Thursday, October 19, 2017

Geostorm

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.