Some of
you might remember ads for The Core on the back of
comics back in November. Paramount originally pushed it for
a pre-Thanksgiving release (nothing like the end of the world
to make you feel all warm for the holidays), then decided
that the film could use a little more money in the effects
department.
Between
its original intended release date and its opening today,
we had the space shuttle disaster. Some execs got a little
nervous about a sequence near the beginning of The Core
in which disruptions in the Earth's magnetic field nearly
cause a shuttle to crash. Finally and wisely, the sequence
remains as intended. But still, in the matter of timing, The
Core just can't seem to win.
Today
may just not be the day for a film in which the U.S. Government
accidentally triggers the end of the world and then lies to
us about it. But though the film plays through its disaster
premise from a well-worn roadmap, it's surprisingly good.
Not great, but good.
Screenwriters
Cooper Layne and John Rogers have taken a bit of hard science
and run wild with it, always treating their audience with
respect. Yes, the scenario they paint is pure science fiction,
but it builds logically until we have to suspend our disbelief.
And in a nice touch, they take what science doesn't
know about geology, and use that for their plot complications
without veering into implausibility.
It begins
simply and ominously enough. In a metropolitan city whose
identifying subtitle I missed, twenty-five people drop dead.
The government calls in Geophysics Professor Josh Keyes (Aaron
Eckhart, scruffier than the average leading man in these things)
and weapons specialist Sergei Leveque (Tcheky Karyo) to try
to figure out what killed them.
Keyes
takes less than a minute to figure out that all these people
had one thing in common: pacemakers. A very focused electromagnetic
pulse knocked them out. As long as Leveque confirms that nobody
has a weapon to do this, the military is satisfied.
But Keyes,
of course, is not. Good thing, too, because it turns out that
the core of our planet has begun slowing down its rotation.
The slower it gets, the weaker the electromagnetic shield
around the Earth gets. Why should we care? Because that's
basically the thing that keeps us from getting quick-baked
by microwaves and solar radiation.
Keyes
and requisite obnoxious superior Dr. Conrad Zimsky (Stanley
Tucci) demonstrate this quite effectively with a peach, a
can of air freshener, and a lighter. See? Entertainment and
a science lesson. (Tucci, by the way, plays obnoxious so well
that an eleventh hour redemption doesn't help -- the audience
still hates him.)
They
come up with a scheme so crazy it just might work.
If they can bore all the way into the center of the planet
and set off a big enough nuclear explosion, the core just
might start rotating again. Of course, the deepest man has
ever been able to go is seven miles down.
However,
it just so happens that a crazy old scientist, Edward Brazelton
(Delroy Lindo) has been working on a device out in the Utah
desert. And Zimsky just happened to make his name by taking
credit for Brazelton's initial research (with dark consequences
to be revealed later).
Also
thrown into the motley mix of crack experts in their fields
are the shuttle pilots from the beginning, Major "Beck" Childs
(Hilary Swank, toothy and efficient, playing to her strengths)
and Colonel Robert Iverson (Bruce Greenwood). If you know
anything about disaster films, it's time to start placing
your bets as to what order the deaths will come, but know
that once Iverson lectures Childs on her not yet having to
make painful decisions, a little timer might as well appear
on his forehead.
Director
Jon Amiel stages everything well, though he takes it at an
artier pace than these things usually get. For most of the
movie, this works out okay, only failing us near the end.
Amiel treats some moments with a little dignity that partially
hides their hokiness. A couple of character deaths become
unexpectedly moving as a result.
And if
nothing else, the movie shows more courage and frankness in
showing the risks on a personal level than real life has wanted
to lately. It's when the scope gets too big that it gets out
of control.
Those
extra special effects don't really help. Not really Amiel's
forte in the first place, they pull us out of the intimate
little character drama this movie sometimes is and pop us
into outtakes from Independence Day. The Coliseum exploding
looks phoney, but a melting Golden Gate fares better, because
Amiel first focuses on one victim.
All in
all, The Core makes a great amusement park ride, and
probably a decent video game, too. Thank heavens somebody
in charge remembered that sometimes it's a good idea to make
a watchable movie first.
