Geostorm 2017 * * 1/2 Stars

Director: Dean Devlin
Year: 2017
Rated PG-13
Rating: * * 1/2 Stars
Cast: Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris

2017's Geostorm is my latest review. It was initially shot over three years ago but that doesn't really diminish its quality. Geostorm is a disaster film and yeah, I'm a sucker for that kind of popcorn fury. You wanna see random cities get destroyed by hail storms, tidal waves, and millions of lightning bolts? Geostorm's got your back. You wanna see denizens parish from molten heat and from being flash frozen? Geostorm will give it to you.

But wait, that's not all. Geostorm doesn't just have the weather as its only antagonist. There's also a creepy Secretary of State playing government cover-up by implanting a computer virus to destroy the planet. You just know that Geostorm is then gonna have vapid car chases, some fistfights, and some gnarly shootouts. Hey, I can dig it.

In truth, Geostorm is a little intense for PG-13 fare. I remember getting the same feeling watching people burn to death in something like The Towering Inferno (a disaster trope that today could have been rated R). Guess what, you've been warned as a moviegoer.

For what it's worth, I almost decided to recommend Geostorm. What can I say, it surprised me. Call it science fiction fodder with ideas as opposed to just relying on chintzy special effects. Geostorm creates its own, unique world in which satellites control the Earth's climatic overhaul. There's also a sense of fragility and peril when it comes to Geostorm's take on natural disasters. Geostorm's logic is hokey yet weirdly fascinating. Its scenes of destruction are partial yet boldly intense. The critics have been lambasting this thing every since it came out last Friday. Frankly, they just need to chill.

Now where would I rank Geostorm in the disaster porn canon? Well it's better than Deepwater Horizon, better than Into the Storm, better than 1979's Meteor, and much better than 1974's Earthquake. However, Geostorm is not quite on par with Cloverfield, The Day After Tomorrow, and Deep Impact. So OK, I'd probably put it in line with something like The Core. There's a flick I'd also saddle with a strong, mixed rating (hint, hint).

Anyway, Geostorm is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and features a musical score straight from the annals of Michael Bay. Added to that, Geostorm chooses the cities of Rio, Orlando, Florida, and Tokyo as candidates to bite the proverbial dust. In the casting department, Geostorm stars scruffy Scot and ICSS commander hero, Gerard Butler.

Listen, I believe Gerard to be a decent actor. I really do. The problem is that his agent keeps putting him in movies that are critically panned on a dime. Geostorm inhabiting that kind of movie (this isn't my opinion), puts Butler in the position of being the poor man's so-and-so (Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, take your pick). It's a shame. Heck, flicks like Playing for Keeps and The Bounty Hunter won't get him any closer to the Academy Awards either. Oh well. Butler is the heart of Geostorm and he does a bang-up job. My overall assessment of this motion picture: 2 and a half stars.

Written by Jesse Burleson