Geostorm

There's something about disaster action flicks that I've always enjoyed, whether it's an alien invasion or the weather lashing out on the world, and many fit into my list of guilty pleasure films. Roland Emmerich is one such master of the genre, however, the falling quality of his films has reflected the genres decline. Maybe we can blame the Syfy channel for this but that hasn't stopped Hollywood from trying to find success in this weathered territory. This came in the shape of Geostorm which started filming in 2014 but would not reach cinemas until nearly four years later. Something wasn't right...

$15 million is a lot of money and that's how much was spent to salvage Geostorm after poor test screenings. That aside, to explain the film in one sentence is a challenge because it jumps between being a sci-fi adventure up in space, a natural disaster flick and a political espionage thriller all in a 100-minutes of its running time. In short, Gerard Butler saved Earth through creating a climate-controlling satellite but, after a mysterious death in space, he's sent back up there to investigate. Meanwhile, the weather is starting to get crazy and his brother (Jim Sturgess) is caught up in a plot to save the President. Political storms and weather storms you bet.

Geostorm aims so high but is such an incoherent mess that I found that aspect to be the most entertaining. Butler is sleepwalking through this, Sturgess overacts in each scene unaware of the film he's in and love-interest/Secret Service agent Abbie Cornish gives one of her dullest and most robotic performances to date. The screenplay is awful to a point that even POTUS Andy Garcia suffers but Ed Harris manages to find enough scenery to chew on and come out with his dignity intact.

What should save Geostorm is the spectacle it creates but unfortunately it even fails here to offer any memorable moments. The visual effects are also inconsistent with some of the space scenes looking decent while the disaster back on Earth appearing truly terrible. I really can't recommend this to anyone as it even fails to be 'so bad, it's good'. Geostorm is a humourless, poorly written and disastrously executed experience that shouldn't have passed the test screenings.