"Geostorm" is a big, splashy science fiction disaster picture, the likes of which we haven't seen since
well, since the last big splashy Dean Devlin science fiction disaster picture.
Devlin, who usually has worked in tandem with director and occasional partner Roland Emmerich, is the producer 1996's megahit "Independence Day" and its sequel, last year's "Independence Day: Resurgence." "Geostorm" is Devlin's first picture as a director.
And if you didn't know Devlin was the director of "Geostorm," you'd probably guess that he had something to do with it anyway, because the movie closely resembles the style of his previous movies.
In "Geostorm," decades of pollution and global warming cause the world's weather to go kerflooey. A scientist played by Gerard Butler devises a network of global satellites, which form a sort of electronic net around the world to regulate and control the weather.
But somehow a gasket blows in the satellite weather system, and parts of the world develop a bad case of opposite weather—a deep freeze in Saudi Arabia, tornadoes in India, and a tsunami in Dubai, as if Mother Nature is trying to teach us a lesson in irony.
So the scientist boards a shuttle to the International Space Station in order to figure out the problem with the system and fix it. And he soon learns that the glitch is not an accident—somebody sabotaged the controls. And the person who vandalized the system is a top official in the US government.
Gerard Butler plays the scientist in "Geostorm" with an appropriate blend of irreverence, bravado, and attitude. His performance is like all the characters played by Charlton Heston in all the disaster movies of the 1970s rolled into one.
Also having fun in "Geostorm" are Ed Harris, chewing the scenery as the president's right hand man, and Andy Garcia, pretending he's doing some heavy lifting as the president. Garcia somehow manages to overact just by being present, and by all appearances nearly gives himself a hernia when he has actual lines to speak.
"Geostorm" is not a bad picture, just a silly one. Also co-written by Devlin, this is one movie which should've been released on Memorial Day or the Fourth of July—it might've played better with a drive-in theater wrapped around it.
Devlin, who usually has worked in tandem with director and occasional partner Roland Emmerich, is the producer 1996's megahit "Independence Day" and its sequel, last year's "Independence Day: Resurgence." "Geostorm" is Devlin's first picture as a director.
And if you didn't know Devlin was the director of "Geostorm," you'd probably guess that he had something to do with it anyway, because the movie closely resembles the style of his previous movies.
In "Geostorm," decades of pollution and global warming cause the world's weather to go kerflooey. A scientist played by Gerard Butler devises a network of global satellites, which form a sort of electronic net around the world to regulate and control the weather.
But somehow a gasket blows in the satellite weather system, and parts of the world develop a bad case of opposite weather—a deep freeze in Saudi Arabia, tornadoes in India, and a tsunami in Dubai, as if Mother Nature is trying to teach us a lesson in irony.
So the scientist boards a shuttle to the International Space Station in order to figure out the problem with the system and fix it. And he soon learns that the glitch is not an accident—somebody sabotaged the controls. And the person who vandalized the system is a top official in the US government.
Gerard Butler plays the scientist in "Geostorm" with an appropriate blend of irreverence, bravado, and attitude. His performance is like all the characters played by Charlton Heston in all the disaster movies of the 1970s rolled into one.
Also having fun in "Geostorm" are Ed Harris, chewing the scenery as the president's right hand man, and Andy Garcia, pretending he's doing some heavy lifting as the president. Garcia somehow manages to overact just by being present, and by all appearances nearly gives himself a hernia when he has actual lines to speak.
"Geostorm" is not a bad picture, just a silly one. Also co-written by Devlin, this is one movie which should've been released on Memorial Day or the Fourth of July—it might've played better with a drive-in theater wrapped around it.