|
|
|
|
Order this DVD from Amazon.com
|
The
Core
(Paramount Home Entertainment)
|
| DVD
Release Date:
|
September
9, 2003
|
|
Length:
|
134 mins.
|
| Rated:
|
PG-13
|
| Format:
|
Widescreen (2.35:1)
|
|
Audio:
|
English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Surround 2.0, French
Dolby Surround 2.0
|
| Subtitles:
|
English, French, Closed-Captioned
|
| Extras:
|
Audio
Commentary with Director Jon Amiel, "To the Core and Back:
The Making of The Core", Deconstruction of the Visual
Effects, 10 Deleted/Extended Scenes with Optional Director's
Commentary, Previews
|
The earth's core has stopped spinning
and the world as we know it is going to end. That is until a misfit
group of scientists, astronauts, military personnel and computer geeks
is assembled to drill their way to the center of the earth in order to
set off a series of nuclear explosions that will, in theory, start the
core spinning and save the world, mankind and pigeons. That is, in
summary, the story of The Core. The movie features a star-studded cast
that includes Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (Major Rebecca
Childs), the handsome Aaron Eckhart (Dr. Josh Keyes), the brilliant
Delroy Lindo (Dr. Edward Brazzelton), the comical Stanley Tucci (Dr.
Conrad Zimsky) and the disturbingly skinny DJ Qualls (Rat).
After watching The Core for the second time, I am going to stick by my
original review of the movie. The Core is a lot better movie than it
has been given credit. Sure there are some ridiculous scientific
explanations in the movie, but did anyone complain about this after
seeing Jurassic Park? Is it possible that a machine can be made that
will drill through rock and withstand 800,000 pounds per square inch
of pressure? I doubt it. Some of the dialogue is poorly written. Some
of the visual effects are way too obvious. But despite the movie's
shortcomings, I still found it an enjoyable movie with a fairly
compelling story and a cast of actors that portray a group of
characters that I liked and found myself rooting for by the end of the
movie. The entire group that jumps into this machine that drills its
way to the center of the earth - Delroy, Eckart, Hillary, Tucci and
Tcheky Karyo (Sergei Leveque) are quirky in their own way but
nevertheless, quite outstanding. Perhaps the exception is the ship's
pilot, Bruce Greenwood, but any problems you might have with him are
solved early in the group's mission.
Leading the list of extras on this DVD is the commentary by director
Jon Amiel. Amiel's soft, British-accented voice is rather soothing.
His commentary is emphasized by his description of some of the special
effects used in the movie, his praise of most of the actors and
actresses in the movie and, in what I have come to realize is a
problem for all directors who commentate on every DVD, some of the
filming difficulties (weather is a problem for all movies filmed in
Canada - yes, we know it is cold up here but our dollar is weak so
keep coming!) and budget constraints they had with The Core. He
emphasizes how The Core is a character-driven movie, which I tend to
agree. His commentary is informative and enjoyable, but he talks often
about the "real science" of the movie on more than one
occasion and how a lot of the scientific scenes were written with the
help of actual real scientists, but some of the stuff that happens in
the movie is just beyond any sort of explanation. Who is he kidding?
There is a featurette called "To The Core and Back - The Making
of the Core". It runs almost 11 minutes and has the director,
producers, visual effects supervisors, editors and a few other people
bragging that the core of the earth that they feature in their movie
is as close to the real core of the earth as far as science knows it
to be. They talk about how no one has ever made a movie about drilling
to the core of the earth. They talk about the making of the film, the
visual effects, the actors, the blue-screen, all the difficulties and
your basic movie-making jibberish. You hear the words
"difficulties", "imagination",
"laborious" and "story boards" quite often. There
are also brief comments by DJ Quall, Delroy Lindo, Aaron Eckert and
the beautiful Hillary Swank.
The second featurette is called "Deconstruction of the Visual
Effects". This featurette is broken down into a group five shorts
called "Pre-Visualization", "Trafalgar Square",
"Rome", "The Golden Gate Bridge" and "The
Geode". Each one basically explains how they were able to film
the different sets and how almost none of the sets were actually real.
Not a big surprise.
There are 10 deleted/extended scenes. Out of the 10, I would say 8 of
them I enjoyed watching. A few of the should have been left in the
movie. You can watch these scenes with or without a commentary by
director Amiel. His commentary, for the most part, is an explanation
of the scenes and a brief explanation as to why they were deleted.
Finally, the DVD includes a series of previews - Timeline (looking
forward to this one), Tomb Raider 2: The Cradle of Life and the
preview for the DVD boxset of the Indiana Jones movies.
Overall, The Core is a good watch. The movie is enjoyable, as long as
you don't try to get all scientific on the movie's ass. If you think
you are so smart that you have all the answers about what it is like
to drill to the center of the earth in a machine that does not even
exist, well then don't waste your time with this movie. I am telling
you right now, there is probably almost nothing that happens in this
movie that is even remotely plausible. Hell, even DJ Qualls skinniness
was probably a special effect. On the other hand, if you just want to
sit back and have a fun time with an enjoyable movie, this is the
movie for you. The DVD has an interesting look at the various special
effects that were used to get to the final product. I wasn't
overwhelmed by any of the extras but did enjoy the deleted scenes and
the trailers for Timeline and the Indiana Jones trilogy. They
definitely got the movie juices flowing.
| The Movie: |
  |
7/10 |
| The
Extras: |
|
6/10 |
|
|
|
What
did you think?
Have your say on our Message Boards...
Click here for more information on
The Core
Brendan Cullin - Senior
Editor
More Reviews - Click Here
|
|
|
|
|
