Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Here’s another look at Paramount’s SF/action film that’s been delayed to the spring so that they can work on the effects without rushing the crews to deliver sub-standard work. Mr. Beaks saw this film and had a mixed reaction a few weeks back, and now “J.B.” has stepped up with another take on the film and how it looks right now, a few screenings down the road:
Hi there. I attended a test screening of The Core the other night, and I thought I would share my two cents—since it appears that nobody else is going to. I am not a studio mole!
The Plot (I don’t think it contains any spoilers):
Inexplicable events with dire consequences begin to occur around the globe, killing scores of people and destroying valuable property. The US military, headed by Richard Jenkins, calls in Aaron Eckhart, a professor from the University of Chicago, and Tcheky Karyo, another scientist, to theorize why.
Based upon his findings, Eckhart believes the Earth’s core has stopped spinning, causing the Earth’s electromagnetic field to expire, leading to increasingly catastrophic events and, ultimately, the end of the world. Eckhart recruits Stanley Tucci, a renowned (arrogant) scientist and author, to corroborate the theory. They pitch the idea to the military, which buys it—no questions asked.
Tucci directs the men to an old colleague, played by Delroy Lindo in mad scientist mode. Isolated in the barren salt flats of Utah, Lindo demonstrates his area of expertise: using sophisticated lasers to hollow out the ground, enabling men to travel into the depths of the Earth in a worm-like vehicle, later dubbed “Virgil.”
It is in Virgil that the military hopes to travel down to the Earth’s core and trigger a series of nuclear explosives, resulting in the core spinning once again. Along for the ride are two NASA astronauts, a commander and his co-pilot, played by Bruce Greenwood and Hilary Swank, respectively.
Also thrown into the mix are the world’s best hacker, DJ Qualls, and a NASA official, Alfre Woodard, who oversees the entire expedition.
The Good:
The humor in the movie displays a certain intelligence and wit. The jokes are pretty much all self-reflexive or intentionally campy that is to say. The timing and the delivery are well done. My favorite bit: After Jenkins asks Lindo if he will accept a check for fifty billion dollars (as seen in the trailer), Eckhart tells Jenkins he should use a credit card to get the frequent flyer miles.
The actors come off surprisingly well. They turn in performances that are a step above what you typically receive in these kinds of movies (see Ben Affleck in Armageddon or any movie for that matter). Eckhart, Swank, Greenwood, Tucci and Lindo are all very capable actors, and they do what they can with the material. Most of them play it straight. Tucci is the only one to really go over the top and justifiably so; his arrogant S.O.B., the kind of character you love to hate, hams it up at several key moments for comic effect. I was shocked to hear the audience cheer (the only time they did so) when DJ Qualls was introduced in the movie. Some people even shouted out, “It’s the new guy!” Was that movie really that popular? Alfre Woodard is wasted; she must have received a decent paycheck though.
The action sequences are well constructed for the most part. All of them are pretty derivative of what we’ve seen in other disaster flicks though. The Golden Gate Bridge is demolished in the coolest and most memorable effect. Most of the special effects shots appeared unfinished. Although it’s possible that some of them might have just been poorly executed.
The Bad:
The character development is pretty slim and even senseless at times. One of the worst moments in the film comes when Eckhart screams and whines at Swank for leaving a man behind. But then in the very next scene—after there has been no discussion between the two whatsoever—he gives her a smile and a thumbs up as if everything’s back to normal again. What the fuck?
The movie also continually skirts around a possible romance between Eckhart and Swank. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t hook up. All we need is a kiss. Take a page from Speed and have them share a tender moment at the end of the film.
The score is not memorable. I could not pick out any major themes and none of it stuck with me afterwards. I did recognize a passage temped from Glory, so maybe the score still has a chance to be good. Maybe…
The dénouement—what happens after the climax—needs the most work. The movie jumps from one bit to another with silly title cards (“Ten Hours Later”, “Four Hours Later”, “Somewhere Below Hawaii”) in a mad rush to end the movie (at which time some people booed—a good indicator that something is not working).
Overall, I would say the movie has the chance to be entertaining in a purely popcorn sense. But I don’t see why the studio felt the urge to make another disaster flick. A waste of money in my opinion.
J.B.
