Hey folks, Harry here with Roxy Hart and THE CORE. She's tapping out another review Trigger style, hoofing a beat that's quite a treat. I'm anxious for this film to come out so I can see it. I'm genuinely curious. San Francisco seems to be taking a beating this year in theaters, it's gotta mean something...
Tirelessly dancing my way to stardom is Roxy Hart with yet another review of THE CORE.
I'm slowly getting the hang of writing a review without releasing crucial plot points. I realize that this site has been inundated with reviews of this movie. I'll try to keep it light and easy to swall...(I won't even finish the sentence). With that said, here we go...
This is another tried (more like tired) and tested formula of the Earth being threatened by extinction. The maguffin in this case is not aliens or deadly asteroids/meteors, but electric magnetic storms and eventual deadly cosmic radiation. Huh? Turns out the Earth's core has stopped spinning, causing the Earths electro-magnetic field to breakdown and causes these storms. This is because of a crucial mishap in the movie from the story's antagonist, Dr. Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci). After disbelief on behalf of the U.S. Government, a number of explained disasters tells them otherwise. With cooperation from governments around the country, the United Nations sends a specialist team comprised of a geologist (Aaron Eckhart), a geologist/phsycist (Tucci), an engineer/phsycist (Delroy Lindo), a physicist/EMP weapons specialist (Tcheky Karyo) and 2 Astronauts (Hilary Swank and Bruce Greenwood) to go to the core. Dr. Brazleton (Lindo) invents this souped up drilling machine equipped with a concentrated sonar blast to dispense those pesky rocks, and rides along to the core to make sure the machine is stabilized throughout the journey. Zimsky (Tucci) tags along because of his intimate knowledge of this disaster, since it was his fault to begin with. Dr. Leveque (Karyo) ensures the correct use of the nuclear devices that are going to be deployed to help "jumpstart" the core. Dr. Keyes (Eckhart) is the one who discovered this mess and the would-bes in charge, feel he'll have the necessary tools to improvise help if an unforseen problem arises. Lead astronauts Beck (Swank) and Iverson (Greenwood) are chosen to guide this machine because who better to navigate into the unknown than astronauts, right? Rounding out the team is internet phreak, Rat (DJ Qualls) running interference over the entire internet space to insure this operation stay absolutely quiet, NASA Operations Commander, Stick (Alfre Woodard) and U.S. military/tech lead (Richard Jenkins-sorry didn't get his title, I was frantically trying to remember titles and duties and this one slipped). The story proceeds to tell the journey of these terranauts, unforseen happenings and whether they succeed or not.
THE CORE written by Cooper Layne (this is his only writing credit) and John Rogers (AMERICAN OUTLAWS and the upcoming CATWOMAN) is a really, really tight script. Everything is explained and executed in realistic scientific language. No BS filler technobabble. Simple and direct, especially if you closely follow the advents of science and technology today. The dialogue never gets hammy until Lindo and Tucci go at it. Lindo and Eckhart comprise the meat of what you label the protagonist, while Tucci is the arrogant antagonist. Everyone puts up a decent servicable performance, but Eckhart adds a little more charm than the others. Swank is playing a rote role with her usual mix of gruff and sweetness. Karyo is fun to watch and listen to. Director Jon Amiel (ENTRAPMENT, COPYCAT, SOMMERSBY) keeps the story fast and crisp. My favorite parts of the movie include the interaction between all the scientists. They are all geniuses in similar fields and I imagine writing these scenes would be a nightmare. Instead armchair psychologists Layne and Rogers take the genius and children in the sandbox approach. When you put children in a sandbox, you would expect them to double the interaction that they were producing (if they were playing alone, playtime would manifest two-fold if more children were introduced). Actually what happens is there is period of confusion and role distribution before any type of interaction with other children. Same with geniuses. You won't automatically great more brainpower if you put geniuses in a room. The story sets up that period of confusion and role distribution and then finally we see that type of super-level genius at work. Kudos for the writers for recognizing that and not jumping directly into the "we are the best at what we do, so we can just do it" crap that Armageddon fell into. My only complaint is that we see historical landmarks destroyed too often in the movie. Looks good on trailers, silly in the theatrical run. I realize that these landmarks were destroyed to spell out the gravity of the situation, but I would have been more satisfied if a negligible skyscraper was destroyed or even a busy Wal-Mart, for that matter.
Before I tell you whether I thought it was good or bad. If you have any ill-conceptions about this movie before intending to go see it, stay home. I liked the movie and would recommend it. It's not for everybody but from reading my review, I took away something different than the last few reviewers.
Until I shoot you another review, I am forever
Roxy Hart
