Movies - The Core

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	Movies - The Core

The Core (2003) is a science fiction disaster movie very loosely based on the novel Core by Paul Preuss. It concerns a team who have to drill to the center of the Earth and set off a series of nuclear explosions in order to start the Earth's core spinning again. The Core was directed by Jon Amiel, and starred Aaron Eckhart, Delroy Lindo, Hilary Swank, DJ Qualls, and Stanley Tucci.

Characters

Aaron Eckhart - Dr. Josh Keyes; scientist who designs the navigation system for Virgil and is assigned as head of the project

Hilary Swank - Major Rebecca Childs, USAF; a astronaut who distinguished herself during a emergency crash landing of the space shuttle Endeavor in Los Angeles, California

Delroy Lindo - Dr. Ed "Brazz" Brazzelton; designer of Virgil and the laser that cuts through the layers of the Earth

Stanley Tucci - Dr. Conrad Zimsky; Earth specialist and designer of Project DESTINI

Tcheky Karyo - Dr. Serge Leveque; nuclear weapons specialist

Bruce Greenwood - Commander Robert Iverson, USN; Maj. Childs' pilot and mentor

DJ Qualls - Taz Rat Finch; computer hacker who is widely regarded as the best in the world, hacked the FBI's database, recruited to control the flow of information on the Internet to prevent public panic

Alfre Woodard - Dr. Talma "Stick" Stickley; mission commander for NASA space shuttle Endeavor and Virgil

Synopsis

Strange things are happening on Earth's surface - everybody with a pacemaker drops dead at once within a 10-block radius in Boston. The pigeons in London's Trafalgar Square lose their internal navigational ability and start smashing into windscreens and breaking panes of glass.

The world soon realises the cause of these anomalies: Earth's core has stopped rotating. Within a year, the Earth will lose its electromagnetic shield and be fried by solar radiation.

A team of "terranauts" is recruited to drill down to Earth's core and set off a series of nuclear explosions hopefully to restart the core's rotation. To aid their $15 billion journey, they use a newly-developed "sonic laser" that can cut through rock and an indestructible metal called "Unobtainium".

While they are underground, the world is struck by more disasters. Huge blasts of microwave radiation from the sun break through the atmosphere, melting the Golden Gate Bridge and frying San Francisco. Gigantic lightning bolts tear up the streets of Rome and blast the Colosseum to pieces.

The base of the drilling experiments is in the Utah desert. The government also has a secret facility in Alaska with which they can start earthquakes anywhere on the planet; this weapon, called Project DESTINI (Deep Earth Seismic Trigger INItiative), is revealed to be the cause of the stalling of Earth's core.

Trivia

While the movie may have been based on junk science, the reference to the secret government facility in Alaska is real. Project D.E.S.T.I.N.I. is a parody of the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP, that conspiracy theorists believe uses the Earth's magnetic field to manipulate weather and earthquakes, broadcast signals, and even control minds.

In one scene, Dr. Keyes needs data on why the Earth's core is suddenly changing. He frantically shouts out instructions to his assistants to immediately research all recent, unnatural physical occurrences. Acker replies, "That is going to be one huge search." Dr. Keyes, "You can use our T1 line to look up Sailor Moon crap, you're up to this!"

:Keyes is probably referring to Acker's use of the T1 Internet line for personal uses (like looking up paraphenelia for the cartoon Sailor Moon) not shown in the movie. The novelization also says that Acker is a conspiracy theorist and often researches such topics.

Scientific Inaccuracies

While Hollywood science fiction films tend to bend the laws of science in order to create a more compelling plot and keep the audience engaged, critics and scientists tend to point out inaccuracies in these films. The following are said inaccuracies in The Core.

Although much of the Earth from the mantle inward is shown as liquid in the movie, the only wholly liquid layer of the Earth's interior is the outer core - everything else is solid. Magma is contained in "pockets" within the lithosphere.

The magma would have filled the giant geode seen in the movie in much less time than it did onscreen because of the extreme pressures that are present at that depth.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Core ]

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Movies - The Core

Characters

Synopsis

Trivia

Scientific Inaccuracies

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