Scifi gone all wrong. Review on The Core Movie

What will two bored guys in a foreign land do when they get together? No uncomfortable answers please. Well, if they are like me and my unfortunate friend, they'll watch 'The Core', that's what.

'The Core' is a science fiction movie. The Earth's core is about to stop its rotation, and this spells disaster for all life forms. How does the US government react? By deciding to send in a group of people deep inside the Earth and nuke it to set the core spinning again, that's how. So off they go, our heroes -- all six of them (more precisely four scientists and two pilots) -- in a specially constructed capsule to the center of the Earth, literally that is. The rest of the movie is all about how they succeed in their mission, and we are served up some emotional melodrama supported by questionable science in the process.

This is a movie with ridiculously mediocre science and pathetically stereotyped characters. To begin with, the main premise of the story that all life will be suddenly exposed to dangerous microwave radiation, from the Sun, in the absence of Earth's magnetic field is dubious to say the least (Electromagnetic waves like radiowaves are usually unaffected by magnetic fields). Then, during the mission, in a series of emotionally charged self-sacrifices, we witness a mockery of natural laws again as in the case where one of our heroes decides to brave a temperature of over 9000 degrees donning a suit that was originally designed to stand a temperature of 5000 degrees. Quite surprisingly, he does not instantly vaporize like any of us would have. These are just a few simple examples of the kind of science you can expect while watching 'The Core'.

Every character in the movie is a stereotype. We have the exceptionally brilliant geophysicist, who can switch on his flashes of scientific insight at will. There is also the world renowned but publicity-hungry scientist who has no qualms whatsoever on claiming someone else's work his own. Then there is the mad genius who was once wronged, and now lives in a self imposed exile pondering over all his oh-so-brilliant inventions all by himself. As if those weren't enough, we are also treated to the quintessential computer geek who lives on junk food and TV, and can hack around anything and everything on the Internet in no time with impunity. It is nicely rounded up with a cocksure rookie pilot who can pilot anything from a space ship to a ''geo-shuttle'' (or whatever their capsule is called) with equal ease. With characters like these, it is hardly surprising that I was unable sympathize with anyone in the movie.

I must say that some scifi movie buffs may like the special effects in the movie. They were carefully done, I am told, though honestly I had no patience to verify this. Be forewarned that like many other Hollywood movies, 'The Core' may also lead you to believe that the words planet, Earth, world etc., are just different ways of saying ''Europe and America.'' (That's just a pet peeve of mine). To sum up, if you are really bored you can lighten up by watching this movie. But be sure to check your brain outside the movie hall.

[ Other Facts: The movie stars Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Stanley Tucci among others. It was released in 2003 and was rated PG-13. ]