Intermission: 'The Core' puts fun back into Hollywood movies

Jim Wunderle is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.

"We have no sense of humor ... and we are armed."

For some reason this bit of dialogue struck me as being a perfect soliloquy in a science fiction/action epic that is as much fun to watch as any comparable movie in recent memory.

"The Core" won't win any Oscars and probably won't change your life, but it will if you've been a movie fan long enough make you remember just how good dumb, fun sci-fi can be.

There have been countless films about exploring outer space, but there's only one I can remember that deals with the exploration of "inner" space: "Journey to the Center of the Earth."

This approach seems to be true in real life, as well. While the surface of the moon and Mars have been scanned and scoured, the depths of the Earth's oceans and the core at its center are largely still a mystery.

"The Core" brings the significance of what's at the core of our home planet to light with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor and a great deal of self-awareness.

To the ire of some, it also seems to have a decidedly environmental, maybe even Pagan, love for Earth as a main message.

In the frenetic opening sequence, hundreds of people, all with pacemakers, drop dead at the same time. A day later, migrating birds, which use the Earth's electro-magnetic field for navigation, begin falling out of the sky. A space shuttle landing goes horribly awry in a scene that delayed the release of this film in light of the recent tragedy.

Lightning storms are appearing, and the population is getting somewhat concerned. The government realizes something must be done. Some of the powers that be actually know more than they first let on.

So what's up?

It appears that the Earth's core has decided to stop turning. If this happens, and it's a scientific fact, the electromagnetic force that keeps the planet in balance will cease to exist. That means life as we know it will cease to exist, as well.

In act one of "The Core," this fact is viewed as a bizarre natural phenomenon. Later we see that more sinister forces are at work.

With the aid of billions of dollars, a former space shuttle crewmember, a professor from the University of Chicago, a geeky, computer freak and a seemingly mad inventor, an inner space ship is constructed posthaste and this is when "The Core" really gets fun.

The special effects are great and are more reminiscent of "Fantastic Voyage" than any outer space films.

Burrowing down to the center of the planet is apparently a tougher job than flying to the moon, something that has already been done and witnessed. The special effects folks at work here were posed the task of making things not seen before plausible. They came through in great style. I'm not sure how the center of the Earth looks, but they did a good job of conjuring the scene.

After the big opening and strong second act, things slow down a bit. At two hours, 15 minutes, it could really use a bit of editing. But in the final half hour, when all sci-fi hell breaks loose, the things at hand will wake the viewer up once more.

I laughed a lot during "The Core" not at it, but with it. I think the writers, Cooper Layne and John Rogers, and director Jon Amiel, have a great sense of what makes a science fiction movie work and why audiences love them so. On one hand, the subject is serious, but on the other it's all a laughable melodrama.

Any Baby Boomer must surely have thoughts about giant spiders, crazed human mutants and reptiles gone mad imbedded in his or her mind from childhood.

On a final note: People, good people, die as they always do in this sort of film and the main actors somehow manage to survive as they always do.

There's really no surprise or revelation here. The big surprise is the risk that Hollywood took on putting up money for a film such as this. Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for the business. Is the sense of "fun" returning? Let's hope so.

And let's also hope the inner-space craft can somehow get the core turning once again. You probably know the answer to this.

My take on "The Core" is that the filmmakers have a firm grasp on classic science fiction. They've made a movie that supplies a soundly "scientific" scenario while also putting forth a unique and well-reasoned premise.

Combine that with a righteous amount of dumb fun, and it's a sure winner. "The Core" made me remember why I loved movies in the first place.

I may go see it again and will definitely buy it when it comes out on DVD.