Gerard Butler's Weird-Ass, Critically-Despised Sci-Fi Action Movie Is a Hit on Netflix — and Honestly, You Should Watch It

Gerard Butleris well known as the "King of the B-Movie" thanks to films like Den of Thievesand Law-Abiding Citizen, which often feature a ludicrous premise grounded by Butler's performance as a "salt of the Earth" type of character. These films usually aren't critical darlings, but they tend to be major hits when they arrive on Netflix, when they inevitably land in the streamer's top 10 list. The latest Butler movie to achieve this honor is the 2017 sci-fi, Geostorm, which is notable for being the directorial debut of Dean Devlin, who is best known for collaborating with Roland Emmerich on blockbuster hits including Independence Dayand Stargate. Like those films, Geostorm has an over-the-top premise: after a cataclysmic disaster, Jake Lawson (Butler) helps design "Dutch Boy," a collection of satellites that artificially manipulate the weather. Years later, Lawson — who was removed from oversight on Dutch Boy — is called in to help when the network starts malfunctioning and causing natural disasters.