qhhsspacelab The science is questionable at best and laughable at worst but its all in pursuit of making a ridiculous and wonderful movie. Script aside, the cinematography and pacing were very good and for '03 the computer graphics were impressive. Its an interesting and original idea executed by taking every single Hollywood trope, throwing them in a hat, shuffling it about, and tossing it into a blank manuscript. This is by no means one of the best movies I've ever seen but I gave it a 9 because I enjoyed every minute of it, albeit not in the way the filmmakers intended.However, don't let that deter you. This movie is absurd but executed as a drama with high production value and you will most certainly be entertained by that juxtaposition.

vidrah This film is literally so bad it hurts. It is "The Room" made with a budget of $60mil and a cast of well-known actors. The level of pseudo- science spouted off is on a par with a 50s low-budget SF movie. The plot is so weak and so full of unbelievable twists and solutions that a 3-year-old would scratch his head. Just wow!

Leofwine_draca THE CORE is a '50s B-movie writ large. It may not be a brilliant film, but it successfully taps the 'anything goes' mentality of a schlocky black-and-white sci fi epic and updates the formula to modern times. In essence the movie itself is about a crew drilling down into the core of the earth; if you're looking for more depth (hah) than that, then look elsewhere. However, the decision was then made to add some familiar 'disaster' scenes to the mix, thus increasing the running time to over two hours in the process and making this movie way too long. With half an hour cut out, the tension and story would have been tighter and it wouldn't have that bloated Hollywood blockbuster feel to it.Of course, the 1959 epic JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH with James Mason is THE drilling-into-the-Earth movie and THE CORE doesn't come close. Ironically, the special effects are worse than in that film; despite replacing tacky dinosaurs with CGI effects of molten rock and running lava, all of the 'outside' scenes of the craft heading underground are poor-looking in the extreme. However, I did like the 'global disaster' set pieces which are thrown in to keep the film exciting. Highlights include: falling pigeons in Trafalgar Square; super-storms in Rome; people dropping down dead in a US city and my favourite moment, when a hole in the Earth's atmosphere sends down a heat ray that melts the Golden Gate bridge – a wonderful and surprisingly sadistic moment.Speaking of sadism, THE CORE sets about offing crew members with relish, imaginatively inventing the most horrific deaths in existence for these poor saps. One guy is slowly crushed to death; another is blown to pieces; a third literally melts in the lava and a fourth burns alive. It would be pretty disturbing, had the film more realism. I didn't mind the script, which has some authentic-sounding dialogue in places, and you can't fault a movie that name-checks one of my favourite magazines. There's also some good humour, like the 'yes, yes, and the core is made of cheese!' quip that Stanley Tucci's scientist character utters. There's not as much annoying flag-waving as in Armageddon, although the pay-off (using a bomb to save the world) is virtually the same.The casting ain't bad either. Aaron Eckhart (THE DARK NIGHT) excels as the rugged lead; Hilary Swank is the tough-cookie pilot forced to make some drastic decisions. I didn't care for Stanley Tucci's acting, but I did appreciate the presence of Tcheky Karyo (KISS OF THE DRAGON) in a good-guy role for once – in fact, he's my favourite character in the film.

david-103-755595 This story is hokey in its first premise, the "science", even if it is science fiction, is still hokey and the characters are extremely stereotypical and hokey. The interaction between the heroic woman and the chauvinistic men is hokey. The self-centered plagiarist of a scientist is hokey. The heroism of the heroes is even hokey.But I enjoyed it. I think the movie makers knew how hokey it was (they had to) and made it anyway. It was a fun adventure. I loved the male and female lead, and the geek and the Black scientist. The geek's role was dramatized to the last degree, but was fun to watch. I always like it when a geek plays an important role in a film or book. That's as much as I can say without spoilers.