The Core [Blu-ray]

Director: Jon Amiel Jon Amiel

Overview

An unlikely band of scientists and soldiers join forces to save the world from certain destruction in this action-drama. As the world is struck with a variety of inexplicable phenomena -- attacks by enormous swarms of birds in London, the explosion of the Colosseum in Rome, a potentially deadly malfunction which forces the Space Shuttle into a Los Angeles riverbed, and the simultaneous deaths of 32 people with pacemakers in Boston -- a team of top scientific minds from around the globe is assembled to determine what has thrown the world into such a frenzy. Dr. John Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) makes the startling discovery that the Earth's electromagnetic forces have begun to collapse, thanks to a sudden lack of movement of the molten ore at the center of the Earth. If the planet is to be saved, the core of the Earth needs a jump start, and Keyes assembles a team to burrow to the center of the planet and bomb the insides back into action. Joining Keyes on this dangerous, last-chance mission are the brilliant but arrogant Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci), French arms expert Dr. Serge Levesque (Tchéky Karyo, maverick researcher "Brazz" Brazzleton (Delroy Lindo), geeky computer genius Rat (DJ Qualls), and two no-nonsense military types, Commander Richard Iverson (Bruce Greenwood) and Major Rebecca Childs (Hilary Swank). However, as the crew digs deeper into the Earth, the more they discover what they haven't been told about their mission and what's really been causing the worldwide chaos. The Core was originally scheduled for release in the fall of 2002, but the movie didn't reach theaters until the spring of 2003 as special-effects experts perfected the film's more spectacular scenes.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/22/2022
UPC:	0826663222906
Original Release:	2003
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Shout Factory
Language:	English

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Aaron Eckhart	Dr. Joshua Keyes
Hilary Swank	Maj. Rebecca Childs
Stanley Tucci	Dr. Conrad Zimsky
Delroy Lindo	Brazzelton
DJ Qualls	Rat
Bruce Greenwood	Cdr. Richard Iverson
Alfre Woodard	Stickley
Richard Jenkins	General Thomas Purcell
Dion Johnstone	Flight Engineer Timmins
Christopher Shyer	Dave Perry
Ray Galletti	Paul
Eileen Pedde	Lynne
Rekha Sharma	Danni
Tom Schilte	Acker
Tom Scholte	Acker
Glenn Morshower	FBI Agent
Anthony Harrison	FBI Agent
Bart Anderson	Dad
Nicole Leroux	Mom
Justin Callan	Little Boy
Chris Humphreys	Trafalgar Square GBTV Reporter
Fred Ewanuick	Endeavor Flight Engineer
Fred Ewanvick	Endeaver Flight Engineer
Hrothgar Mathews	Chief Engineer Mission Control
Hrothgar Matthews	Chief Engineer, Mission Control
Shawn Green	Himself
Hong Ming-Tzong	Scientist
Ming-Tzong Hong	Scientist
Jennifer Spence	Zimsky's Assistant
Michael St. John Smith	Pentagon General
John Shaw	FBI Agent in Rat's Apartment
Nickolas Baric	Tribunal Security Policeman
Fred Keating	Court Marshall Presiding Officer
Rosa Di Brigida	Rome Cafe Patron
Roberto Roberto	Rome Cafe Patron
Ermanno De Biagi	Rome Cafe Patron
Marcello Laurentis	Rome Cafe Patron
Greg Bennett	Virgil Base Technician,Actor
Gregg Bennett	Technician, Virgil Base
Matt Winston	Luke Barry
Claire Riley	News Anchor
Marke Driesschen	News Anchor
Laurie Murdoch	Project Destiny Engineer
Costa Spanos	Project Destiny Engineer
Monique Martel	Paris Cafe Lady
Lenie Scoffie	Paris Cafe Lady
Nathaniel DeVeaux	U.S.S. Constellation Captain
Robert Manitopyes	U.S.S. Constellation Screen Ops
Tchéky Karyo	Serge Leveque
Christopher Young	Composer

Technical Credits

Cooper Layne

John Rogers

Cooper Lane

Jon Amiel	Director
Cooper Layne	Screenwriter,Producer
John Rogers	Screenwriter
Deborah Aquila	Casting
Scott Ateah	Stunts,Stunts
Sean Bailey	Producer
Garry Elmendorf	Special Effects
David Foster	Producer
Gregory L. McMurry	Special Effects
Tricia Wood	Casting
Bob Baron	Sound Effects
Rick Canelli	Sound Effects
Crystal Dalman	Stunts
David B. Householter	Producer
Victor Abbene	Special Effects
Darren Brisker	Sound Effects
Renato Agostini	Special Effects
Chris Carpenter	Sound Effects
Bradley Clouse	Sound Effects
Cooper Lane	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Despite its impressive cast and state-of-the-art special effects, The Core is at heart a cheesy sci-fi thriller of the type produced in the '50s and '60s by George Pal -- but that's not a criticism, it's a recommendation. The screenplay of Jon Amiel's sturdily mounted film flagrantly disregards the laws of physics and fairly abounds in stock characters, familiar situations, and cornball dialogue. In this case, the corny lines are read by superb actors who give them the necessary gravitas to make them convincing...convincing enough for the duration of the movie, anyway. Aaron Eckhart portrays scientist Josh Keyes, who analyzes seemingly unnatural phenomena and discovers that the earth's core has stopped spinning, causing a disruption in the planet's electromagnetic shield that renders it vulnerable to solar microwaves. Stuffy, egotistical physicist Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci), initially skeptical of Josh's findings, eventually concurs and helps convince the government to launch a top-secret project calculated to restart the stalled core with nuclear detonations. A cast-against-type Delroy Lindo is very effective as an eccentric scientist who builds a massive burrowing device equipped with laser guns powerful enough to bore through solid rock. No less daringly cast is Hilary Swank, all business as a space-shuttle pilot recruited to help operate the metal mole; her risk-averse commander is the always reliable Bruce Greenwood. Director Amiel must have known that he was working with hackneyed elements, but you can't guess that from the film, which takes itself seriously enough to obscure its scientific implausibility. The story unfolds at a breezy pace, gliding smoothly from one predictable situation to the next without pauses that might disrupt the suspension of disbelief. A thoroughly enjoyable "popcorn movie," The Core delivers everything sci-fi fans require and does so with considerable aplomb.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

A by-the-numbers, save-the-world disaster flick that somehow manages to entertain despite its bloated running time and painfully familiar formula, the The Core's success or failure rests squarely on the viewer's tolerance for hokey cinema-science and ability to laugh at characters that are so uninspired that they border on parody. If the involvement of a remarkably talented cast including Hilary Swank, Stanley Tucci, and Aaron Eckhart makes the aforementioned complaint seem somewhat hasty, it may be that precise factor that makes their interpretations so enjoyable. Viewers with an affinity for high-stakes, check-your-brain-at-the-door disaster films will likely be able to mouth the characters' dialogue on first viewing. Though we've seen the cowardly and obnoxious crew member who ultimately redeems himself a million times before, it's the sheer shrillness of Tucci's performance that separates this film from the pack. Likewise, Eckhart's brainy scientist, Swank's fledgling and slightly overconfident pilot, and DJ Qualls's computer whiz all possess the sort of self-aware vibe that, while narrowly avoiding the slippery slope into parody territory, prevents the action from becoming self-important and overly serious. Of course, the concept of entire cities being obliterated is an especially tender spot in post-9/11 America (as evidenced by the removal of an early inner-city shuttle crash landing from the film's trailer), but taken in the outlandish context of The Core, the sting is dulled to a vague itch that is quickly overcome by the downright laughable events that follow.

All Movie Guide - Jason Buchanan

A two-hour pleasure cruise. Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

The Core is such a feat of go-for-broke heroism and you-gotta-be -kiddin'-me ridiculousness that it almost qualifies as a feel-good diversion -- with just a quarter of the runaway jingoism of your average disaster extravaganza. Wesley Morris

Boston Globe

The Core works because the characters are idiosyncratic enough to seem authentic but not so zany that they seem contrived. Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle