Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating *
Cast: Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Alexandra Maria Lara, Eugenio Debez, Andy Garcia, Ed Harris, Amr Waked, Adepero Oduye, Robert Sheehan, Richard Schiff, Mare Winningham, Zazie Beetz, Talitha Eliana Bateman, Daniella Gracia, Richie Montgomery, David S. lee, Billy Slaughter, Gregory Alan Williams, Derek Roberts, Randall Newsome.
You can throw all the visual effects at a film production you want but if you cannot supply a script which feels as if it is being delivered by the monotone and the indifferent then the odds are stacked against you from the start. Throw in the almost regurgitated cliche after formulaic chestnuts and you have a film which may sound interesting when being offered to an audience but instead comes out as a huge contender for worst cinema offering of the year.
The idea behind Geostorm is not so far removed as to believe that it is vaguely possible to envisage, the trouble is, it is that sense of being possible that makes it indigestible. Far from being able to get the brain to seize the promise of a future in which humanity’s scars upon the planet are healed by the coming together of all nations and the people of the Earth. Instead it is far easier to place the brain in hostage mode, to just let what is in effect a large screen, large budget advertisement for space exploration and the funds to make N.A.S.A.s, E.S.As, C.N.S. and all other countries with hopes of being on board dreams come true.
It is the almost cynical which takes the film on and lets it get under the hood, the brain understanding fully but almost like the hostage who finds themselves bored rather than scared at the possibility to come. Geostorm does not come across as bold, daring or courageous, and despite the confidence that oozes from the main characters it is arguably one driven from folly, from the depths of misplaced brashness and cheekily hidden timid posturing.
Even the appearance of Ed Harris, one of cinema’s go to leading actors is one that does not fit in with the narrative on offer; a standalone forthright performance does not make a great experience in any context.
Geostorm perhaps had the ability to be something special, a truly masterpiece of work, instead it relies far too heavily on the effects, which seem overburdened, and not enough on the truth of the film, a truth searched in vain and never truly discovered.
Poor, devastatingly so; Geostorm fails to live up to its own hype!
Ian D. Hall