Core Blimey!

The Core sank upon it's original 2003 release. With rumours surfacing that the effects were bad, disastrous test screenings and a premise that made King Kong Lives looking like a sensible idea, nobody bother to see it. And that's a real shame because The Core is mighty entertaining.

Yes, the scenario (the Earth's core has stopped spinning and a team of intrepid terranauts must restart it) is complete bollocks. And yes, the direction is about as sophisticated as an '70's Bond movie (made to look even blander when compared with the similarly apocalyptic Armageddon helmed by the mega-stylish Michael Bay). But really, that's where it's short comings end.

The ensemble cast of B-list stars are fortunately a bunch of A-list actors with Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank proving to be appealing leads, and Delroy Lindo, an always dependable Bruce Greenwood, Richard Jenkins, an amusing DJ Qualls, Tcheky Karyo, and an infuriatingly brilliant Stanley Tucci. The other saving grace is a fun, action packed script which balances tense scenes of global destruction with tons of great, humorous character moments and white knuckle, race-against-time problem solving (the Space Shuttle landing is a doozey). It's this combination of script and cast which makes this a pleasure to watch over and over again. And even the effects are pretty good too.