Aside from the constant attacks from "outer space," some folks figured it was time to for us to worry about the end of the world coming from deep within our own planet with, The Core . Now, the filmmakers think they have a juicy original idea here of ummm ... traveling in a ship ... to the ummm ... CENTER OF THE EARTH ... but, I think this subject has been dealt with on several occasions already, sorry guys. However, this new film does have a cool ensemble cast, and it does throw the viewer enough curve balls to keep the plot interesting, as a team of Earth's very first terranauts dive head first into the planet's core.

Government officials become extremely nervous when 17 Bostonians just drop dead all at once, fearing a possible attack from a fancy new weapon from one of our enemies. General Purcell, played by veteran actor Richard Jenkins (Showtime's acclaimed series, Six Feet Under), calls upon two scientists to solve this mystery: Geologist Josh Keyes, played by Aaron Eckhart (Jim Henson's short-lived TV series, Aliens in the Family, and gritty inde film, Thursday), and atomic scientist Sergei Leveque, played by Tcheky Karyo (Wing Commander and HBO's awesome From the Earth to the Moon). But is this the work of some naughty nation's secret technology?

Well, it appears that something has gone awry with the earth's inner core. Normally, this core spins around which in turn provides us with a protective electromagnetic field. When it stops, all kinds of terrible things begin to happen: birds can't navigate, whales can't migrate and everyone with a pacemaker drops dead. But that's only the beginning, as solar radiation slips through everything electronic will fail, and the entire planet becomes one very large microwave oven.

As things become increasingly drastic, the world's nations unite to save our planet, by putting together some interesting characters to plow into the center of the Earth:

The Crew

• Col. Robert Iverson, Ship "Virgil" Commander (Bruce Greenwood - Disturbing Behavior and Dean R Koontz's The Servants of Twilight)Maj. Rebecca Childs, Pilot (Academy Award winner Hilary Swank - debuted in her first film with Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
• Dr. Conrad Zimsky, Geophysicist (Stanley Tucci - The Eighteenth Angel and George Romero's Monkey Shines)
• Dr. Ed Brazzelton, Scientist/Inventor of "Virgil" (Delroy Lindo - The One)

Mission Control

• Chief Talma Stickley, NASA Control (Alfre Woodard - K-PAX and Star Trek: First Contact)
• Taz Finch, Computer Hacker/Felon/Spy helping to prevent world wide panic by preventing the spread of the information flowing throughout the internet (played by DJ Qualls) ... gee, I guess censorship IS necessary.

Ultimately, these "inner" space heroes attempt to solve the problem the same way we solve invading aliens and asteroids attacking our planet from "outer" space ... shove a nuke right up the wazoo. Regardless, this is an underrated ensemble that should give this story far more life than it probably deserves.

Release Date: March 28th, 2003

The television promos do not do the film any justice, but there is a much better preview on The Core official web site:

http://www.thecoremovie.com/