The Core (2003)

Director:

Jon Amiel

Writers:

Cooper Layne (written by) and
John Rogers (written by)

Release Date:

28 March 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Earth has a deadline

Plot:

The only way to save Earth from catastrophe is to drill down to the core and set it spinning again.

Plot Keywords:

Earth | Core | Scientist | Disaster | Pacemaker

Cast

Aaron Eckhart	...	Dr. Josh Keyes
Christopher Shyer	...	Dave Perry
Ray Galletti	...	Paul
Hilary Swank	...	Maj. Rebecca Childs
Delroy Lindo	...	Dr. Ed 'Braz' Brazzleton
Eileen Pedde	...	Lynne
Rekha Sharma	...	Danni (as Rékha Sharma)
Stanley Tucci	...	Dr. Conrad Zimsky
DJ Qualls	...	Theodore Donald 'Rat' Finch
Tom Scholte	...	Acker
Richard Jenkins	...	Gen. Thomas Purcell
Glenn Morshower	...	FBI Agent
Bruce Greenwood	...	Cmdr. Robert Iverson
Anthony Harrison	...	FBI Agent
Tchéky Karyo	...	Serge (as Tcheky Karyo)

Also Known As:

Core (USA) (poster title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi life/death situations and brief strong language.

Runtime:

135 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:U | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Brazil:Livre | Canada:PG (Canadian Home Video rating) | Chile:TE | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:PT | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (No. 39398)

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

David Foster Productions

Trivia:

In demonstrating the physics of what is happening, Aaron Eckhart's character uses a peach to make his point. Unfortunately none of the peaches brought to the set were suitable so an apple was painted and had a peachstone inserted into its middle.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After the shuttle Endeavour hits the river, Beck deploys the speed brake, but in the shot with the police cars approaching, the speed brake is retracted.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Dave Perry: [referring to his watch] It stopped.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Super Secret Movie Rules: Disaster Movies (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Weren't You the One

This film is made of pure unobtainium

I don't know much about geology, but what little I do know suggests that the nature of the Earth's core is such as to be impervious to any merely human intervention, and that traveling to it is something human beings probably never will be able to do. Hence, any SF flick about humans doing one to rectify the other is likely to be as fanciful as The Wizard of Oz, so a big "caveat emptor" is attached to this movie. I figured that anyone audacious enough to cook up an eco-fable like this would have checked his science so as to make the movie more believable, but apparently I was wrong according to the legion of IMDb reviewers who have savaged this film.

This film reminded me a bit of the 1966 film "Fantastic Voyage," in which a group of scientists and their craft are shrunk to the size of a microbe and injected into the body of a scientist (or was it a diplomat?) who has been wounded in an assassination attempt, in a race against time to save his life. "The Core" resembles "Fantastic Voyage" in several ways: First, the technological premise that makes possible travel to this inaccessible realm is so far-fetched as to be more magical than scientific. Second, in all but a few places, the inside of the body is naturally quite dark, and so, one would think, is the interior of the Earth; but in both movies, these unseen realms are aglow with light. Third, the sex ratio is similar: Four men, one woman, who of course is played by Raquel Welch. Fourth, none of the characters rises much above stereotype, since the story is driven by situation, not characters. Fifth, come to think of it, Hilary Swank, while not as voluptuous as the young Raquel Welch (who could be?), does slightly resemble her. Sixth, the events of the film are kept secret from the public, and Edmund O'Brien's General Carter is very similar to General Purcell, who is played by that excellent and serviceable character actor Richard Jenkins. (Unfortunately, every time I saw Jenkins, I was distracted by memories of his hilarious performance as Walter Wingfield in "Say It Isn't So.") I will say one thing in this film's defense: As absurd as it may be, and as uninspired in terms of plot, characterization, visual effects and believability, it did keep me watching to find out what would happen next all the way to the end.