With recent extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires wreaking so much real-life devastation, the campy Geostorm seems to be badly timed. Sometime in the future, nations have joined together to fight climate change. Under the aegis of the United States, an international satellite system called “Dutch Boy” (after the lad who plugged a hole in the dike with his finger) now controls the weather. Although it was designed by hotshot scientist Jake Lawson (Gerard Butler), his obnoxious arrogance and temper have led to his dismissal, leaving his estranged younger brother, Max (Jim Sturgess), a State Department bureaucrat, in charge until oversight is transferred to a global coalition. But something goes terribly wrong. A desert village in Afghanistan is frozen, along with a beach resort in Rio. Extreme heat ignites Hong Kong. A tsunami engulfs Dubai. Lightning strikes Orlando. And investigators on the space station trying to find the cause of the malfunction are being killed. When an apocalyptic geostorm seems inevitable, Jake is dispatched to fix Dutch Boy. Meanwhile, in Washington, Max and his Secret Service agent girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) discover a conspiracy involving the Secretary of State (Ed Harris) and President (Andy García). This cliché-riddled film directed by Dean Devlin is both contrived and stuffed with too many peripheral characters. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Wreaking Havoc” (6 min.), “An International Cast” (6 min.), and “The Search for Answers” (4 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a lame disaster flick.] (S. Granger)
Geostorm
Warner, 109 min., PG-13, DVD: $28.98, Blu-ray: $35.99, Jan. 23 Volume 33, Issue 1
Geostorm
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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