Film Review: Geostorm

"We Were Warned And We Did Not Listen..."

Although hailed as some form of guaranteed audience grabber, Gerard Butler's most recent backlog of film appearances isn't exactly the greatest run from the growling, wide-chinned Scot, with the likes of Gods of Egypt and London Has Fallen being two of the worst cinema releases in recent history, and whilst there is always hope for redemption, the release of the CGI-fuelled Geostorm brings with it a heavy sense of, "here we go again!", particularly after months and months of trailers hyping up a movie which on the face of it, might give Independance Day: Resurgence a run for its' money as worst big-budget science-fiction disaster movie of the past few years. Directed by American debutant Dean Devlin, whose past producing credits ironically include the likes of Resurgence and erm, Eight Legged Freaks, the latest movie to showcase how much destruction can be created from the screen of a computer in the form of Geostorm is unsurprisingly a gag-inducing barrel of garbage, one which takes the cliched notion of leaving your brain at the foyer to a whole new level of unparalleled literalness and too a movie which just makes you question why and how it ever made it past the cutting room floor. 

With Butler showcasing the limited amount of range he has as an actor, portraying a supposed super intelligent science engineer with all the efficiency of a leather based raincoat, Geostorm is the type of movie which doesn't even begin to offer credible reasons for making the audience believe any events which depict on screen are even capable of actually occurring, and whilst end of the world, disaster movies fundamentally require a minimal level of audience open-minded participation, the mind-boggling and headache inducingly bad narrative at the heart of Geostorm leads to a movie which although features scenes of tidal waves, gigantic laser beams and gargantuan explosions, is undeniably boring from beginning to end. With plot turns aplenty all resulting in a synchronised round of sighs from the audience and a tacky, saccharin sweet family narrative thread acting as the film's through line, Geostorm is trash unrefined, and whilst Devlin's CGI-based load of hogwash isn't exactly the worst film of the year, it is undeniably the stupidest. 

Overall Score: 3/10

Robocop - Quicky Review - SPOILERS

A remake of a hugely popular trilogy that plummeted harder that a rock from the top of the Empire State Building as time went on has just been released. The re-envisioned Robocop pays homage to a much loved franchise that many of my generation remember from childhood but in a new light. Seeing that I probably watched them 15+ years ago, I've lost a lot of memory of the films so I can't credit the films that far.

So jumping straight in, consider that the movie is built upon a sci-fi action classic and desires to follow the trend, however, the movie doesn't feel to much like a sci-fi. Understandably, the idea of a robotic human seems very sci-fi but set 20 odd years from now, the world hasn't really changed. People are still driving Fiat 500's and Volkswagen station wagons. With the advancement in human biotics and robotics, none of the potential has moved into any other industry and actually aid the entire world. It's hard to get a real feeling that the world has developed and I'm in a futuristic setting when cars have replaced stylish alloy wheels for bin lids. In all honesty, I wouldn't class this as science fiction, simply an action movie. But once again, an action movie is trying to create sub plots and stories to create emotions and it is well out of it's depth. To convey emotion, it takes a good script, good acting and a good narrative. Action movies can't provide these. It began with the partnership with his cop buddy who was just shot and then trying to create a family bond between Alex Murphey (Joel Kinnaman) and his son but then completely abandoning them later down the line. The son only appears 3 times and nothing concrete is done to show a connection.

Looking at the action, it is alright. Nothing truely wowing. At points questionable, such as the explosion that in reality would have killed Murphey but immediately after, left him with all of his limbs with minor burning to then have them all removed! His condition was that of a minor burn victim and after a giant explosion, no one battered an eyelid. The wife walked down and then ran back in a few minutes later, the son never appeared in the first vision and neighbours just thought their partners had ripped a rather large one in bed. The rest of the action was simply mediocre.

I'm lacking much enthusiasm for the movie. Pumped to be reintroduced to a childhood hero, I felt rather let down. The incessant need to create connections, is truly useless. Paying Samuel L. Jackson to play a role that isn't even necessary and use Kinnaman for the major role when his acting leaves you wondering if he's always that boring, not to mention that they needed to use Jackson and his iconic "motherfucker" to grab a laugh from the audience. Then casting Jay Baruchel, who I don't like very much and just want to poke him with a stick while repeating "Hey, awkward". Probably the only sufficient actor was Gary Oldman but he looked rushed and looked to have only been given his lines 2 minutes before. All together it tried too hard on so many levels that shouldn't have been the primary focus, thus neglecting the others that truly needed the work.

Although a shoddy movie with a poor character development and acting, the visual aspect of the movie was gorgeous and action had moments in which it was enjoyable to watch. Sticking with the lower end of reviews, I feel the 6/10 is a good representation.