The Core (12)

Characters/Acting

The range of character personalities is quite good, and of the people who go on the mission, a few are more distinctly memorable. The trouble is that I can't help but think it was the same as many films of its kind, with one very difficult person who threatens to jeopardise the mission, one key hero we expect to miraculously survive everything and save the day but refuse to take all the credit, one sacrificial person who chooses to die for the good of the world, one female who typically falls for one of the good guys and a few people who seem alright but often suffer horrible accidents and end up seriously injured or worse early on. I think much of this can be expected in this type of film, and sadly it makes it very predictable.

I wasn't really very familiar with any of the actors in this film; only really recognised DJ Qualls, who plays "Rat", but I'd seen him in far less serious films like Road Trip. It was strange to have seen him in that sort of film then in this, much more serious role. He could have made the film a little more fun, I think, and it is a shame he didn't throw in some of his better qualities. Nevertheless there were mild signs of rebellion in his character, so I can appreciate why he was chosen for the role.

Aaron Eckhart was good, but there wasn't really anything about him that was outstanding. He was just a typical hero, but not even very romantic or different. He had some moving moments, but they were short-lived and not particularly effective. To be honest I think more drama was added by Delroy Lindo and

Stanley Tucci, and their adversarial relationship.

The sort of character that I think Hilary Swank was trying to portray was portrayed well. I think this is another film that attempts to avoid stereotypical images of women (although probably falls into the traps of creating stereotypes elsewhere, as I think is the case in all films). This is one thing I thought wasn't badly done, because whilst I could see that she was torn by some of the difficult situations she was put in, and therefore not without a human side, she was capable of remaining controlled and focused. I found her quite shallow, but at least I could understand what was intended by this.

Film qualities

I didn't think the graphics were anything special. In fact when they were travelling towards the core, their view look a bit outdated, more like a computer game than what you'd expect they'd see. Even from the outside, the view simply did not look realistic, and although it was all very bright and colourful, the fact it wasn't convincing did somewhat spoil the film. One thing that did baffle me was how ineffective the lava was. To be honest it looked more like it was just orange custard, and there was no effort to convey heat (although to be fair that's not easy). There were, some slightly better scenes on the surface, for instance a pigeon panic in Trafalgar Square and the melting of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I didn't realise pigeons could shatter double-glazed windows so easily! The dead pigeons didn't look real, but the chaos caused was convincing.

Classification

The film has been given a 12 certificate, and I think this is quite appropriate. There's no visible gore as such, it is all left to the imagination, however you do get an idea of what happens to people as you go along and this could be scary. I didn't notice much swearing and nothing sexual. Overall I think it would not be a problem for many young people to see this film, but as always, where there are scary bits you need to be sure more sensitive kids are alright watching, so supervision is recommended. I don't mean to sound patronising, though, and it's really not generally a scary film at all, besides, a bit of tension makes it more exciting.

Conclusion

To be honest this film really didn't wow me, but I did enjoy it nevertheless. I wish I could stop being so cynical sometimes, because I did notice throughout the film I couldn't help randomly making harsh remarks about it. It wasn't that bad, it just wasn't that great. Perhaps I just enjoy ranting about films while watching them. It was not a waste of time to see, but as I wouldn't spend a penny on it, I'd only recommend you see it if its on telly anyway. So yes, I recommend, but only for that.

Reading the summary on the back of the DVD box is enough to tell you that you will have to suspend your cynicism for a couple of hours to enjoy this film. Normally, I am happy to do so as long as the plot holes or impossible physics aren't too intrusive but in this case it's hard to see past those problems. 'The Core' looks and feels too tongue in cheek to really get you involved, and that for me makes this a 'fail'.