Given the basic absurdity of its premise, Jon Amiel's sci-fi fantasy "The Core" makes for fast-paced B-movie fun. A race by gifted scientists aboard a subterranean craft to the earth's inner core to save mankind is outfitted with colorful personalities and enough scientific mumbo-jumbo and hardware to make us believe this could actually happen. Fortunately, Amiel, making his first foray into science fiction, keeps the focus trained on his characters, insisting that all action, decisions and conflicts come from the crew rather than outside forces.

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