Consider this week’s newest entry in the disaster genre, “Geostorm,” in which weather-controlling satellites go haywire — or are sabotaged — setting off super-sized weather events. And if that doesn’t sound dumb enough for you, consider that it’s directed by Dean Devlin, the co-writer of the so-dumb-it’s-fun “Independence Day,” and stars Hollywood’s go-to guy for brainless thrillers, Gerard Butler.
But “Geostorm” (which isn’t screening for critics) isn’t the first movie to threaten the world and insult the audience’s intelligence at the same time. Here, chronologically, are seven movies where humanity is imperiled by something really, really stupid.
Trying to tap into Earth’s inexhaustible geothermal energy, a scientist (Dana Andrews) aims to drill a deep hole and denonate an underground nuclear bomb — despite warnings of a younger, handsomer scientist (Kieron Moore) that such an explosion could create fissures in Earth’s crust that could break the planet apart.