Au coeur de la terre

Hollywood has always had an infatuation with films that deal with natural disasters. However, the portrayal of such disasters is usually far over-blown for the sake of dramatic effect. But these films can't be taken seriously, as their purpose is nothing more than to give their audience an exciting, wild ride. This was the case in `The Core,' the new film from director Jon Amiel whose last film was 1999s `Entrapment,' which starred Sean Connery and Catherin Zeta-Jones. At first glance, `The Core' appears to be a science fiction/disaster flick about the end of the world. However, after analyzing the film, it's safe to say that this film is about 25% science fiction, and about 75% absurdity. But don't let that stop you from seeing it. Despite its silly story, `The Core' is a likable film that actually had me cracking up more than shivering with fear.

The film opens with various minor catastrophes occurring worldwide, from 32 sudden deaths in a major American city to flocks of birds flying into crowds of people and buildings (an apparent rip-off of Hitchcock's, `The Birds'). Scientists are brought in to examine these occurances and they hypothesize that the core of the earth has stopped spinning. They now need to find a way to get the core rotating once again in order to stop the cataclismic events from taking place. With the help of world's best scientists, they create a ship, properly titled as `Virgil,' designed to travel to the center of the earth, dump off a nuclear payload of about four bombs, and then as Aaron Eckhart's character, Josh says, `then we outrun the biggest shock wave in history.' `The Core' has some great talent. Eckhart (`Erin Brockovich') and Tcheky Karyo (`The Patriot') portray professors brought on to study the devastation of the super storms and strange deaths that are happening. Stanley Tucci (`Road To Perdition') plays a famed scientist with a severe ego problem. Hilary Swank, the Oscar winning actress of `Boys Don't Cry' plays a NASA astronaut sent to maneuver the ship through the earth's interior, along with Bruce Greenwood of `Double Jeopardy.' Richard Jenkins, who has appeared in several Farrelly brother's films including `There's Something About Mary,' and `Me, Myself, and Irene' appears as a general in charge of the mission.

Perhaps the film's most humorous points transpire when DJ Qualls (`The New Guy') enters the film has a hacker recruited to keep the media out of the public's eye by hacking the Internet and rooting out those who know of this secret mission to save the planet. If word of the events did get out, naturally as in any disaster flick, the fear of rioting and social unrest could take place. `The Core' is filled with clichés. It's easy to sit there and point out scenes that have taken place in other films, especially `Deep Impact,' and `Armageddon.' However, I found it to be forgivable. I liked `The Core' and found it to be fun escapism, not to be taken to heart. Disaster films have always been ridiculous, especially the greatest disaster schlock film of all, `Earthquake,' which starred Charlton Heston and George Kennedy. In recent years though, the idea of Earth's destruction from a force that mankind has no hold over has grabbed both the film industry and the public's attention, most notably with `Armageddon.' Quite frankly, I don't see why so many people loved `Armageddon' what with its stupidity, exaggerated direction from Michael Bay (`Pearl Harbor') and its dumbfounded performances from Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis. `Deep Impact' was a far superior film that was a box-office success in its time, but wasn't remembered because of mass appeal of `Armageddon.' Nonetheless, `The Core' is a decent flick that the average person can check his or her brain at the door of the theater with and veg-out to. ***

I enjoyed this a lot, its an old fashioned disaster flick, suspenseful with solid special effects, an interesting (if far fetched) science based story and great cast.

Story goes; a scientist/teacher (Aaron Eckhart ) discovers through several natural disasters (Hilary Swank, Bruce Greenwood in space shuttle disaster) a catastrophic problem with the earths core (its stopped spinning) so he and a team of the worlds (mostly American) experts are assembled to embark on a dangerous mission through the earth to the middle of the planet to kick start "the core" using nuclear weapons. What could possibly go wrong?

This movie sets up like The Day After Tomorrow and then heads into Armageddon territory with shades of Chernobyl or K19 thrown in towards the end as one member of the team solo missions into certain death to save the day.

I liked all the characters from this ensemble cast, and found the story exciting especially as the team first enter the earths crust, actually giving me claustrophobia and anxiety. A more than decent escapism during my quarantine.

I enjoyed The Core.

Okay, we all know the centre of the Earth doesn't look as Hollywood as that. And the pressure suits, and the coincidences, and the split-second-timing giant nuclear bombs, and the blah blah blah blah ...

For God's sake, what did you expect ... a documentary? The Core is escapism, just like a cartoon, just like your comic books. Movies can be highly implausible and still be fun. James Bond has made a career out if it.

For what it's worth, I'm glad the Ugly Attractive Kid with the weird nose finally justified his salary at the end. Aaron Eckhart's chin must surely win Best Jawline in a Leading Role some time soon. I was disappointed Hilary Swank didn't get to struggle for half an hour in a sweaty, clingy t-shirt. And, for once, my private predictions as to the Exact Order of Death among the leading characters turned out to be 100% correct. I'm bad at that, so imagine how easy it is in The Core to forecast who's going to die next - it's eeeeeasy.

And the earthworm-like ship varies in scale between awesomely big to comically small. And there was no real sense of claustrophobia. And the heroes didn't seem to mind, before launch, that they all had a "I knew this was a one way ticket", Ed Harris style, staring them in the face. I mean, two thousand miles, straight down ... better squeeze your nose and blow, because I know MY ears would pop.

It was a laugh, I'll buy the DVD because it looked and sounded great, and the special FX were perfectly fine thankyou. Not awesome, but entertaining.

I didn't mind this film, but then, I was not expecting much. The "disaster" was built up nicely in the first 30 minutes, with some decent special effects. The acting was above par for this type of film, but the characters seemed to be a little underdeveloped. Very much a poor mans Armageddon, this is good Sunday afternoon entertainment. The film is a little long, it drags a bit in the middle, and the ending is contrived - but it's a lot better than some of the other "blockbusters" currently released.

A lot of people seem to dislike this movie but I think they are the kind of people that go to movies just to knock 'em. These are the kind of people who read books, listen to music, and watch TV shows just to create a mental checklist of all the things that are done wrong in their own brilliant opinions. So if you follow me so far, here's my brief review of The Core.

My reactions to the various big budget disaster movies of recent years have been varied. My expectations were low going into "The Core" because the trailer, while interesting, still made the movie look like major cheese potential. But I must say I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. For what it is, which is pure popcorn escapism fun, it works. The special effects and sets are excellent, the actors are all good, and the story was not nearly as hokey as I thought it would be.

Aaron Eckhart, Hillary Swank and Stanley Tucci are all pretty respectable actors, and they give the movie the substance that it may have otherwise lacked. Yes, the cliché "hacker nerd" and military brass characters are a little old, but they don't ruin the experience. I have no idea how realistic or plausible the story is. But "The Core" is one of those entertaining movies that will take you away for a ride if you can suspend your disbelief. Thumbs up for a good effort.