The Core
A small group of people at a business meeting. One of the group, a younger man, suddenly passes out on the board room table. Outside the building, flocks of birds begin to crash into nearby buildings…
The Core
A small group of people at a business meeting. One of the group, a younger man, suddenly passes out on the board room table. Outside the building, flocks of birds begin to crash into nearby buildings and other stationary objects. At University of Chicago Dr Keyes is approached by two government officials and asked to leave with them, no questions asked. He's taken to a government facility where he meets a friend, Dr. Serge Leveque (Tchéky Karyo), a nuclear weapons expert. The two are shown into a large hangar where they're astonished to see the room is full of bodies draped in white sheets. An Army general, Purcell (Richard Jenkins) tells them that everyone in the room suddenly died at the exact same moment. After a few seconds of speculation, Keyes and Leveque conclude that all the victims had pacemakers. Purcell is impressed, telling them they figured out the mystery faster than anyone else he'd spoken to. While in it's re-entry procedure, the crew of the space shuttle Endeavor find themselves several miles off course. Instead of being aligned with Edwards Air Force Base, they are heading directly for downtown Los Angeles. The shuttle makes an emergency landing in the L.A. River, avoiding a catastrophic accident. Major Rebecca "Beck" Childs (Hilary Swank) was the navigator for the mission and is nearly court-martialed before it's determined that she performed her duties perfectly and that the strange magnetic anomalies around the world were responsible A series of disturbances caused by instability in the Earth's magnetic field lead geologist Dr. Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) and scientists Serge Leveque (Tchéky Karyo) and Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci) to learn that the Earth's molten core has stopped rotating. Within a year, the Earth's magnetic field will collapse, irradiating the planet. The three develop a plan with the United States government to bore into the Earth's core and plant a series of nuclear charges at precise points to restart the core's motion and restore the field. A former colleague-turned-adversary of Professor Zimsky, the rogue scientist Ed "Braz" Brazzelton (Delroy Lindo), has developed plans for a nuclear-powered vessel that could quickly drill through to the core aided by a high frequency pulse laser, with a hull made of "Unobtainium", an indestructible metal that can withstand the heat and pressure of the core. Braz also reveals that he and Zimsky have a checkered past: Zimsky stole a few research ideas from Braz and it led to a falling out between the two. Braz is willing to work with Zimsky again if it means saving the Earth. Though funding for his research has been hard to find, Purcell tells him he'll give him all the money he needs to complete work on a ship made of his compound in a few short months. The government funds the construction of the ship, which Brazzelton names Virgil, while Keyes enlists the help of computer hacker Theodore Donald "Rat" Finch (DJ Qualls) to keep news of the potential global disaster off the Internet and stem a worldwide panic. However, there is a hint that the Army is hiding the real reason of the impending catastrophe. Virgil is made up of several compartments and if any compartment of the ship is damaged, the operating system will eject that compartment to avoid risk to the rest of the ship. Keyes, Zimsky, Levequeand part of the crew. Virgil is piloted by Space Shuttle pilots Commander Robert Iverson (Bruce Greenwood) and Major Rebecca "Beck" Childs (Hilary Swank). The Virgil is launched through the Marianas Trench from an offshore platform. The team accidentally drills through a gigantic empty geode structure, damaging the lasers when it lands at its base and cracking the geode's structure and causing magma to flow in. Keyes and Zimsky find out that they are in fact inside a cobalt cocoon full of Amethyst. The crew repair and restart the laser array in time, but Iverson is killed by a falling crystal shard while returning to the ship. As Virgil continues, it clips a huge diamond that breaches the hull of the last compartment. Leveque sacrifices himself to save the nuclear launch codes before the compartment is crushed by extreme pressure. Virgil eventually reaches the molten core. The new data they gather there reveals a flaw in the plan. The outer layer of the Earth's Core is less dense than anticipated, and the explosions cannot generate the needed power. After some calculations, they decide that by splitting their nuclear weapons into the remaining compartments and jettisoning each at specific distances, they can create a "ripple effect", where the power of each bomb will push against the blast of the next, generating the needed energy wave. However, because Virgil was not designed to jettison undamaged compartments, the plan requires someone to deactivate a safety switch that is in an area exposed to the extreme temperatures. Brazzelton volunteers and deactivates the switch, dying shortly afterwards. Meanwhile on the surface, the public becomes aware of problems after super storms start to cover the world. Finch is unable to stop worldwide panic but instead learns of the top-secret project "DESTINI" (Deep Earth Seismic Trigger INItiative), which is to be deployed if the Virgil mission fails. Finch relays his information to Keyes, who discovers that Zimsky was one of DESTINI's lead scientists. DESTINI, according to Zimsky, was designed as a weapon to propagate earthquakes through the Earth's core, but its first activation has unintentionally stopped its rotation instead. Zimsky reveals the government will use it again to attempt a restart of the core. Keyes is convinced it will have disastrous results, so he has Finch hack into DESTINI's system and cut its power supply to buy the Virgil more time. Keyes and Zimsky realize they have miscalculated the necessary yield, but Zimsky gets trapped in a detaching compartment. Zimsky suggests they use the ship's nuclear fuel to achieve the sufficient yield, which will save the planet but leave Keyes and Childs without power. As the triggered explosions go off, successfully restarting the core's rotation, Keyes and Childs realize they can use the Unobtainium shell to convert the heat and pressure from the wave-front to power the Virgil, and they are able to escape the core. They break through the crust underwater, leaving them on the ocean floor without power and communications. They believe themselves lost but use the remaining power to activate a weak sonar beacon. The beacon attracts a nearby whale pod, and Finch is able to trace their whale songs to locate the Virgil. A week after the mission, Finch logs onto a computer at an internet cafe and releases the information about Project DESTINI, the Crew of Virgil and their mission onto the Internet.
The Core
Action,Adventure,Sci-Fi
Film Details
A small group of people at a business meeting. One of the group, a younger man, suddenly passes out on the board room table. Outside the building, flocks of birds begin to crash into nearby buildings and other stationary objects.
At University of Chicago Dr Keyes is approached by two government officials and asked to leave with them, no questions asked. He's taken to a government facility where he meets a friend, Dr. Serge Leveque (Tchéky Karyo), a nuclear weapons expert.
The two are shown into a large hangar where they're astonished to see the room is full of bodies draped in white sheets. An Army general, Purcell (Richard Jenkins) tells them that everyone in the room suddenly died at the exact same moment. After a few seconds of speculation, Keyes and Leveque conclude that all the victims had pacemakers.
Purcell is impressed, telling them they figured out the mystery faster than anyone else he'd spoken to. While in it's re-entry procedure, the crew of the space shuttle Endeavor find themselves several miles off course. Instead of being aligned with Edwards Air Force Base, they are heading directly for downtown Los Angeles.
The shuttle makes an emergency landing in the L.A. River, avoiding a catastrophic accident. Major Rebecca "Beck" Childs (Hilary Swank) was the navigator for the mission and is nearly court-martialed before it's determined that she performed her duties perfectly and that the strange magnetic anomalies around the world were responsible A series of disturbances caused by instability in the Earth's magnetic field lead geologist Dr.
Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) and scientists Serge Leveque (Tchéky Karyo) and Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci) to learn that the Earth's molten core has stopped rotating. Within a year, the Earth's magnetic field will collapse, irradiating the planet. The three develop a plan with the United States government to bore into the Earth's core and plant a series of nuclear charges at precise points to restart the core's motion and restore the field.
A former colleague-turned-adversary of Professor Zimsky, the rogue scientist Ed "Braz" Brazzelton (Delroy Lindo), has developed plans for a nuclear-powered vessel that could quickly drill through to the core aided by a high frequency pulse laser, with a hull made of "Unobtainium", an indestructible metal that can withstand the heat and pressure of the core. Braz also reveals that he and Zimsky have a checkered past: Zimsky stole a few research ideas from Braz and it led to a falling out between the two. Braz is willing to work with Zimsky again if it means saving the Earth.
Though funding for his research has been hard to find, Purcell tells him he'll give him all the money he needs to complete work on a ship made of his compound in a few short months. The government funds the construction of the ship, which Brazzelton names Virgil, while Keyes enlists the help of computer hacker Theodore Donald "Rat" Finch (DJ Qualls) to keep news of the potential global disaster off the Internet and stem a worldwide panic. However, there is a hint that the Army is hiding the real reason of the impending catastrophe.
Virgil is made up of several compartments and if any compartment of the ship is damaged, the operating system will eject that compartment to avoid risk to the rest of the ship. Keyes, Zimsky, Levequeand part of the crew. Virgil is piloted by Space Shuttle pilots Commander Robert Iverson (Bruce Greenwood) and Major Rebecca "Beck" Childs (Hilary Swank).
The Virgil is launched through the Marianas Trench from an offshore platform. The team accidentally drills through a gigantic empty geode structure, damaging the lasers when it lands at its base and cracking the geode's structure and causing magma to flow in. Keyes and Zimsky find out that they are in fact inside a cobalt cocoon full of Amethyst.
The crew repair and restart the laser array in time, but Iverson is killed by a falling crystal shard while returning to the ship. As Virgil continues, it clips a huge diamond that breaches the hull of the last compartment. Leveque sacrifices himself to save the nuclear launch codes before the compartment is crushed by extreme pressure.
Virgil eventually reaches the molten core. The new data they gather there reveals a flaw in the plan. The outer layer of the Earth's Core is less dense than anticipated, and the explosions cannot generate the needed power.
After some calculations, they decide that by splitting their nuclear weapons into the remaining compartments and jettisoning each at specific distances, they can create a "ripple effect", where the power of each bomb will push against the blast of the next, generating the needed energy wave. However, because Virgil was not designed to jettison undamaged compartments, the plan requires someone to deactivate a safety switch that is in an area exposed to the extreme temperatures. Brazzelton volunteers and deactivates the switch, dying shortly afterwards.
Meanwhile on the surface, the public becomes aware of problems after super storms start to cover the world. Finch is unable to stop worldwide panic but instead learns of the top-secret project "DESTINI" (Deep Earth Seismic Trigger INItiative), which is to be deployed if the Virgil mission fails. Finch relays his information to Keyes, who discovers that Zimsky was one of DESTINI's lead scientists.
DESTINI, according to Zimsky, was designed as a weapon to propagate earthquakes through the Earth's core, but its first activation has unintentionally stopped its rotation instead. Zimsky reveals the government will use it again to attempt a restart of the core. Keyes is convinced it will have disastrous results, so he has Finch hack into DESTINI's system and cut its power supply to buy the Virgil more time.
Keyes and Zimsky realize they have miscalculated the necessary yield, but Zimsky gets trapped in a detaching compartment. Zimsky suggests they use the ship's nuclear fuel to achieve the sufficient yield, which will save the planet but leave Keyes and Childs without power. As the triggered explosions go off, successfully restarting the core's rotation, Keyes and Childs realize they can use the Unobtainium shell to convert the heat and pressure from the wave-front to power the Virgil, and they are able to escape the core.
They break through the crust underwater, leaving them on the ocean floor without power and communications. They believe themselves lost but use the remaining power to activate a weak sonar beacon. The beacon attracts a nearby whale pod, and Finch is able to trace their whale songs to locate the Virgil.
A week after the mission, Finch logs onto a computer at an internet cafe and releases the information about Project DESTINI, the Crew of Virgil and their mission onto the Internet..