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"Let's go make 3o million dollars."
It is Green World Day in Boston Ma., and THE CORE quickly gets right into the action without wasting any precious screen time. For no apparent reason a section of downtown Boston turns into instant chaos. One drops dead in mid sentence at a business meeting. Outside cars crash and some people just drop dead on the spot. We will soon learn that the people who died had pacemakers that just stopped.
"Please come with me sir."
At the University of Chicago, Doctor Joshua Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) is teaching his class in sound wave theories when two government men in black enter his class and insist that he goes with them. He is quickly taken away on a high security clearance to a guarded hanger, in Washington D.C., where he meets his old friend Serge Leveque (Tcheky Karyo), a fellow scientist. Both are shocked to see the hanger full of covered dead bodies. General Purcell (Richard Jenkins) meets them and wants to know if they can confirm that a covert enemy electromagnetic weapon was used to kill these 32 victims. Once they confirm it was not a weapon, they are both brusquely dismissed and sent back home.
"Our greatest concern was that this was an act of war."
Trafalgar Square in England is victim to another occurrence. Pigeons begin acting erratically, falling from the sky, dead. Others start flying at and attacking civilians in the street. They ram themselves in kamikaze attacks against the window panes of buildings. People stampede in panic on the streets as they try to get to cover. Just as suddenly as it started the event ends.
"You do realize that everything here is totally classified?"
When Joshua receives the news of the event he quickly checks to see what could have caused this. He is still concerned about the pacemaker event. He knows that pigeons align their senses to the Earth's electromagnetic lines of force. Something is happening and he plans on finding out what is causing these events. He only hopes his suspicions are wrong.
"We're not where we should be."
The next scene in our little drama begins in earth orbit. Space shuttle ENDEAVOUR is coming in for re-entry when the problems begin. Something throws them off course and cause the ship to malfunction. Aboard the ship is Major Rebecca "Beck" Childs (Hilary Swank) the youngest person to have gone into space. What happens next is especially hair raising considering the recent destruction of the real world space shuttle COLUMBIA. The pilots have to land the ship into the center of Los Angeles but thanks to Major Childs quick thinking they manage to land it into the LA aqueduct system in an incredibly suspenseful scene that will knock your socks off. It is nice to see these brave pilots get some film credit for their incredible skill and daring in flying these big birds. The scene does the real life pilots proud.
"No this is impossible. I couldn't have missed this."
At the Academy Of Sciences, Joshua Keyes approaches Doctor Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci) with important papers that he needs reviewed to see if his theory is wrong. Once Zimsky confirms the validity of Joshua's finding they both know they are in serious trouble. Once Joshua leaves, the arrogant Dr. Zimsky pulls out a top secret file and leaves.
"It seems that destiny may have caught up with us."
At the Pentagon, General Thomas Purcell meets with Major Beck Childs and tells her that the fact she was involved with the shuttle craft mishap will cause her to be dismissed from the space program. The good major will not be dismissed but instead after the review board hearing she will be praised for her efforts in saving the shuttle. Her destiny is to help save the Earth.
"We have no sense of humour and we're armed."
Dr.Zimsky contacts General Purcell to tell him what is happening. Meanwhile the skies around the world begin their own light shows. Magnificent Northern Light borealis' appear in the night skies, hundreds of times brighter than normal.Once again those uptight government agents come once again to take Joshua away. Zimsky wants Keyes to explain to the generals and other government heads what is happening. He does not paint a very pretty picture.
"I'll put it as simply as I can. Everyone on the Earth will be dead in a year."
The writer makes it easy for the audience to understand in simple terms just what is and will happen. Did you know a peach is a fair representation of the Earth's strata? We learn that the Earth's molten liquid core spins at a 1,000 miles an hour. Inside this molten core rests the actual core that is considered to be made of incredibly dense nickel. That is what has stopped spinning. Keyes warns them that within the year planes will begin falling from the sky and once the electromagnetic shield around the planet fails, microwave radiation will seep into the atmosphere and cook everyone on the planet. In three month's mankind will begin to enter a new stone age.
"Three months gentlemen...we will be back in the stone age."
The generals want to know how to fix the problem. Keyes and Zimsky tell them it will be impossible to fix as it would mean starting the core revolving again. The core is the size of the planet Mars, so even if you could reach it how do you make it start up again? To date a 2 inch drill bit has only managed to dig down seven miles. Keyes makes it clear that all this conjecturing is a moot point since there is no way they can even get to the core. The writers, Cooper Layne and John Rogers used the encyclopedia model of the core for the movie. The core does indeed spin at a slightly faster speed than the Earth itself. The EM field is produced by the spinning of the core, so when the core stops in the movie the field would slowly disappear. The earth itself continues to spin of course.
" But...what if we could."
“We just can't get there."
Zimsky takes Joshua to the Utah desert to see an eccentric scientist named Edward Brazzelton played by Delroy Lindo. Braz is not happy to see Zimsky as they have some bad history between them, but he still shows them his work. For the last twenty years Braz has been working on his specially designed engine which uses lasers to burn massive holes in a hillside. Once again the writers used real world technology to help them create the ships cutting equipment. The ships ultrasonic/laser digging beam is based on the same medical technology that is being used in hospitals to break up kidney stones.
"Okay, I'm officially impressed."
I found that the name of the material used to build the ship, a bit of a gag. Braz calls the impenetrable material UNOBTAINIUM. The writer's claim it is based on a real, experimental molecule. Well if this material became a reality lots of technology would change. Braz tells the two men that a shell could be made ready in ten years. The ship is christened, VIRGIL, after the 'hero' of Dante's Inferno. He braved the fires and damnations of hell to save his true love; so once you see the movie you will more easily understand the reference. To build this ship within the three month period, scientists and specialists are brought in from all over to accomplish the task. It is a marvel of technology but even so it is rushed to the detriment of the terranauts who will make the journey. One thing it does not have is a windshield, something that the writer fought hard against the corporate suits to avoid putting in. Could you imagine the silliness let alone the sheer stupidity of putting a windshield on something that was going to blast its way through miles of rock and molten magma. Trust me you will.
"How much would it cost to finish it in three months?"
"Ten million dollars."
"Would you take a cheque."
DJ Qualls plays a formidable computer hacker named "Rat" Finch who is drafted by the government to hack the entire internet in such a way as to remove any possible material or messages that may refer to anything concerning the possible destruction of the human race. Could you imagine if this information were to get out to the people at large, the widespread, total havoc that would ensue around the globe. Finch is someone who can think in binary code faster than normal people can speak. When given the choice of jail or hacking the entire planet he obviously chooses the later as long as they give him an unlimited supply of XENA tapes and HIPOCKETS to keep him going. The star of the film, THE NEW GUY turns out to be a 'computer nerds' hero as he will be the real saviour of the planet. What???.. I gave something away...did you think we were not going to make it...come on now.
"We don’t have enough energy to get back."
“I know.”
The team of terranauts is put together to travel for 42 hours and go down 2600 miles into to the Earth to fix the core by detonating nuclear warheads and possibly die. The team of the subterranean craft consists of Colonel Robert Iverson (Bruce Greenwood), the pilot; Major Rebecca Childs co-pilot and navigator; Dr. Joshua Keyes and his friend Serge; Dr. Zimsky and of course Brazzelton. Not everyone will come back.
"Oh, no, Rome does not look good.”
While the team trains for the journey the destruction around the world continues. A spectacular lightning storm takes out Rome in an incredible sequence and reduces it to flames. Even though it was a great effect on the screen the destruction of the Rome Coliseum was a little funny because for some reason it exploded which didn't make sense. The storm should just has caused it to crumble and collapse and not explode but then again that would not have looked as dramatic as did with the explosion. Another sequence shows what happens when microwaves finally manage to find a hole in the Earth's EM field and strike San Francisco. The beam cuts a path through the bay killing everything in the water until it hits the Golden Gate Bridge. I have to give the effects men credit here because they did not go wild. The scene really came off looking realistic as things occurred without any overly dramatic garnish.
San Francisco is left in ruins and the entire west coast is left without power.
"I couldn’t think as slow as you if tried."
The biggest problem that occurs in this film is how the ship could be navigated and still
make it visual interesting for the viewers. Let’s face it , these guys are burning a tunnel through solid rock so the scenery is going to be a little boring…a big bare tunnel behind and lots of solid rock walls in front. Hey this brings up an interesting point. You see the ship is fired into the ocean at Earth’s lowest point , in the Marianas Trench creating a very big hole.
Now, nowhere in the plot does it address the problem that as they dig into the crust , wouldn’t the ocean follow its natural propensity to fill up a gap? Now wouldn’t that water follow them to the molten core? When that water hits the core wouldn’t we have one hell of a monstrous steam bath? Also wouldn’t the entire ocean, eventually, sea life and all, flow into the tunnel, leaving on very big pit? Now of course the water rushing in and the pressure from above would, sooner or later, cause the tunnel to collapse. The lava coming up would eventually fill the tunnel as well. I wonder why the writers, who tried hard to make this movie as scientifically viable as possible, did not take this into consideration with a few simple lines of dialogue. Oh well I solved the problem for them so now you can go in and enjoy the movie without this weighing heavily on your head. Come on now I want to hear you all yell a big thank you.
If any of the producers read this, I ask you, why don’t you fix this little plot hole in the DVD release.
"You’re used to winning and you can’t be a leader until…you’ve lost."
Let us wander back to my original thought now. To make it visually interesting the VIRGIL is equipped with a form of ultrasound and x-ray form of viewer that allows the pilot to see densities , so they could avoid dangers. They are to avoid anything that shows up black as the lasers would not cut thru them. It also shows them any spots that are empty. This device is used to give the viewer two spectacular scenes. One scene is the beautiful gem bubble they enter. Even though this causes a major problem and a death, it is a wonderful scene for its beauty. The ship enters a massive geode full of monstrous crystals that is an extrapolation of the largest ever found on the near surface which was one mile across. The
Writers also explore the black areas which are caused by massive diamonds that would put the world’s diamond industry out of business. Even the ships UNOBTAINIUM is not strong enough to fend off these babies; they are the size of Cape Code. Rebecca’s piloting skills helps them make it through this field but it causes the heart wrenching death of a second team mate. Rebecca has to make a life and death decision here, a hard one, but either one dies or they all do.
"If Virgil needs more blood, it will be mine."
Once they reach the core they realize there is a problem. This leads the remainder of the team to have to make a major decision. They now know that, they not only have to fight and survive the environment around them, but , it also must survive the back up contingency plan that General Purcell has put into play . This plan is what started the problem in the first place. Man seems to have the absolute stupid ability to create weapons that could eventually cause our downfall. Nothing new there.
"Destiny is a go. I repeat Destiny is a go.”
Now the race against time is on. The terranauts have to reach the earth's core and start it spinning once again. If the core can not be made to spin again mankind will go the way of the dinosaurs. It is now up to these brave scientists to save mankind or watch it turn into a burned out husk for they know that the device that will be deployed by the General will not save the Earth but instead rip it apart even faster. Sacrifices are necessary .
"Look at the bright side, at least we won’t boil to death."
The acting is good, especially the performances of Swank and Stanley Tucci. Tucci has a scene that if handled differently would have been really trite but instead the writers turned the tables on the viewer . Tucci excels especially in his final scenes near the end of the film, it will be one that will be remembered. The acting here is not award winning but it is acceptable. This is not really an actor’s movie, it is a special effects movie with an enjoyable plot and with enough characterizations to make us care about our heroes.
 
"It’s whales!! The ultrasonics !! They’re singing to them. We have to find those whales."
The movie has lots of surprises that I did not get into especially one at the end that you should stick around to see, so, don’t get up and leave when you think the film is over . The film has a running time of approximately 130 minutes that moves quickly. Boredom will not be something you will experience while viewing THE CORE. This is great popcorn cinema people. Sit back with a tub of the puffy yellow stuff and have an exciting thrill ride. It is safe for children as well as it has no language or nudity and come to think of it , death’s that do occur are not thrown in your face or lingered on, so feel free to give children a little thrill ride as well. Maybe it will leave them with excitement they will remember someday just like I do with those then exciting scenes like in FANTASTIC VOYAGE. It was always a special movie for me because of the effects or was it because of Raquel Welch in that white skin tight diving suit. I’ll never tell.
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