What Geostorm has in common with The Dark Tower is that both got massacred by the reviewers and yet both are perfectly entertaining films.

Geostorm has an underlying serious theme.  What do we do about the weather if it gets out of control? Taking place in the near future, it begins with a quick history lesson. After some major disasters, brilliant scientist Jake (Gerard Butler) has created a weather control space station.

For three years, all goes well. Then disaster strikes. A small village freezes instantly. Soon there are more disasters. Instead of freezing, there’s a literal heat wave. It’s obvious that something has gone terribly wrong with the system. Instead of protecting the cities of the earth, it is attacking the cities of the earth. The death toll is mounting. Soon Jake is sent up to examine the problem.

He discovers a geostorm is being set up – a series of massive storms that will destroy civilization and possibly wipe out most life on earth.  The rest of the movie is the frantic rush to find out what is going on and stop it before it’s too late.

I think the title Geostorm hurt the movie for I suspect most critics expected to see it.  Instead, the plot is to prevent it. There are several disasters shown instead, building up to the big storm. Meantime there are subplots involving relationships.

Can they prevent the big storm, the geostorm? Who or what is behind it? If the culprit is human, why destroy life on earth?

Here the movie gets very intense. There are many false leads and lots and lots of violent action. It all comes to a satisfying end. A good popcorn movie that you begin to forget as you walk out of the theater. 

What you’re left with is the ominous question about the weather.  Can we control it? Can we prevent catastrophes?  Can doing that set up the possibility of a worse catastrophe?  Not a great movie, but a great question.

Reviewed by Marian Powell