DIRECTOR: Dean Devlin LEAD CAST: Gerard
Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, Andy Garcia SCREENWRITER: Dean
Devlin, Paul Guyot PRODUCERS: David
Ellison, Dean Devlin, Dana Goldberg EDITOR: Ron
Rosen, Chris Lebenzon, John Refoua MUSICAL
DIRECTOR: Lorne Balfe, Steffen Thum GENRE:
Science
Fiction, Fantasy CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roberto
Schaefer DISTRIBUTOR: Warner
Bros. Pictures LOCATION: New
Orleans, Dubai, Hongkong RUNNING
TIME: 109 minutes
Technical assessment: 2.5
Moral assessment: 3
CINEMA rating: V13
US space scientist Jake Lawson
(Gerald Butler) leads an international crew that builds Dutch Boy, a space
station that controls satellites designed to counteract the effects of climate
change. But Jake antagonizes the political bureaucracy and loses his post. His
brother Max (Jim Sturgess) in the State Department is put in charge of Dutch
Boy, causing a rift between the brothers. Dutch Boy malfunctions and causes extreme
weather events in various countries two weeks before US President Palma (Andy
Garcia) is to turn over Dutch Boy to an international team. Max’s boss Dekkom
(Ed Harris) orders Max to bring in Jake to fix the problem. A series of accidents
convinces Max and Jake that a key government official is causing Dutch Boy to
fail. Max seeks the help of his girlfriend Sarah (Abbie Cornish) of the Secret
Service to find who the culprit is.
Geostorm has the perfect
material to build a monumental doomsday film comparable to director Devlin’s Independence Day, his previous work of the same genre. The love and allegiance
between brothers complicated by rivalry unravels in a backdrop of political
ambition and the overriding call for international cooperation to mitigate the
impact of global warming. But the film disappoints. The characters are off. Max
is anything but a disciplined State Department insider as he gets agitated at
the slightest provocation. Jake’s teenage daughter seems to have skipped
adolescence and throws lines and actuations typical of an adult. And most
confusing of all is Sarah who values her Secret Service duty so much yet
readily agrees to give away classified information. Humor and drama, banter and romance are
introduced with such bad timing. Dutch Boy lacks the sophistication of a futuristic
space station. Weather events that turn people to ice are executed so gawkily
they look absurd.
Like any
doomsday movie, expect action, destruction and violence—all
within the context of the story. Never mind that once again, America emerges as
savior. The key messages underpinning the messianic plot are more important:
that of love of country, and the use of technology to contain the destruction
caused by man on the very same planet where he lives. The film, too, is replete
with family values. There’s a good angle about the effect of adult behavior (in
this case, brothers Jake and Max) on the emotional state of a child (Jake’s
daughter). However, overall, despite positive values, the film fails to communicate
its messages well because of poor technical execution.
