On Sunday you can watch the disaster actioner “Geostorm” with Gerard Butler on free TV. It’s not by Roland Emmerich, but it has more of a connection to him than you might think…
When you think of disaster blockbusters, the name Roland Emmerich probably comes to mind pretty quickly. Hardly anyone has shaped epic destruction cinema in the past 30 years as much as the Swabian-born director. For films like “Independence Day” and “Godzilla” he worked with his production partner Dean Devlin, who not only produced with Emmerich but also co-wrote the scripts – and finally made his feature film directorial debut with “Geostorm”.
So it’s no wonder that “Geostorm” could easily pass for an Emmerich film, both visually and in terms of content. You can see for yourself on 18 December 2022 (Sunday) from 11 p.m. on Sat.1. If you’d rather stream it time-independently and without advertising, there are currently two subscriptions to choose from: “Geostorm” is currently available on Netflix and on WOW (formerly Sky Ticket).
To pass for an Emmerich film in terms of content is not necessarily a compliment – because the blockbuster director’s popcorn movies are often weak when it comes to the script. Emmerich’s sci-fi adventure “Moonfall”, which was released at the beginning of 2022 and flopped at the box office, is no exception. And it is precisely this weakness that “Geostorm” also brings with it.
“GEOSTORM”: WEAK STORY, SPECTACULAR DESTRUCTION ORGIES
While the hare-brained sci-fi story about a freak weather control station in space, which must be repaired as quickly as possible by its constructor Jake Lawson (Gerard Butler) or the titular superstorm will flatten the Earth, is thinner than the air in the Himalayas, at least the show values are right. And that, too, is what “Geostorm” has in common with (most of) Emmerich’s films such as the doomsday blockbuster “2012”.
The CGI effects in “Geostorm” are decent and sufficient to make the orgies of destruction caused by the ever-increasing weather anomalies look spectacular and convincing. And if visually convincing action is enough for a successful evening at the movies, you shouldn’t be too unhappy here – even if “Geostorm” unfortunately has so many weaknesses in terms of script and characterisation that it was only enough for a lukewarm 2 out of 5 possible stars in the FILMSTARTS review.
