The Core (2003)

THE CORE (2003) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Aaron Eckhart, HIllary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Stanley Tucci, D.J. Qualls, Richard Jenkins, Tcheky Karyo, Bruce Greenwood and Alfre Woodard. Visual effect supervisor Gregory L. McMurry. Written by Cooper Lane and John Rogers. Directed by Jon Amiel. Rated PG-13. Running time: 135 minutes.

Take a science fiction plot, toss in a group of B-movie-type stock characters, add a solid cast, some cheesy special effects and wrap it all in A-movie pretensions and you get The Core.

It seems the earth's molten core is slowly stopping its rotation, causing global havoc with the planet's electro-magnetic field. People with pacemakers are dropping dead, pigeons lose their ability to navigate and begin smashing into buildings, cars, buses and people.

What's needed, of course, is a brilliant plan to get the core rotating again. Because if not, the disintegration of the E.M. field will eliminate the shield that protects the earth from cosmic rays and the planet will fry like a large slab of bacon in a skillet.

And before you can say Armageddon, young genius Dr. Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) and a small group of scientists devise such a scenario. So, we're off on a journey to the center of the earth.

The Core is techno Jules Verne. Using a subterranean craft dubbed Virgil, the "terranauts" begin their rocky descent to place and detonate a nuclear device that will reactivate the core.

The film's only unknown is in what order the crew members will make their ultimate sacrifice so their comrades can complete their mission.

The crew is comprised of types, not people. The science fiction cliché book was nearly emptied by screenwriters Cooper Lane and John Rogers. Recognizable situations and plot twists from other science fiction movies pop up with regularity.

Director Jon Amiel tries to keep the movie lively, but cutting to the surface and showing the havoc being created by situation. Some nifty destruction scenes create a slight adrenaline flow, but even those are muted by less-than-stellar special effects, in which the computer generated devastation is quite in evidence.

The cast tries hard to breathe life into their characters, but are continually undercut by the script. Beside Eckhart, the crew includes Oscar-winner Hillary Swank as the self-assured Maj. Rebecca "Beck" Childs; Bruce Greenwood as the wise Cmdr. Iverson; Delroy Lindo as Dr. "Braz" Brazzelton, the embittered inventor the craft; D. J. Qualls as Rat, the geeky computer genius; Tcheky Karyo as the humanist Dr. Sergei Leveque and Stanley Tucci as the smarmy, headline-grabbing Dr. Zimsky.

Tucci, at least, has some fun with the script, wildly overacting, shouting his lines and mugging as if he were in a Max Sennett silent Keystone comedy. At least he breathes some needed life into the turgidness.

The Core offers a few tense moments, some thrills and perils, but it's not anything you haven't seen before.

Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on movies. Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Rottentomatoes Web site, www.rottentomatoes.com and at the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom

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X-RT-TitleID: 1121019
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X-RT-RatingText: 1.5/4