User Comments:
17 out of 23 people found the following comment useful:-
A middling, mildy entertaining diversion., 18 April 2003
Author:
Li-1
** out of ****
The Core is the "low-budget" answer to Armageddon, meaning it was made on
less than half the cost but desires to be its equal in delivering thrills
and big buckets of popcorn fun. Now, whether or not you liked Armageddon
is
a good determinant of whether or not you should even bother watching The
Core in the first place. I myself haven't seen that Michael Bay/Jerry
Bruckheimer production in a while, and memory serves that it was an
unbelievably preposterous, but enjoyable thrill ride that had a great
sense
of humor. How does The Core compare?
Well, if I hadn't seen Armageddon, I might have liked this film more,
which
is not to say that it's a weaker movie, just that the disaster formula
plays
out in much the same way so there's a sense of deja vu hanging over the
proceedings. There are a lot of people out there who hated Armageddon,
perhaps for its absurd science or for its quick-cut action sequences, so
for
those who didn't like the latter, The Core would be more up their alley,
though the science here is even sillier.
The premise is the anti-Deep Impact/Armageddon. A group of expert
individuals have to go to the center of the Earth to jumpstart the core,
which has stopped spinning for some unknown reason. Heading this mission
is
professor Josh Keys (Aaron Eckhart), who's leading a six-man team, with a
woman playing a key role, of course, as the pilot, played by Hilary Swank.
Recognizable faces Delroy Lindo, Tcheky Karyo, Stanely Tucci, and Bruce
Greenwood round out the rest of this very expendable team.
Already, we realize the plot is fundamentally impossible. The only people
who wouldn't recognize this are those still in grade school, so they'll
probably get a kick out of the movie while thinking they're getting some
kind of education out of this because of all the scientific mumbo-jumbo
and
technobabble. More discriminatory viewers will scoff at all the sudden
new
inventions that aid our intrepid group of heroes, particularly the hull
Delroy Lindo devises that's actually strengthened by heat. For me,
scientific flaws are acceptable so long as it's not so blatantly obvious,
but this movie's stretching my suspension of disbelief.
But those who don't care for any scientific inaccuracies will wonder, is
the
action any good? The answer's a mixed bag. Almost all the action is
entirely CGI-related, so the question of whether or not you find it
exciting
to see an "earthcraft" (named Virgil) get banged around quite a few times
is
crucial to your enjoyment. The action aboveground is all given away in
the
trailers, and none of it's particularly exciting, thanks to the weak
special
effects. The space shuttle crash, the destruction of the Roman Colosseum
and the Golden Gate bridge are not examples of CGI-work at its best, to
put
it kindly. A 60 million dollar budget isn't quite enough to pull a movie
of
this sort off, and it sometimes shows.
Surprisingly enough, the scenes set below ground do somewhat make up for
the
slack. A crisis is introduced every five to ten minutes to keep the
characters working, so what we get is a briskly paced and often enjoyable
second half. The effects work is still spotty, but I found the characters
relatively engaging, the situations fairly compelling, and the
Mcgyverish-solutions amusing. Still marring this outing on a consistent
basis, however, are the film's predictability, the occasionally really bad
dialogue, the lack of solid intentional humor, and the stilted finale.
The
Core is not an unenjoyable timewaster, but it's not exactly a great night
at
the movies, either.
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