The Core

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

Oh the Core, you are ridiculous but I kinda love you anyway. I remember seeing this with a free double pass to an advanced screening. Not having to pay to see this probably had something to do with it too. I harbour no resentment.

What a cast! No one could sell the plot of this film but they got the best in the biz and they give it there all. Consequentially there is a good stretch in the middle of the film where the tension keeps racking up and up as ridiculous situation after ridiculous situation arises. It's surprisingly effective until after maybe the 7th or 8th unpredicted life threatening disaster and then it's just a matter of them whittling down the survivors. Stanley Tucci looks like he's having the time of his life.

They pull out every trick in the book with this screenplay. For what should essentially be 6 people in a super-submarine they come up with enough scientific mumbojumbo to justify about 5 major top side disaster sequences and a dozen or so in the core. My favourite has to be the pidgins in Trafalgar Square going nuts. I hope The Birds is never remade (I presume the one Platinum Dunes was going to do starring Naomi Watts fell through) but if it was it could look a little something like that.

It reminds me so much of those great 70s disaster movies, just with a more modern look. But everything about it harkens back to those old classics that I love. I know it's preposterous but I can't help but have a bit of a soft spot for it because of that. The pumping soundtrack, the creative science, the opulent display of spectacle and the hilarious overpopulation of disasters make this a winner in my book. Delightful.