Journey to the Center

Like most Americans, we enjoy the occasional ridiculous disaster movie. But we'd never seen The Core (2003). That has been remedied.

It starts with a number of weird events: a random set of people in a small area suddenly die. All had pacemakers. Pigeons go mad and start flying into buildings and people. The space shuttle goes off course on landing, forcing co-pilot Hilary Swank to land in the LA river. The government recruits geophysicist Aaron Eckhart and weapons specialist Tcheky Karyo to find out why. Answer: The earth's core has stopped rotating, causing massive EMP and other magnetic anomalies. Yeah, sure.

They recruit Stanley Tucci, a "name: geophysicist and media hound, and Delroy Lindo, a materials scientist who has discovered an impervious metal, called unobtainium, and a rock-destroying ultrasonic laser system for burrowing. They add Swank and space pilot Bruce Greenwood to operate the under-earth craft. Alfre Woodard will act as (above) ground control, and DJ Qualls will be the hacker who keeps a lid on public panic. So - journey to the center of the earth!

The effects here are both awesome and laughable. They develop a magical through rock viewing technology, which is great in the cabin. for exterior shots, they use an effect that looks like a sort of lumpy orange air. It reminded me so much of Fantastic Voyage I expected to See Hilary Swank in a bikini. 

This is not our first Aaron Eckhart movie, but the first one where we really noticed him. He's kind of a big name in the bad-movie podcasts I listen to, and I can see why. He has just the right combination of bland good looks and ability to take this kind of crap seriously. The rest of the cast were seriously slumming it, maybe except Greenwood, who sort of fits the role of redshirt/first to die. 

All in all, a fun, absurd film. A bit too long (2 hours 15 minutes). We really wanted to watch Sunshine (where they had to restart the sun), but it wasn't easy to find. And in conclusion, the movie did not originate the term unobtainium (neither did Avatar), it's an old sci-fi trope.