Geostorm

Cast: Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Daniel Wu and Talitha Aliana Bateman

Director: Dean Devlin

Running time: 1hr 44 minutes

Release Date: 2017

Genre: Sci Fi

Rating: 12

Format: Sky Cinema

Synopsis:

When the network of satellites designed to control the global climate starts to attack Earth, it's a race against the clock for it's creator to uncover the real threat before a worldwide Geostorm wipes out everyone and everything.

It appears that every once in a while we are due a disaster movie. The last being "2012", which ultimately failed at the box office. At first glance Geostorm sounds exciting, however what audiences are actually presented with is a mediocre, cheesy disaster flick. Set between the years 2019 and 2022 (Should we be worried?), the planet comes together as a whole to tackle climate change once and for all, creating a climate-controlling satellite system called Dutch Boy. When Dutch Boy malfunctions, something must be done fast to prevent Earth from being destroyed by a powerful Geostorm. It's unfortunate that Director Dean Devlin's feature film debut was not something original.

Do you know what is one of the most disappointing aspects of this film? Take a close look at the movie poster, it shows what appears to be Jake Lawson holding onto his daughter, whilst a tidal wave smashes through a city. Let me tell you, that a scene involving him and his daughter running from a tidal wave never actually takes place. One can only imagine that it was made in order to entice audiences into screenings. Personally, I was looking forward to being thrilled by such particular scene involving Jake and his daughter. Are they gonna make it out alive? Does he become the hero we all want him to be? Yes, but not in the way in which it appears to have been advertised.

Its disappointing that director Dean Devlin took a lot of his ideas from previous disaster movies, particularly The Day after Tomorrow. The storyline isn't the issue, it's good science fiction. It doesn't have to be realistic, it's the fact it isn't original. Gerard Butler, for the most part delivers a very good performance, although he wouldn't of been my first choice to play Jake Lawson. Jim Sturgess who plays Jake's brother Max, not only gives a better performance than Butler, but comes across as a much better action hero. The storyline and the characters motives are far too predictable.

The special-effects aren't sensational, at the same time they aren't abismal either. Unfortunately once the Geostorm beings, it becomes more and more predictable. It's like one of those awful science fiction movies shown on the SCFX channel that cost $100,000, that uses the same storyline and effects in a different order, to create a different movie. In all honesty, this really had the potential to be really quite magnificent. The special-effects could have been amazing, but sadly they looked cheap and cheesy. The storyline could have been better if it had a sense of realism to it. A Geostorm is practically impossible, scenarios in The Day after Tomorrow  to some degree were realistic, if anything just exaggerated. Of course movies don't have to be realistic, if not realistic, at least have impressive special-effects that could make it look like it's real. So disappointing.


2.5/5 stars