hare-brained scheme.
Terranauts Commander Robert Iverson (Bruce Greenwood) and Major Rebecca Childs (Swank) will pilot a state-of-the-art ship to the Earth's core and set off a thermo-nuclear explosion to correct the fault. Geophysicists Dr Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) and Dr Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci), atomic weapons expert Dr Sergei Leveque (Tcheky Karyo), and brilliant inventor Dr Ed Brazzelton (Delroy Lindo) will go along to offer invaluable technical support, and make any last minute adjustments.
As the craft, nicknamed Virgil, burrows almost 3,000 miles below the surface of the Earth, the plucky six race against time to avert global meltdown. Meanwhile, back at NASA command, mission controller Stick (Alfre Woodard) keeps a close eye on the terranaut's progress while renowned hacker Rat (DJ Qualls) takes control of the internet to prevent any details of the top secret mission leaking out and sparking global panic.
The Core embraces the conventions of the blockbuster disaster movie, including the need for archetypal characters who are killed off one after another in outrageous twists of fate which invariably haunt these life-or-death missions (malfunctioning systems, freak accidents and the like).
The cast is surprisingly good, from Oscar winner Swank's plucky and brainy heroine and Greenwood's cautious though wise mentor, to Karyo's loving father who only wants to save his wife and children and Eckhart's beefcake lecturer who discovers the courage he didn't know he had. Tucci provides occasional comic relief as the increasingly unhinged member of the team (a la Donald Pleasance in Fantastic Voyage), whose reasons for taking part in the dangerous mission are anything but philanthropic.
Special effects are decent and ground-breaking only in the most literal sense, not least the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco from microwave radiation.
The 135 minute running time is excessive and could easily be trimmed to increase tension in the closing moments, without sacrificing any of the character development. Scientifically, the film is incomprehensible, but as a mildly diverting night out with friends, The Core just about delivers its payload.
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