The Core poster

The Core (2003)

Film · 2h 16m · Rated PG-13

Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A relentless, high-octane journey into Earth's core pushes a team of scientists to their gritty, epic limits.

Suspenseful. A full-attention watch at full speed. Emotionally it is heavy.

Streaming on Paramount+ and Kanopy (free).

The Core parents guide

No sex or nudity and mild language, about what a PG-13 should carry.

Our estimate: fine from about 13. Rated PG-13.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
Light gore
Some blood or injury, briefly.
Violence
Strong violence
Violence is frequent or intense.
Sex and nudity
None noted
Language
Mild
Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is The Core scary?
Only a little. The Core has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is The Core?
Light gore and strong violence.
What is The Core rated, and is it OK for kids?
Better for teens than younger kids: it is rated PG-13, with strong violence.

What is The Core about?

Geophysicist Dr. Josh Keyes discovers that an unknown force has caused the earth's inner core to stop rotating. With the planet's magnetic field rapidly deteriorating, our atmosphere literally starts to come apart at the seams with catastrophic consequences. To resolve the crisis, Keyes, along with a team of the world's most gifted scientists, travel into the earth's core. Their mission: detonate a device that will reactivate the core.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Yes. It lands on a happy note.

Cast and crew

Directed byJon Amiel
StarringAaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Stanley Tucci, Tchéky Karyo, DJ Qualls

More like The Core

The Core is on our Disasters, Sci-fi on Paramount+ and Sci-fi on Kanopy lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

Lists with the same feel: Edge of your seat.

Five more like The Core

Say the mood. Five picks with where they stream, right here.

Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.