Geostorm exists for one reason: to entertain. And it does, irresistibly. The earth cracks open to swallow people and things, planes fall from the sky, towering buildings from Hong Kong to Dubai fall like dominoes - the whole shebang.
It's a frantic space-bound version of Roland Emmerich's 2012, with little patience for cinematic finesse unlike Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity. If the action tropes, sci-fi elements and lead actor's cocky humour feel familiar, then it's likely because of first-time director Dean Devlin who cut his teeth writing and producing other disaster movies like Independence Day and its sequel Independence Day: Resurgence.
In a world recovering from the ravaging effects of severe climate change, humans have created "Dutch Boy", a network of satellites that prevent deserts from freezing and snowy mountains from melting in a matter of seconds. With such a powerful tool available, it's of course just a matter of time until shady power-hungry characters see it as an opportunity to realise their cartoonish dreams of world domination. In classic genre style, we get sequences of inorganic exposition over laughable computer hacking, and over-the-top acting.
On this occasion, Gerard Butler (300, Olympus Has Fallen), a Scottish actor playing an American space engineer, is the man tasked with saving us from the brink of total annihilation. He leads a band of stereotypical characters who speak in cardboard dialogue; an efficient German woman (Alexandra Maria Lara), a loose-mouthed British guy (Robert Sheehan), a brooding Frenchman (Amr Waked), the African played by an American actor (Adepero Oduye) who employs an impossibly bad blend of all pan-African accents, and a Mexican whose only apparent reason for being in the movie is to piss off Donald Trump.
How this race against time unfolds is for you to find out. But what's undeniable is that the tried and tested formula that the director sticks to in Geostorm, is what will send audiences to the cinemas in droves to see the movie. After all, if you give people what they want, they will come.
This review is courtesy of Planet Media Cinemas - Westgate. See their updated movies lineup here.
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About The Author

Author
Alix Grubel

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