152.
Geostorm
7/10
I'm always an avid watcher when it comes to natural disaster
movies, so when I seen the trailer, I'm thinking maybe The Day After Tomorrow,
and there's a little bit of space involved, so crossed with Armageddon?
Armageddon is my favourite movie, I won’t be anywhere near that calibre, when
Michael Bay wasn't hated, not that he is doing this movie. The main star and
producer of this movie is Gerard Butler, mostly iconic for his role in the
movie 300. The movie seems to feature plenty of special effects, which may have
needed to be seen in 3D, but I'm going for 2D with my tight schedule. Is this
going to be a world saver or nothing more than a shower of shit?
The movie starts with the opening
credits as normal, but in the background, we can hear thunder, leading straight
into a girl giving the explanations of where the world is now. They were
threatened with extinction as the effects of global warming was causing massive
natural disasters. An international coalition has banded together to create a
system of satellites that are designed to control the climate. The main section
of the film begins with Gerard Butler's character, Jake, getting out of a taxi
and walking into a court case. He is being reprimanded for using the
satellites, named Dutch Boy, to stop a typhoon that threatened lives, without
authorisation. He is subsequently fired and replaced by his younger brother
Max. We can see that Jake is a quick witted and suborn character, who is a law
to his own, even after the warnings from his brother. Max works for the
Secretary of State, Leonard Dekkom, who pushes him forward to be in charge.
It only takes three years for
shit to hit the fan. A village in Afghanistan has been wiped out by a frozen
spell, caused by a malfunction. As the satellite is pulled in for inspection,
an Indian worker steals the data and shiftily hides it in a locker, before
being shot into space through a malfunctioning tunnel on the space station. Do
we have our first suspect? As he was hiding the date, a French work was also
giving a shifty look, so could he be the one who caused the tunnel to break free?
The President of the United States calls a cabinet meeting to discuss Dutch Boy
and Max wants a full investigation to take place. Dekkom wants Jake on the team
to lead the investigation an after Max finally agrees, he sets off to find his
brother. There is clearly tension there about their past and Jake now lives in
a small trailer on the outskirts of the launch station. Proving that he never
really got away from the job. His daughter is staying with him for a couple of
days and isn't too happy to find out that her father is leaving her to go into
space. She begs him to come back in one piece, before leaving in a taxi. On the
other side of the world, another satellite has kicked in and created a
firestorm in Hong Kong. This nearly kills Max's work college, who is head of
that department for Dutch Boy. So far, the graphics for each disaster have been
pretty exceptional. Jake has now arrived in space and is clearly in his element. He meets with the commander, Ute Fassbinder, who shows him around and what has changed on board since his last time. He is set up with a team that include the dodgy looking French guy from earlier, a cocky British guy and a couple of others. They call in the satellite from the Hong Kong problem, only for the arm holding it, to malfunction and nearly kill the team with its constant swinging. The only member of his team not to be in the hanger though was the 'Frenchie'. Was he behind this again? The data has now been erased from the damage caused and again we are back to square one. Back on Earth and a hailstorm takes down Tokyo and Cheng, Max's mate from Hong Kong, has realised that his log in details don't work, just as he finds out that a global 'Geostorm' may be on its way. They had to stick the name in there. Max too discovers that he cannot log in to the satellites and it has been stopped on purpose. Cheng flies to American to meet with Max, after evading a team of mercenaries that are on his tail for knowing too much.
Jake and Ute, the commander, decide that they need to fly outside of the ship and retrieve one of the blast doors that got stuck in the main satellite after it had blown and killed the Indian in the beginning. With it not going to plan, predictable as it is, they get back but Jake lies about whether he has the data and instead tells him little team that he lost it along with the door when his suit malfunctioned. Clearly, it is still someone on board who is creating these malfunctions. Jake suspects a traitor, only trusting Ute. The two looks for the error but are again blocked out. He goes to a private room to contact his brother, but knows that they are still being monitored. He doesn't give too much away now and Max is off to see Cheng. At the meeting point, the guy is run down by a car, intentionally, before Max and his girlfriend Sarah, can reach him. Sarah is working security for the President too, so she tries to track down the killer but fails. There is a side story of these two's secret love, that really does feel like other disaster movies. Constantly back and fore between their mini arguments at times. So, the next plan is too stop the satellites but crashing new ones into it, using the replacement ones. Max and Sarah have begun sorting out the patterns between the attacks that have already taken place. The know the simulation will carry on to create the biggest Geostorm possible. Jake figures that with everyone looked out of their logins, a virus was put in to knock everyone out of the system. Jake suspects that the President is behind the attack because now he is the only one who has the kill codes to shut down Dutch Boy. He instantly gets in touch with his brother, to let him know his suspicions. He uses a coded message that Max needs to work out, just in case others are listening in. This code is one that the brothers used to use when they were younger and enjoying each other’s company. The message is to reboot the system, which requires the kill codes so Max asks Dana to help him retrieve them.
At a convention in Orlando, Max finds out that the city is the next to be hit by a storm. He tells this to Dekkom, who we haven't seen in a while and also the suspicions about the President. Once Dekkom hears about the plans, he turns on Max and tries to kill him. Showing his true colours, that he is actually the one behind all of this. If the shit hits the fan, the President can be over thrown and Dekkom in charge of the new world. Max escapes and instantly tells Sarah, they both kidnap the President for his own safety and steal and self-driving taxi. They escape the centre of the city before the main lightning strike hits. Dekkom sends his men to chase them and after a small car chase. Max and Sarah head out onto the highway, where Dekkom is waiting with a few missiles, which blows up the taxi. Only a stupid person would forget that the taxi was self-driving so the main three are safe. They attack Dekkom and question him about his plans. Max explains that he'll react, the only way his brother would, by punching him square in the face.
Back up in space, the space station control is completely lost and a self-destruct is set in motion. All cities around the world are now experiencing natural disasters. Jae realises that the only person left, who could be causing this on board, is the cocky English guy. Trust the British. In the fight that ensues, Duncan, the Brit, shoots the window of the station and is soon sucked out into space. Jake is on the escape and wants to make sure that everyone gets to shuttles. Someone needs to stay to put in the reboot completion, as Max and Sarah take the President to the Space Centre, while it reveals that although the Geostorm can be stopped, it cannot stop the self-destruct. Jake knows that he has to stay and says goodbye to his brother, gets gratification from the President and waits for the inevitable. There is the usual show of brotherly love, before the communication is stopped. Everything seems to be predictable now and I'm instantly thinking that the female Commander has somehow stayed behind to help Jake because we never actually seen her leave. As Jake is flying though the space station, after it loses gravity, he tried to unlock a door with a code but with his time away from the station, he has forgotten each one. Earlier in the movie, Ute has helped him unlock a door before ad shown in which rooms had moved about. This time a hand comes from nowhere and it's Ute again. I was right and she's stayed behind in order to get Jake off the station. They work together to gain control of the satellites once more, transfer the main control to NASA and stopped the storm overall. She has the idea of clambering into a replacement satellite and launching into space. There is the usual obstacle scene of the two trying to get to the safety of the satellite, as the station explodes around them. Debris flies everywhere and they nearly loose each other but end up aboard and send flashes to attract attention. Back in NASA, Max has just seemingly watched his brother die. That's until someone notices a rouge satellite transmitting a signal in hopes of rescue. The ship to pick them up is one of the team that Jake used to investigate everything, the Mexican guy, who picks them up and brings them home. Six months later and Jake is once again on the program, as head engineer of a new system and back doing what he does best.
Walking out of this movie and I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be. It wasn't the best by any means. The storyline was an interesting idea, which then soon became very predictable but if you didn't expect too much, then it was easily enjoyable for what it was. The casting was alright but I do not know what was going on with Gerard Butler's face. He was constantly talking out of the side of his mouth, maybe to get the accent right, but it was really distracting. It was covered up well, who was behind the attacks and as it unravelled, quickly escalated into murder attempts galore. There was obviously an under-laying message regarding the fact of global warming and what it can do to the Earth, which gave one of two options. Either people would remember the movie or carry on as normal, or think about their actions and forget about this movie. It has been a while since the Earth faced extinction from a natural cause on a blockbuster stage and even with some decent special effects, this wasn't really a massive hit but nowhere near a disaster of a movie in my opinion. One thing is for sure, no-one can sacrifice themselves for their daughter quite like Bruce Willis in Armageddon.
No comments:
Post a Comment