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Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Stanley Tucci, D.J. Qualls ... see more see more... , Richard Jenkins , Tcheky Karyo , Bruce Greenwood , Alfre Woodard , Nathaniel De Veaux , Glenn Morshower , John Shaw , Claire Riley , Gregg Bennett , Rosa DiBrigida , Matt Winston , Lenie Scoffie , Laurie Murdoch , Christopher Shyer , Anthony Harrison , Ray Galletti , Fred Keating , Hrothgar Matthews , Dion Johnstone , Morris Bart & Kimberly C. Anderson , Rekha Sharma , Nicole Leroux , Fred Ewanuick , Nickolas Baric , Eileen Pedde , Marke Driesschen , Costa Spanos , Tom Schilte , Justin Callan , Chris Humphreys , Shawn Green , Hong Ming-Tzong , Jennifer Spence , Michael St. John Smith , Roberto Roberto , Ermanno De Biagi , Marcello Laurentis , Monique Martel , Robert Mantiopyes

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 e... read more read more...normous 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. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

41% liked it

96,631 ratings

Critics

42% liked it

151 critics

PG-13, 2 hr. 16 min.

Directed by: Jon Amiel

Release Date: March 28, 2003

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DVD Release Date: September 9, 2003

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Stats: 4,230 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (4,230)

  • phubbs1
    March 17, 2012
    phubbs1
    I dunno why but I do like this disaster film :) yes its totally stupid, totally unrealistic and completely along the lines of 'Armageddon under the earth' but to hell with it! its a fun ride.

    Part of this is down to the likeable cast of science bods for me, Eckhart has always ki... read morenda been the bigger version of Scott Bakula in my humble view, a nice guy with floppy hair haha Karyon and Lindo are both solid as always and Tucci is fully enjoyable as the whiney scrawny egghead who will obviously kick the bucket hehe. Only downside is the Justin Bieber lookalike Swank who is just too damn wholesome and American to stand for so long.

    The film is simply fun from the get go really, your typical disaster scenes across the world to the cool ideas the film makers came up with for the earth's interior, it really does feel like an updated 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' when the crew break into a huge geode which then begins to leak lava. I think the creative team did well with whats shown as the crew progress deeper, I'm sure its wrong but it looks cool.

    As you near the climax the plot does get a little more emotional as members fall by the wayside one by one much like all disaster flicks do and this does keep you glued to the screen somewhat, its very predictable but you wanna see it through.

    I think the plot is well worked in this film, it seems like an impossible task but the theories of how you could actually jump start the center of the earth are clever I guess, you know its not real but it looks and sounds like it could be. I also liked the craft design they use, the 'space' suits and all the science guff they babble when the heat is on (no pun intended), a shame the ending is so flat but it beats the over blown all American showboating you got in 'Armageddon'.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    August 25, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    The Core is one perfect example of a terrible film that should've never been made. What's stunning about this film is that it has a good cast of talented actor, aside from D.J. Qualis, who was always a terrible actor. I can't believe the amount of really good actors who acted in ... read morethis pile of junk. The film is yet another "save the world" type of film and is focused on reigniting the earth's core. However, the films plot is so poorly conceived that you lose interest in watching the film, and wonder why you even bothered with the film in the first place. This cast cannot save the world or this film for that matter, and when you have a seventeen year old as the head of the operation, you know you have a really bad film in the can. This film fails as a disaster film and as an action movie. When I originally saw this at the time of its release, this was the worst that I had seen. The Core has a great cast of talented actors, but even that doesn't save this lacking, and mediocre story. This is one of the worst action films that has come out of Hollywood, and really makes the disaster genre an irrelevant bad joke. This is a film that should be avoided. The great cast is wasted here, and they shouldn't have ever made this stupid, ridiculous.
  • moonrivers
    June 26, 2011
    moonrivers
    Action/adventure sci-fi about an intrepid team of scientists who must journey to the center of the earth in order to save the world. I wonder what can happen? Summer movie fun.
  • LoughnerWasLucid
    November 22, 2010
    LoughnerWasLucid
    i was just waiting for Alan Jacksons "where were you when the world stopped turning" to play over the end-credits.
  • StarCrossedVoyager
    July 21, 2010
    StarCrossedVoyager
    The only thing that makes this film worthwhile is D.J Qualls. He plays a great and interesting part which holds the film together. The narrative was weak and way too fast moving. One minute they've got no idea what to do and the next they have this massive machine all built and r... read moreeady to use. It's too unbelievable and I just didn't care for the characters or what happened to them. The CG was ok.
  • 3niR
    June 8, 2010
    3niR
    I did liked this movie when I watched this. But the whole storyline was so-not-okay. I mean it was a serious type of movie. I learned some stuffs from it. But the thing is, whatever reason they stated was not so agreeable.
  • FiLmCrAzY
    October 11, 2009
    FiLmCrAzY
    i loved this movie, but im a sucker for these type of mvies anyway!
    its a thrilling and intresting and intriguin movie that keeps you on the edge of your seats as they take there journey into the core of the earth!
    when the earths core stops workig a electro field thingykills a... read morell people with a bypass monitor in them, so high scientists and people o fly the space shuttle/craft thing they fly into the core but it has its differcultes an bad things happen! good ovie wort a watch!
  • stormyweather980
    August 18, 2009
    stormyweather980
    Awesome, deserves more attention and praise than it gets for sure
  • jlewis07
    March 16, 2009
    jlewis07
    An enjoyable movie if you can get past it's ridiculous and preposterous plot.
  • wildaly14
    June 29, 2008
    wildaly14
    I thought it was pretty good as well. Entertaining. A little bit too unrealistic for my taste. I mean really... going to the center of the Earth and surviving the trip, was a bit of a stretch. But then I would be kinda dissapointed as well that the movie would've ended with every... read moreone dead. No one wants that so the unrealistic survival of those characters was reasonable. But I must admit it was a good concept and a tad original as well with all of it's ideas about how electromagnetic waves would affect the Earth. Now I am not a physicist so I do not know if all the things presented in the movie concur with actual physics law (I hated that class!!)... and frankly I really don't care that much. It's just a movie. But I guess it's curious to think about such things.

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Critic Reviews

Ed Park
April 1, 2003
Ed Park, Village Voice

Undigestible fusion of worst-case earth science and leaden pacing. Full Review

Richard Roeper
March 31, 2003
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

[I]t's not campy enough to be consistently entertaining, and it's certainly not exciting or smart enough to be a first-rate sci-fi epic like a Deep Impact. Full Review

Claudia Puig
March 28, 2003
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Jules Verne this isn't, but it makes for fairly diverting escapist fare. Full Review

Geoff Pevere
March 28, 2003
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

There's a marked absence of panic in The Core. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
March 28, 2003
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

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

Joe Baltake
March 28, 2003
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

I never thought I'd see the day when I would write that someone like Qualls acts circles around Tucci, Jenkins or Lindo, some of our best actors. Full Review

Peter Travers
March 28, 2003
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Unblushingly tacky and derivative.

Roger Moore
March 28, 2003
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

This is one shelved project that should have stayed on the shelf.

Bruce Westbrook
March 28, 2003
Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle

When taken as an old-fashioned adventure with a comic-book plot, The Core works well. But at 130 minutes it wears out its welcome, and like Earth's balky core, it sputters and stalls. Full Review

Tom Long
March 28, 2003
Tom Long, Detroit News

The Core is formulaic Hollywood swill done on such an epic scale of incompetency, it must be seen.

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The Core Trivia

  • Who starred in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Core, and The Gift?  Answer »
  • In the beginning of this film, there is a scene where birds drop from the sky dead and people with pacemakers die instantly. What film is this?  Answer »
  • In which movie the Coliseum is destroyed by a lightning and magnetic storm?  Answer »
  • What's the name of the movie where some guys have to go into the middle of earth to save it?  Answer »
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