For a disaster movie that shows very few disasters, Dean Devlin’s Geostorm (2017) might be bad, but not a total nightmare of a movie. Gerard Butler plays Jake, the leading man and creator of “Dutch Boy”, a set of satellites designed to control earth’s climate. After a series of technical malfunctions, his brother Max, who now has been given control over the satellite operation, quickly discovers that the errors in the system are not a complete accident. With Jake sent to the space station that runs “Dutch Boy”, the two brothers work together in attempt to prevent a massive Geostorm.
Gerard Butler’s rough demeanor makes it quite difficult to feel sympathy for his character. His relationship with his brother Max is terribly underdeveloped and the attempt at getting the viewers to feel sympathy about the deteriorating relationship with his young daughter is limited by the little screen time the two have together. However, it is Butler’s awkward dialogue and attempt of humor when he interacts with his brother and new teammates that takes the cake. It was poor and not well thought out, making way for various cringeworthy moments.
In fact, most of the actors in Geostorm are stock characters, making their actions and the direction of this movie entirely predictable.
However, Jake’s fiancé Sarah, played by Abbie Cornish, takes on a more dominant role as the savior rather than a damsel in distress. Now, her role could have been much more refreshing to the audience if there had been greater character development. But in the end there is none, she’s just Max’s girlfriend.
Aside from the characters, Geostorm has great visual effects that keep the viewer slightly on edge as the weather conditions created by “Dutch boy” wreak havoc. Although this is mostly due to the incredible advancement in technology, it allowed for the fast-pace action expected in the typical natural disaster movie.
After watching this movie my advice to you is simple: Walk in with low expectations and you will find it to be quite an enjoyable movie, to only watch once and never again. If you are looking for a light and predictable action movie and have a few hours to blow, then Geostorm is the movie for you.