The headline speaks for itself. “The Core,” directed by Jon Amiel, is certainly quite the chilling thrill. However, what was intended to be a realistic sci-fi thriller does not quite fit the bill. Perhaps the words ‘realistic’ and ‘sci-fi thriller’ do not really belong in the same sentence. Oxymoron, anyone?
The movie begins when 32 Boston citizens with pacemakers within a 10 mile radius of each other suddenly drop dead for no apparent reason. Meanwhile in Trafalgar Square, London, swarms of pigeons lose their ability to navigate and fly into everything, from statues to cars to the usual multi-window office towers—but not because the lights were left on.
Dr. Josh Keyes and Dr. Zimsky, prominent geophysicists, have concluded that these incidents are the results of the waning electromagnetic field that surrounds the Earth. Keyes reasons that this ‘waning’ is directly related to the fact that the molten metal core of the Earth has stopped moving. The consequence: everyone on Earth will be fried to death by radiation within the next year.
The only way to restart the core would be to drill down and detonate several nuclear bombs. Dr. Serge Levesque, a weapons specialist, is enlisted to design and construct the bombs. While we have certainly made progress in our understanding of highly explosive materials and their uses, we have never had to use them under the incredibly high pressure at the Earth’s core.
In other technological advances, we’ve built space ships but never have we had occasion to construct a ship to go down into the Earth’s crust. Conveniently, Ed ‘Brazz’ Brazzleton has found a way to drill through deep rock with lasers and has also engineered a new material dubbed ‘unobtainium’ (check your local periodic table) that converts high pressure to energy (that’s a new one)!
Within three months (my, that was quick), the team has constructed a long, (rigid), compartmentalized, tube-like ship named Virgil to be launched into the Earth. NASA pilots, Commander Iverson and Major Rebecca ‘Beck’ Childs, are assigned to navigate Virgil down through the depths of the Earth to the core.
After a successful launch, it seems to be a jolly good time up to the 700 mile mark. Suddenly, Virgil hits a massive geode and gets stuck in a cobalt cove full of amethyst. The laser-drilling device is badly damaged and the crew is forced to go outside to do repairs, where the temperature is around 4500˚F (hotter than hell). Commander Iverson is killed in the process. After some time, Virgil is again ready to sail on to the next rock-block.
As if life has not been hard enough so far, Virgil ironically bumps a gigantic diamond, the hardest substance on Earth. The weapons compartment is crushed and Dr. Levesque with it. Fortunately, he was able to pass Keyes the activation codes within just seconds of his death.
Finally, Virgil arrives at the core. However, science can only predict so much about what it has never seen (no kidding): it appears that the inner core is more dense than Zimsky had originally thought—their ammunition is not going to be powerful enough to restart the core. With Levesque gone, there is no possibility of modifying the bombs and so it’s back to the old drawing board. Several minutes of frustrating calculations later (only a few minutes?!), Zimsky proposes that timing the nuclear bombs to create wave interference would generate enough power to jump-start the core.
This presents a new challenge: the team will need to separate the bomb compartments so as to detonate them one at a time. This involves one member venturing into hull of the ship, which is exposed to deadly 9000˚F temperatures. Brazz eagerly volunteers to be fried alive to save his own ship and the mission (or world… or something).
The detonation of the bombs successfully restarts the core. Zimsky was caught in the second last bomb compartment and was hence blown to bits. The only survivors of this whacked-out mission are Beck and Keyes.
Only now do they realize that coming back up may potentially be a problem. Keyes proposes to use the ‘unobtainium’ along the hull of the ship to convert the high pressure at the core to kinetic energy. This energy ends up being enough to bring them all the way back up to the ocean floor. The US navy senses their ship from the transmission of whale song and successfully rescues Beck and Keyes.
Well dear readers (is it obvious I’m past my word count?), this movie was a somber reminder of why sci-fi thrillers and realism will never be together. Wait! One more thing: if you go out, always have a safe way home!
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