Getting to The Core (The Core (DVD))

Member Name: Ayesha-`

Product:	The Core (DVD)
Date:	08/06/09 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good for killing spare time

Disadvantages: Scientifically flawed, generally a weak film

Always keen to see a good movie, and always open to a new (or not so new) disaster film, when I saw that The Core was showing on one of the movie channels, and read the little description about it, I decided to put it on. Put simply, as the story is about the Core stopping spinning, I was curious as to how this could happen and ideas about what effects it would actually have should it ever happen.

Story

The Science Bit

At the centre of the earth, around the solid iron core, is a liquid, moving rapidly and keeping energy going that powers the electro-magnetic field around the earth, apparently. For some reason, not initially known in the film, there is a slow-down in the movement of this liquid - and so the core of the earth threatens to stop spinning. This would apparently cause the electro-magnetic field to go crazy then shut down altogether, causing potential disasters worldwide, shutdowns of electrical equipment and eventually destruction of the earth. The sun's most harmful rays would start to get through the gaps in the electromagnetic field and so the earth would burn up with the direct heat.

To be honest, just the idea that the core could stop spinning, whatever the cause, seems strange to me. Surely, for that to happen, something so major must have occurred that would probably have killed us all anyway? Well, I'm no expert, but there were certainly parts of the film that sounded scientifically flawed, and I think the film has been greatly criticised for that.

To the Rescue

Our heroes of the story are quickly introduced, in particular Dr. Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart), currently a physics lecturer. He is brought together in a team, including, Dr. Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci), Major Rebecca Childs (Hilary Swank) and Dr Brazzelton (Delroy Lindo) among others, and together a plan is devised for them to travel to the centre of the earth and set off an explosion that could get the core back into motion.

As I said, I sensed this film was quite flawed, and I can't picture anything going through all that lava and staying intact, although perhaps there are insulating materials with such a high melting point? On top of that, surely with all the heat and pressure at the core, drilling a hole would be a bit like sticking a pin into a balloon, albeit a liquidy one? I know nothing of science, but I'm sure there is much to question there. Nevertheless, it was certainly a good story for making you think about these things.

This was another of those films I feel the urge to criticise for assuming that only the great USA would even notice something was not right and pull its finger out to do something. Frankly, I'm disillusioned with the world generally, but I'm even more doubtful of the image I once had of America as these great heroes. Granted, they've acheived great things, but so have other countries and not without the help of one and other. It would have been much nicer to have seen different countries pull together to help each other through this sort of crisis in a film, rather than the usual heroic crap. I try to assume that the film-makers had no intention of patronising the rest of the world, but to be honest it certainly is something to bear in mind.

The scenes of particular excitement are actually scattered throughout the film, which is meated up with character development and all that scientific-techy stuff. In a way this helps to keep your attention all the way through and distract you from the other flaws mentioned. The only problem I see with this is that where it is all really fragmented, you didn't get a build up of tension but rather on and off tense scenes, which often ended too quickly, causing disappointment. Nevertheless you are kept on your toes, because anything could happen at any stage. The story reminded me slightly of things like Armageddon and Deep Impact (although in this film, the rest of the world is oblivious to their potential doom). But if I was expecting it to be anywhere near as good as those films, I would have been deeply disappointed.

Characters/Acting

The range of character personalities is quite good, and of the people who go on the mission, a few are more distinctly memorable. The trouble is that I can't help but think it was the same as many films of its kind, with one very difficult person who threatens to jeopardise the mission, one key hero we expect to miraculously survive everything and save the day but refuse to take all the credit, one sacrificial person who chooses to die for the good of the world, one female who typically falls for one of the good guys and a few people who seem alright but often suffer horrible accidents and end up seriously injured or worse early on. I think much of this can be expected in this type of film, and sadly it makes it very predictable.

I wasn't really very familiar with any of the actors in this film; only really recognised DJ Qualls, who plays "Rat", but I'd seen him in far less serious films like Road Trip. It was strange to have seen him in that sort of film then in this, much more serious role. He could have made the film a little more fun, I think, and it is a shame he didn't throw in some of his better qualities. Nevertheless there were mild signs of rebellion in his character, so I can appreciate why he was chosen for the role.

Aaron Eckhart was good, but there wasn't really anything about him that was outstanding. He was just a typical hero, but not even very romantic or different. He had some moving moments, but they were short-lived and not particularly effective. To be honest I think more drama was added by Delroy Lindo and Stanley Tucci, and their adversarial relationship.

The sort of character that I think Hilary Swank was trying to portray was portrayed well. I think this is another film that attempts to avoid stereotypical images of women (although probably falls into the traps of creating stereotypes elsewhere, as I think is the case in all films). This is one thing I thought wasn't badly done, because whilst I could see that she was torn by some of the difficult situations she was put in, and therefore not without a human side, she was capable of remaining controlled and focused. I found her quite shallow, but at least I could understand what was intended by this.


Film qualities

I didn't think the graphics were anything special. In fact when they were travelling towards the core, their view look a bit outdated, more like a computer game than what you'd expect they'd see. Even from the outside, the view simply did not look realistic, and although it was all very bright and colourful, the fact it wasn't convincing did somewhat spoil the film. One thing that did baffle me was how ineffective the lava was. To be honest it looked more like it was just orange custard, and there was no effort to convey heat (although to be fair that's not easy). There were, some slightly better scenes on the surface, for instance a pigeon panic in Trafalgar Square and the melting of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I didn't realise pigeons could shatter double-glazed windows so easily! The dead pigeons didn't look real, but the chaos caused was convincing.

Classification

The film has been given a 12 certificate, and I think this is quite appropriate. There's no visible gore as such, it is all left to the imagination, however you do get an idea of what happens to people as you go along and this could be scary. I didn't notice much swearing and nothing sexual. Overall I think it would not be a problem for many young people to see this film, but as always, where there are scary bits you need to be sure more sensitive kids are alright watching, so supervision is recommended. I don't mean to sound patronising, though, and it's really not generally a scary film at all, besides, a bit of tension makes it more exciting.


Conclusion

To be honest this film really didn't wow me, but I did enjoy it nevertheless. I wish I could stop being so cynical sometimes, because I did notice throughout the film I couldn't help randomly making harsh remarks about it. It wasn't that bad, it just wasn't that great. Perhaps I just enjoy ranting about films while watching them. It was not a waste of time to see, but as I wouldn't spend a penny on it, I'd only recommend you see it if its on telly anyway. So yes, I recommend, but only for that.

Summary: When the Core stops turning, the world turns to a science lecturer...