The Core (2003)

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

Director:

Jon Amiel

Writers:

Cooper Layne, John Rogers

Stars:

Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

The Earth's core has stopped spinning. Disasters are appearing all over the world: Birds acting crazy, powerful thunderstorms, 32 people die within seconds of each other when their pacemakers quit working. Dr. Josh Keyes and his crew of five (total members: 6) go down to the center of the Earth to set off a nuclear device to make the Earth's core start spinning again or Mankind will perish.

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Plot Keywords:

earth | core | scientist | disaster | pacemaker | 

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Taglines:

This Spring, Mankind's Greatest Threat Is Earth Itself.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

USA Germany Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 March 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Core

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$449,988 (Australia) (13 June 2003)

Gross:

$3,592,088 (Japan) (4 July 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, David Foster Productions, Munich Film Partners New Century & Company (MFP) Core Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Trafalgar Square scene took 6 months to complete as the vast majority of the birds were computer generated.

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Goofs

Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific tectonic plate, not in an area between two plates as in the movie.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

At the beginning when the Paramount pictures logo is shown there is a transition between the Paramount pictures logo and the film - the camera zooms in on the mountain then starts to move down through the mountain to the core of the earth.

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Connections

References At the Earth's Core (1976)

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Soundtracks

"Echelon"
by Jared Leto
Performed by 30 Seconds to Mars
Courtesy of Immortal Records LLC/Virgin Records America, Inc.
Under license from EMI Film & TV Music

User Reviews

Awful awful awful....

I wasn't sure I wanted to see this in the theatres. There was something fishy about the trailers -- there were two distinct trailers: one which played on the whole "journey to the core of the earth" fiasco; and one which was much more interesting, touting the whole "government weapon conspiracy which wrecked the world" angle. I was more partial to the second one, and there wasn't really much of this in the film. It was mostly about putting together enough duct tape logic to get a machine that could travel inside the Earth. Unfortunately, the film played a little rough and tumble with the science, using it only when it suited them, and sweeping it under the carpet in other circumstances, hoping no one would notice.

Case in point: they go through great lengths to explain how this gadget will destroy all rock and metal which gets in its way, then come up with a fantastic new element which resists this laser drilling mechanism. Later, they find out that this drill can't get through diamonds (or for that matter, amethysts). Why not just build a ship out of diamonds? We can mass produce these now -- why not just take the existing science a step further.

Case number two: this miracle metal, "unobtainium", has the fantastic capability to absorb heat and convert it into energy (somehow). So later, while swimming in 9000 degree molton nickel, they use a blowtorch (!) to solder copper cables to it. There's obviously two things wrong here. #1, shouldn't this guy get electrocuted by standing so close to the bulkhead? #2, how could a blowtorch make the bulkhead hot enough to take the solder? This thing is holding back 9000 degree metal on the outside. Every calorie of heat from the blowtorch would be converted into "energy". I won't even go into the whole idea that heat IS ENERGY! This drove me nuts every time they mentioned it.

There's dozens of these bad science examples running throughout the film. But really, I don't care what kind of science you use, as long as you at least keep it consistent throughout.

What was even funnier about this film was the fact that they took the greatest minds in the world of geophysics, and simply dropped them into the molten mantle of the planet. Why would you do this? I'm surprised none of them dies during training... what if they were all to die instantly? Wouldn't it be a better idea since they had a RADIO UPLINK TO THE SURFACE to have some Navy/Air Force/Space program pilots drive the vessel?

As much as I hate to say it, I liked Armageddon better than this film. And I absolutely hated Armageddon. But at least it had a little star power, a little campy humour, and some personality to the characters.