History Film / TheCore

''The Core'' is a 2003 DisasterMovie (or possibly a StealthParody of same) directed by Jon Amiel, with a cast including Creator/AaronEckhart, Creator/HilarySwank, Delroy Lindo, and Creator/StanleyTucci.

** WritersCannotDoMath: When a character uses prime numbers to send a secret message, the recipient starts the list of numbers with 1, which is not a prime number.

** People with pacemakers all dying due to localised electromagnetic pulses.

* GodzillaThreshold: Creating an experimental machine capable of going down to the center of the Earth and dropping multiple multi-megaton nuclear warheads is an insane idea, but considering the only other option is sitting down and waiting to die it's the best chance humanity's got. [[spoiler:The plot becomes a RaceAgainstTime because the government is going to apply their own version of the Threshold once it looks like the ''Virgil'' mission may not succeed and fire Project DESTINI again in the hopes that this will make the core stable... and taking the chance it will just accelerate the apocalypse if it doesn't.]]

* {{Awesome McCoolname}}: ''Conrad'' Zimsky.

-->'''Rat''': "I speak one language. 10100. With that I could steal your money, your secrets, your sexual fantasies, your whole life. In any country, any time, any place I want. We multitask like you breathe. I couldn't think as slow as you if I tried."

* ZeroesAndOnes
-->'''Rat''': "I speak one language. 10100. With that I could steal your money, your secrets, your sexual fantasies, your whole life. In any country, any time, any place I want. We multitask like you breathe. I couldn't think as slow as you if I tried."

-->''This is my kung fu, and it is strong.''
-->''We multitask like you breathe. I couldn't think as slow as you if I tried.''

--> ''[[CallBack Your kung fu is not strong.]]''

* PyrrhicVictory [=/=] BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The core is successfully restarted, and the remnants of the ''Virgil'' crew successfully return to the crust to get stuck on the ocean floor but able to send a beacon that attracts whales that allow Rat to trace their location. Only two of the ''Virgil'' crew make it out alive, as almost all of the rest performed {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s to advance the mission.]]
* TheRat: Averted. The character of Rat wasn't an informant, he was simply a really really good hacker.
** And then played straight, as Rat is the one who decides to inform the world about the "Unsung Heroes" of the Core mission.

** [[TheJuggernaut Don't you know, who I am?! I'm the Zimsky]], [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]!

* ThirdActStupidity: the death of Serge Leveque could have been easily averted. It took 2 minutes, 36 seconds of movie time before the compartment was ejected and crushed. A simple and quick manual-control opening of the doors maybe 2 ft to allow the man crawl outside before ejection could have not taken more than 4-5 seconds. The entire scene had been PlayedForDrama.

->'''Zimsky''': But... what if we ''could''?

** ArtisticLicenseMathematics: When a character uses prime numbers to send a secret message, the recipient starts the list of numbers with 1, which is not a prime number.

* BadassBoast: This is Rat's defining characteristic, really.

* DwindlingParty: Once the ''Virgil'' undertakes its mission, crew members get picked off one by one by the mission itself.

** ArtisticLicenseMedicine: A failure of the Earth's magnetic field isn't going to stop a pacemaker (or a wristwatch, for that matter), and even if it did, the heart the pacemaker is attached to wouldn't suddenly stop beating entirely. Pacemakers are given to patients with ''irregular'' or ''erratic'' heartbeats. A failed pacemaker may be a medical emergency, but it's not a guaranteed instant death sentence. [[note]] There is one possible justification: the shifting magnetic field induced electrical current into the wiring and electrodes around the heart. The pacemaker isn't the killer, it's simply the means. Accidental minor electrical shock via current generated by shifting magnetic fields that puts the patient into ventricular fibrillation. At least it's a shorter stretch than everything else in this flick. [[/note]]

* MultinationalTeam: Subverted. It should have been an entire world effort, since everyone would die if it failed, yet it seems to be an almost 100% American project with French meddling (Serge Leveque brought from his government nukes stamped with the French flag). And [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg maybe]] Dr. Conrad Zimsky had been Polish by his name and mannerisms ([[TheMoreYouKnow Poles have among Europeans, but not among Anglophones]], [[NationalStereotypes the reputation to be insanely proud]]).

*** Apparently, a bunch of ''orcas'' felt like singing humpback songs to the ''Virgil'' when it re-emerged into the ocean. Even though orcas don't sing and actual humpbacks would avoid them like the plague.

-->'''Rat''': ''[Sitting in front of a dozen PC towers]'' Okay, I know these ''look'' like computers... [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Totally not]].

* EverythingIsOnline: Rat routes the a significant chunk of the U.S. electric power grid to Coney Island.

* PrecisionFStrike: Recording his final thoughts at this imminent demise, [[spoiler: Zimsky]] realizes no one will ever hear them, and delivers the following:

* TheRat: Averted. The character of Rat wasn't an informant, he was simply a really really good hacker.
** And then played straight, as Rat is the one who decides to inform the world about the "Unsung Heroes" of the Core mission.