Geostorm

Starring: Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Alexandra Maria Lara, Daniel Wu, Andy Garcia, Ed Harris, Mare Winningham, Zazie Beetz
Directed by: Dean Devlin
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Thriller
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A network of satellites is built to control weather on Earth. When they start to malfunction, the population of the world is threatened by a deadly geostorm.

Review:

Tim: I'm a huge fan of disaster movies and Dean Devlin has been involved in some of my favorites. He makes his feature film directorial debut here, and it does not go well. He should stick to producing, because this film is so bad. I lament the fact that it's been a long time since Hollywood produced a great disaster movie. There were so many amazing ones in the 1990s and early 2000s, but the ones lately have been disappointments. Geostorm is one of the worst disaster movies in quite a long time.

So, the big premise is that the Earth might be hit with a geostorm, a global storm covering the entire planet. I suppose that would be a good premise for a disaster movie, but to get to that point, the movie has to set up how this might happen. And right from the beginning, the very first scenes of this film, it loses the audience. To combat rising unpredictable and dangerous weather, humanity builds this series of weather satellites that are capable of controlling the weather on a global scale. Already, this science fiction is proving to be asking the audience to really suspend their disbelief. And this is just backdrop to the real story. Either through a malfunction or deliberate sabotage (spoiler alert, it's always deliberate sabotage), the weather satellites are used to wreck weather carnage on different places around the globe. It's all building to a geostorm that could wipe out the planet, or at least large portions of humanity. And this is the movie, what I wrote isn't a joke. It is so hard to take any of this seriously. I'm not even saying that weather-controlling satellites running amok is beyond the realm of acceptance- it's just how this is presented to the audience that immediately, the film gets off on the wrong foot. It all seems so absurd, so disconnected from reality. I immediately had such a hard time believing anything I saw.

It was pretty hard to believe Gerard Butler in this role as this brilliant satellite designer. The whole rebellious aspect of his character, yes, I believed that. I believe him as a gritty secret service agent, sure. As a satellite designer? It's a little farfetched for him. The script and direction doesn't do him any favors. He looks silly throughout this movie. His relationship with his brother (played by Jim Sturgess) never felt the least bit believable to me. Their actions felt forced and a bit uncomfortable to watch. They desperately needed better writing and better directing. They seemed like caricatures, not fully fleshed out people. I couldn't tell you their names or anything especially remarkable about them. The supporting cast doesn't get much help, either. I can see Abbie Cornish taking this role, but you just feel so bad for Andy Garcia and Ed Harris. They are too talented to appear in B-movie schlock like this. Thank goodness they signed on, because the film is helped by their presence, but you can't help but feel sorry for them. The special effects are fine, but they really feel meaningless. I never bought into the weather-controlling satellites, so everything just seems ridiculous. The scene of Hong Kong basically melting in a firenado was kind of fun, but not the kind you feel good about having. We see hail, freezing temperatures, tsunamis, and a crazy lightning storm. Sure, seeing such insane, extreme weather is mildly entertaining. The problem is that the story and the plot are just so bad. The movie eventually descends into a predictable, ineffective mess. The story is basically recycled from many other movies, there's just a bunch of lightning going on behind it. Really, the film is a bitter disappointment.

I wish I could have liked Geostorm. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. This is one of those movies that looked awful from the very first moment and lived down to those expectations. I love disaster movies, but man, I couldn't find anything here. Dean Devlin should stick to producing, because this movie doesn't give me any hope for his future in the director's chair.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact, Independence Day, 2012