Geostorm

Sometimes I get interested in films that I shouldn't. 

Sometimes they're the "underdogs" of other movies that are out and I hope, against better judgement, that they'll end up being a "surprise" awesome trip to the theater. 

Since the first dumb and crazy trailer for Geostorm debuted, I've [secretly] been hoping that it would take it's intriguing premise and deliver the goods. 

As it turns out, the premise was the only worthwhile aspect of the movie and, while not outright terrible, it was still dumb and surprisingly void of a lot of the destruction I was promised. 

Something about natural disaster films at a huge scale intrigue me -- I think they intrigue everyone to varying degrees -- so that's where my interest in Geostorm began. It's premise was also unique too. Scientifically impossible, but "believable" enough to put logic aside and entertain the idea. 

In 2019, after apparently a really rough year of extreme weather in 2018, nations of the world come together to create a net of satellites around the globe that can control weather by altering pressure, heat, and water in the atmosphere. This is all controlled by the International Space Station and is immediately successful, providing the earth several disaster-free years. Given the rough year it's been weather wise so far, whether you're a climate change denier/believer, the premise should catch the eye of most anyone and this aspect of the film actually delivers. It's really cool to see the originality and inventiveness of the idea fleshed out and it's here where I give the movie its biggest set of bonus points. 

"Deploy the mini satellites!"

"Why won't they just make a
proper 300 prequel for f**k's sake!"

Otherwise however, it's a largely hollow affair. One of my biggest pet peeves of a film, and arguably one of a film's biggest sins, is giving away all the "money shots" in the trailers. Geostorm is completely guilty of this, like most other bad/mediocre films and if you've seen the trailers, you've seen all the "Gee-wow!" moments of destruction already. Or at least 95% of them. It's part of the reason why recent destruction films like San Andreas were more successful. I get that Geostorm had to put butts in seats, but there is so little runtime of destruction in this film that it's borderline deceiving. They almost feel like an afterthought for what really becomes a very routine "thriller/mystery". That thriller is dumber than the science behind the original premise, basically along the lines of "Oh no, someone hacked the satellites!" and the villain's motives never really make all that much sense since, ya know, the world would barely exist afterward. Here you have Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess (woefully miscast here), Ed Harris, and Andy Garcia seemingly all earning another paycheck for what was likely some quick and easy work. The script and screenplay tries to flesh out Sturgess and Butler, but it's not why audiences came and if you're going to try and make us care about characters, you should deliver the goods while you're at it (once again, I point back to San Andreas). 

For films like these, the special effects are incredibly important and Geostorm's range from utterly fantastic to gargantuan eye-sores. Every film has a special effects budget and it's almost intriguing to analyze what scenes Geostorm decided were worth the big money. Most everything in space is really great while some of the natural disasters, aka why I came to see the movie, are a bit shaky. Their bigger moments are well-done, but the second that you start to look at the details (i.e. people running away) it's clearly computer animated. On another technical note though, and somewhat of a surprise, Geostorm has a better-than-decent and, at times, great original score. It certainly won't be anything I listen to in my free time, but it's always a welcomed bonus for me regardless of what's on the screen. 

Special effects vary from fake (see above) to pretty damn good

Geostorm is a natural disaster film that doesn't really deliver on the goods. Or rather, it does, but you've already seen all of it. Instead, it focuses too much on unraveling its uninteresting mystery and wastes a fairly awesome premise. I was rooting for it to be one of those "dumb" movies that's still great, but instead it's just a "dumb" movie that's incredibly forgettable.

CONS

• Nearly all of the best destruction scenes are blown in the trailer. Not much new to see here
• Uninteresting mystery surrounding why these disasters are happening and the film focuses way too much on it. It's more mystery thriller than disaster film
• I don't feel as if it delivered on the goods, yet it asks us to care about these characters
• Inconsistent special effects
• Why is Jim Sturgess in this film? Felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb

PROS

• Premise surrounding "controlling" the weather is really interesting, decently fleshed out, and timely
• Features some awesome scenes of destruction with great special effects (particularly in space)
• An original score that is better than the actual film

 Rath's Review Score | 4.5/10