Characters / Geostorm

Protagonists

Jake Lawson

Portrayed by: Gerard Butler

The satellite designer behind the Dutch Boy program, now a reclusive mechanic and inventor living off the grid in Florida. Max and Hannah’s estranged brother and father.

• The Alcoholic: Jake drinks to cope with the stresses of his crumbling marriage and the loss of his lucrative position on the Dutch Boy project.
• Anti-Hero: Jake is a rude and abrasive Jerkass with anger issues, a history of violence and an inflated ego who frequently butts heads with authority figures and those he dislikes (especially his younger brother Max). Despite this, however, he does have a soft side and a strong moral compass, being more than willing to risk his life to save the planet from a global superstorm.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Disappeared Dad: Loves his daughter dearly but struggles to connect with her in any meaningful way as he only gets her two weekends a month before she has to go back to her mother in Atlanta.
• Good Parents: Is willing to lay down his life to ensure Hannah is safe and the geostorm is stopped, having gradually come to grips with the fact that he wasn’t the best father to her.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Can be violent when sufficiently provoked, as shown by the mention of him punching a federal inspector in the face and the scene of him beating the shit out of Duncan after he is revealed to be the traitor.
• Hidden Depths: Jake and Max are revealed to have been born in the United Kingdom, which doubles as a contrived way of explaining their British actors’ crazy American accents in-universe:
  Duncan: [scoffs upon seeing him enter the space station briefing room] Oh, of course. An American.
  Jake: [snarkily] Actually, my brother and I were born in the UK, but thank you.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all his faults Jake genuinely loves his family and eventually reunites with Max and Hannah upon returning to Earth. By the end of the film the three are on much better terms and go fishing together.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: While Gerard Butler’s fake American accent isn’t the worst thing ever, he clearly struggles to maintain it and there are several times throughout the film where his natural Scottish accent noticeably slips through. CinemaSins puts it best in their Geostorm review:
  "It really is incredible to hear Gerard Butler's American and Scottish accents battle each other in real time.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The burly, uncouth, hard-drinking Manly Man to Max’s smarmy, bumbling, lecherous Sensitive Guy.

Max Lawson

Portrayed by: Jim Sturgess

Jake's brother and Hannah's uncle, a high-ranking State Department official who is put in charge of the Dutch Boy program after Jake is fired.

• Cool Uncle: Though his relationship with his niece is strained to start off with after not having seen her for three years, it’s clear that Hannah still loves her Uncle Max and wishes to spend more time together as a family.
• Deadpan Snarker: To a lesser extent than Jake but Max still has some snark in him.
• Foil: To Jake.
• Nice Guy: Is in a loving, passionate relationship with his fiancée and just seems like a decent guy in general in contrast to Jerkass Woobie Jake.
• Only Sane Man: Max is the only Reasonable Authority Figure in a White House briefing room that's supposed to be full of them. Naturally it comes down to him to work up a solution when Dutch Boy starts to fail.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Jim Sturgess pulls off a much more convincing fake American accent than Gerard Butler but it’s still very hit-and-miss at times.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Whiny and weaselly as he may be, Max still wants to do the right thing as the Assistant Secretary of State and is level-headed enough to tell the President of the United States himself and his staff what to do when Dutch Boy starts to malfunction.

Agent Sarah Wilson

Portrayed by: Abbie Cornish

Max’s Secret Service agent girlfriend and eventual fiancée.

• Action Girl: Tasked with protecting the President of the United States as part of the Secret Service, Sarah is not afraid to kick ass when the occasion calls for it. She is also a highly skilled markswoman.
• Car Fu: Sarah partakes in this while being chased by rogue government agents sent by Dekkom, turning the tables on them eventually by shooting at them from behind the wheel (and absolutely riddling the driver with bullets) and later killing the surviving agent by broadsiding and rolling the car into the path of a lightning bolt with him still inside. Her stunts are so impressive that the President himself gives his blessings for their marriage:
  President Palma: [turns to look at Max after witnessing Sarah gun an agent down while driving like a madwoman] Marry her.
• Ms. Fanservice: Is shown in one scene in a voluptuous nightgown with her cleavage in full sight, in addition to wearing other tight-fitting outfits throughout the film.

President Andrew Palma

Portrayed by: Andy García

The benevolent yet enigmatic President of the United States.

• President Evil: Averted. He is initially thought to be the one behind Dutch Boy's catastrophic failure owing to his high-level access to the station's systems, but it soon becomes obvious that he had nothing to do with it and the actual mastermind was in fact his Secretary of State, Dekkom.

Hannah Lawson

Portrayed by: Talitha Bateman

Jake's daughter and Max's niece, a precocious 13-year-old girl.

• Little Miss Snarker: Hannah takes after her father and uncle in the Deadpan Snarker department.

Antagonists

Leonard Dekkom

Portrayed by: Ed Harris

The main villain of the film, Max's boss and the Secretary of State under President Andrew Palma.

• Big Bad: As the true mastermind behind Dutch Boy’s catastrophic failure, Dekkom’s ultimate goal is to usher in a new world order where America reigns supreme as a “shining city on a hill” much like it was at the end of World War II, also seizing absolute power for himself while he’s at it by assassinating the President and the entire line of succession all in one fell swoop. To further his ridiculous aim of global domination he also hijacks Dutch Boy by way of a mole on board, infecting it with a lethal computer virus that causes it to target cities all around the world with extreme weather disasters and killing untold millions in the process.
• Captain Ersatz: Dekkom seems to have been written as an overblown caricature of then-current US President Donald Trump and demented MAGA-types who lament the loss of what America once was.
• Corrupt Politician: Dekkom is as corrupt as they come, hatching a scheme to kill President Palma and the entire line of succession all in one go in order to take over America and by extension, the world.
• Eagleland: This man oozes "America the Vile".

  Dekkom: What you call "genocide", I call "pre-emptive strike"!

• Faux Affably Evil: He never drops his cheerful demeanor even as he's explaining his plan to kill billions of people in the name of ensuring America is left as the only country on Earth.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Downplayed, While Dekkom doesn't become president and his plan was stopped, in doing so he is able to accomplish his goal of ending every perceived threat to America and when human civilization does recover it will definitely be a U.S. led world.
• The Sociopath: Dekkom portrays himself as an amiable Reasonable Authority Figure and a well-meaning father figure of sorts to Max, but in fact is anything but. Once Max outlives his usefulness and stumbles upon his true plot, Dekkom attempts to kill him.

Duncan Taylor

Portrayed by: Robert Sheehan

Dutch Boy's systems engineer and a mole planted by Dekkom to ensure the station's swift destruction.

• Asshole Victim: Is killed by being sucked out into the vacuum of space after Jake shoots a window during their scuffle. Fittingly, this was also the way Duncan had killed Makhmoud at the start of the film, so it only serves him right to go out like that.
• Didn't Think This Through: Lampshaded by Jake and subverted during their final confrontation on the space station. Duncan’s main motive for assisting Dekkom is a hefty payment for his troubles that would enable him to live comfortably in the new world order following the Geostorm. Jake is able to spot flaws in his logic and rightfully points out that money would be worthless without a planet to spend it on, but Duncan shoots him down by claiming that him and Dekkom would be keeping “all the best bits.”
• The Dragon: An eager co-conspirator to Dekkom who is more than willing to commit mass genocide just so he can get his hands on a lucrative cash bonus. It does not end well for him.
• Evil Brit: A cartoonish example if there ever was one, flaunting his patriotism at every turn and openly using the word telly instead of TV among other things.
• Faux Affably Evil: He acts all upbeat and cheerful even as he's orchestrating the death of billions.
• Only in It for the Money: Duncan gets in cahoots with Dekkom for the sole purpose of financial gain, no matter the human cost.
• The Sociopath: Although he puts up an affable front and feigns genuine concern for Jake on a number of occasions, Duncan is ultimately a cold-hearted and remorseless sociopath devoid of any and all empathy at his core. He gladly chooses to destroy the station, and by extension the world and everyone on it, for the sake of nothing more than short-term monetary gain, and even admits to Jake that he would love nothing more than to see the world burn.

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