The Core

Big effects and the end of many landmarks as we knew them. Our review explains if The Core is worth seeing when it hits theatres worldwide next week.

When something happens to cause the core of the planet to change in temperature, threatening to destroy the Earth, a band of NASA "terranauts", led by geophysics professor, Dr Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart), is formed to pilot an experimental deep-earth ship to try to fix it by setting off a nuclear detonation.

The movie begins with 17 people suddenly dropping dead within a 10 block radius in Boston. The US government suspect a covert enemy electromagnetic weapon and call in geophysicist, Dr Josh Keyes and Russian atomic weapons expert Dr Sergei Putechin (Tcheky Karyo) to investigate. They determine that this was not an act of war, the government breathes a sigh of relief and the scientists are dismissed.

However, Keyes is intrigued and when other bizarre "natural" phenomena start occurring worldwide, he suspects that the Earth's electromagnetic field has somehow been compromised. Working with his University of Illinois team, Keyes discovers that the reason behind the occurrences is more frightening than any act of war.

For reasons unknown, the Earth's inner core has undergone changes which have affected its electromagnetic field. As a result, all life on earth begins to suffer - birds and marine life lose their ability to navigate, people with pacemakers drop dead and the famed Northern Lights appear many times brighter and further south than ever before.

Moreover, things will get far worse. As the electromagnetic field collapses, airplanes will fall from the sky, static discharge in the atmosphere will create "super-storms", with hundreds of lightning strikes per square mile and, deadliest of all, the Earth will no longer be shielded from solar radiation and the planet will literally fry.

Once his findings are made known, Keyes and another renowned geophysicist Dr Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci) are taken to meet Dr Ed "Braz" Brazzelton (Delroy Lindo), a brilliant scientist who has spent the last twenty years working on a craft capable of travelling into the Earth. With money suddenly no object, the US government and the United Nations rally together to create a team of world experts to immediately build a fully functional subterranean craft. Then, because Keyes and his colleagues are scientists, not pilots, astronauts Major Rebecca "Beck" Childs (Hilary Swank) and Colonel Robert Iverson (Bruce Greenwood) are recruited to become the world's first "terranauts".

The intention is to journey to the center of the Earth, to detonate a nuclear device, which they hope will reactivate the core and restore balance to the planet.

This is another tried and tested formula of the Earth being threatened by extinction, so what does this movie really have to offer? A submarine movie in dirt with little to see except the inside of a tin can crammed full of scientists and the obligatory military personnel? Sure, things break, get fixed and, when that gets boring, you'll probably be expecting some kind of traitor or someone with a political or military agenda to spice things up. I think we've all seen this movie before - only it was called Armageddon.

Now if you liked Armageddon, then there's no reason not to go see this - it could have been a lot worse. The performances - especially from Swank - are respectable, and it's pretty entertaining overall. However... enough with the famous landmarks being destroyed, just to spell out the gravity of the situation! We get it, it's serious - but why don't they destroy some anonymous skyscrapers, or even a busy Wal-Mart, for a change?

John Gold
Film Critic, Kikizo Movies

T H E   S C O R E S

Screenplay Direction Cinematics Production Overall 7.5 7.8 8.0 8.0 7.5

The Final Word:  This movie requires a great deal of suspended belief on the part of the audience, as many of the concepts put forward stretch credibility to its limits, but hey, this is science-fiction and if you like nice special effects and can accept the creative misinformation and bad science, you will probably enjoy The Core.