A team of crack scientists (ouch) drills to the earth’s core to prevent a global disaster.

The Core takes parts of several better movies (mostly Armageddon, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Fantastic Voyage) and comes up with something very average, with the occasional inspired moment.

The only surprising thing is the art-house cast, led by Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhardt and Stanley Tucci, who all struggle bravely fighting off clichés and the odd one-liner. In Tucci’s case he also has to contend with a bizarre wig and at least he looks like he’s in on the joke.

The science is nonsense, the set design is nice and the effects are patchy (the subterranean sequences seem to take place inside a video game for budget reasons), but on the DVD commentary, director Jon Amiel seems to think he’s made something much better than he actually has. For the rest of us it’s an agreeable way to spend 90 minutes.

Mild Peril Rating:

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