Lauren Hutchinson
Despite a big budget that could have granted opportunity, Geostorm fails to be the explosive science fiction disaster film it so desperately wanted to be, even though there seems to be an explosion every ten minutes or so.
In the near future, climate change has reached its peak and caused disaster and death all around the world. Jake (Gerald Butler) came up with technology to fight against the weather and control it, bringing calm back to the world. The only problem now, is that this technology is turning on them, throwing the world back into chaos.
Like most disaster/science fiction films, CGI played a huge part in Geostorm. With multiple disasters throughout the film and on massive scales, it certainly requires a good team in charge of CGI. Of course, these scenes were impressive and somewhat terrifying at the thought of thinking that any of it could happen, but like most films driven by explosions and spectacle alone, it didn’t offer up much else. Before long even the cinematography became repetitive, with long and wide shots taking over.
The narrative and story were a typical disaster/science fiction film but that doesn’t mean to say it wasn’t entertaining. Most of the time films like Geostorm can’t connect with their audience simply because they’re not thought-provoking, engaging or emotionally charged enough. Saying this, there’s only so many ideas people can come up with before someone claims they’ve seen it before.
Big name Gerald Butler as Jake may have been the lead male or protagonist but the younger brother Max, played by Jim Sturgess, had a much more meaningful role. His character seemed more interesting than that of Gerald Butler’s typical leading man role e.g. Jake with the estranged daughter who falls into various character tropes.
Saying this, you don’t get to know any of the characters very well in general and in turn don’t grow to care for them. A huge part of this probably came back to what I just mentioned, the fact that Geostorm opted for the obvious e.g. estranged daughter, estranged brothers, hidden romance, dead parents etc.
The ideas behind Geostorm had potential. I couldn’t help but think about all the scripts out there that were butchered by big budget ‘let’s-just-make-money’ movies. Geostorm’s story ideas around global warming and creating a machine that could control the weather, could have been another film on its own and probably one a lot more interesting if put in the right hands.
Unfortunately, Geostorm fails to live up to its potential, falling straight into the category of films that need to realize that sometimes less can be better.
Year: 2017
Rating: M15+
Running Time: 109 MIN
Genre: Action, SciFi
Director: Dean Devlin
Starring: Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Alexandra Maria Lara, Richard Schiff, Robert Sheehan, Daniel Wu, Eugenio Derbez, Ed Harris, Andy García
Production Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures, Skydance Media, Electric Entertainment
Distributor: Warner Bros.</p