Dean Devlin’s new cli-fi movie ‘Geostorm’ has lessons for global audience

Everyone knows that in this Anthrocene Age, when humans have had a profound impact on the Earth in terms of global warming and species extinction (and maybe even at some point the possible extinction of the human species if we don’t play our cards right) that we are walking on thin ice on these issues. From the dry and arid and hot Middle East to equally arid countries at the north tip of the African continent and the monsoon bedevilled nations of Asia, global warming is a serious topic. For residents of North America and South America, too, and Europe as well, we are living in dangerous times.

Yes, Donald Trump is in power in the United States and he is not a big fan of the truth of global warming impact events. He prefers to think it’s all a hoax invented by the Chinese Communists in Beijing who merely want to take over the world and lord it over the West. Sounds like a Hollywood disaster movie, doesn’t it?

Well, Hollywood is actually beginning to be a major player in global discussions of climate change and man-made global warming. From “The Day After Tomorrow” to “The Road,” film directors have explored these issues with cinematic aplomb. As a result, a new genre term evolved and it’s been dubbed “cli-fi,” a play on the older term of sci-fi but standing this time not for science fiction but for climate fiction.

Enter Dean Devlin, a top Hollywood director and producer, with a million credits behind him, and now comes his new movie set for an October release, titled “Geostorm.” Yes, it’s an environmental disaster flick with cli-fi stylings a la Roland Emmerich and Paolo Bacigalupi, and the movie trailer is already online at YouTube.

Will you watch it when it comes to a theater near you, somewhere at one of the four corners of the world? Will “Geostorm” move you, as some movies do, and will it move you to take action in your personal life on global warming issues? Or will the movie end up just being another commercial Hollywood popcorn entertainment distraction to help people forget about global warming for the 90 minutes of the movie’s running time? You will be the judge on this.

Meanwhile, I’m betting that “Geostorm” will usher in a new era in Hollywood cli-fi films and turn out to actually motivate viewers (and movie reviewers worldwide) to take global warming issues seriously while there is still time on this precious Earth of ours.

Welcome to the new sub-genre of cli-fi; it’s not your grandfather’s sci-fi and there’s a reason why.

Did God create the Earth some 6,000 years ago? No, no, God did it a billion years ago and here we are now with time running out. Or has time already run out. You be the judge.