Geostorm
2 stars
Director: Dean Devlin
Stars: Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish
Duration: 109 mins
Class: 12
KRS Releasing Ltd
After years wearing the writer and/producer’s hat on such blockbusters as Independence Day (1996), its middling sequel, Godzilla (1998) and 2000’s The Patriot, Dean Devlin takes the director’s seat in this disaster movie in which Gerard Butler stars as Jake Lawson, a scientist who has overseen the construction of a system of satellites that can control the earth’s climate.
This sytem became necessary after a series of catastrophic weather events worldwide caused the destruction of many cities across the globe and the death of millions. But a few years after the system, dubbed ‘Dutch Boy’, comes online, to remarkable effect, some glitches in the system itself pose a new threat.
Lawson is called out of forced retirement to investigate the glitches and is soon caught up in a race against time, as a potentially cataclysmic ‘geostorm’ threatens to wipe out the earth once and for all. His younger brother and rival, Matt (Jim Sturgess), discovers a conspiracy going up to the highest level of power in Washington DC.
The subject of climate change may be extremely topical, yet this is no Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power, a thoroughly-researched and well-executed documentary that meticulously catalogued the catastrophic effects of climate change.
Characters are one-dimensional, thinly-sketched and completely lacking in emotional heft
Many have questioned the timing of Geostorm’s release, a film intended to entertain, given the deadly havoc wrought by the numerous hurricanes and earthquakes that have caused tragedy and catastrophe in the US and Mexico.
The characters are one-dimensional, thinly-sketched and completely lacking in emotional heft. The film opens with extensive exposition and a message of hope for earth’s future that rings terribly false. Both are narrated by Lawson’s young daughter Hannah as played by Talitha Bateman, pretty much the only interesting character.
What happens in between is a straightforward narrative that is as predictable as the sun rising every morning. It deals with a plot by the bad guy whose identity is obvious from the character’s first appearance (won’t give the actor’s name so as not to give it away here). There’s a love-hate relationship between the two brothers that we are reminded of every time they talk to each other (even when one is in outer space, the other in the White House).
And there is zero chemistry between all the characters as they exchange bland, shallow dialogue, rife with weather jargon but little of substance.
The actors can do little to elevate this into something remotely interesting. Butler is once more landed with a square-jawed protagonist role, a scientist who we first meet when he is thrown off the project – mostly because of his insufferable behaviour. Neither his impressive credentials nor his heroic behaviour can make the character interesting.
Sturgess’s Matt is unconvincing as a State Department functionary, while veterans Andy Garcia and Ed Harris go through the motions. Alexandra Maria Lara as spaceship commander Fassbinder, Abbie Cornish as Secret Service Agent Sarah Wilson and Zazie Beetz as Dana, a tech genius working for Matt, have little to do.
Not even the CGI can save this. It’s almost as if Devlin has relied on technology that is 20 years old to create the effects – it is so glaringly obvious and clunky. Despite the many instances of disasters that fill the screen – tornadoes in India; deadly ice storms in Rio de Janeiro; roads exploding into fiery ruins in Hong Kong; tsunamis in Dubai and more – it is all extremely overwrought and thoroughly underwhelming.
Industry papers report that Geostrom had a troubled journey to the big screen. Filming began three years ago and was since rife with reports of reshoots, rewrites and more plaguing the production, but it is evident that no amount of tinkering has prevented this from being a disaster of a disaster movie.