Geostorm ending explained: Does Jake survive?

Geostorm is an American 2017 science fiction disaster movie directed by Dean Devlin in his directing debut. The movie stars Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy García. It is a world of the near future where humans have the ability to govern the weather through satellite technology, while the collapse of the system and the rapid global catastrophe follow.

Though the movie itself was criticized for being poorly received and underperforming at the box office, it has an ending that leaves one with various questions first and foremost: what becomes of Jake Lawson, and how is the planet actually saved?

In the film's conclusion, there is a suspenseful climax on board the defective International Climate Space Station (ICSS). The centerpiece of the novel is the Dutch Boy program, a satellite network aimed at avoiding climatic catastrophes, which is tampered with, triggering a series of fatal weather occurrences.

In the end, Jake survives the Geostorm after successfully rebooting the satellite system and is rescued from space.

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Exploring in detail the fate of Jake in Geostorm

Jake Lawson, Gerard Butler's character, starts the movie as the renegade scientist who engineered the Dutch Boy system. First taken out of commission for insubordination, he is recalled to duty by his brother, Max Lawson (Jim Sturgess), when satellites fail lethally.

Returned to the ICSS, Jake is ordered to investigate the malfunctions. Together with Commander Ute Fassbinder and the crew of the station, he discovers a virus that has invaded the system, in effect barring crucial personnel and inducing catastrophic weather conditions on Earth.

As the virus worsens, it becomes apparent that the ICSS has been set to self-destruct. Jake and Ute remain behind to reboot Dutch Boy's central systems manually in a desperate bid to take back control. Having fought and defeated Duncan Taylor, the station saboteur, Jake, in the nick of time, can reboot the system and kill the virus mere seconds before initiating a complete geostorm.

Although it is initially suspected that Jake and Ute, surviving crewmembers, have died when the station blows up, they escape by ejecting themselves into space with a satellite pod. A shuttle flown by their crewmate Al Hernandez, rescues them later on.

Six months later, Jake is seen having fun with his daughter and brother. Although he makes subtle suggestions of going back into space, it's apparent that he has lived through the experience, and the Dutch Boy has been rebuilt under the watchful eye of an international coalition.

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How did the Geostorm start?

The premise of the geostorm, a domino effect of natural disasters leading to global extinction, is built up through the incremental breakdown of the Dutch Boy system. At first, events such as a flash freeze in Afghanistan and firestorms in Hong Kong seem like random malfunctions.

But engineer Cheng Long finds that they are not accidents but signs of something more: a virus has been injected into the satellite system, which will ultimately cause a devastating weather chain called a geostorm.

The virus disables top officials' logins, corrupts satellite communications, and automates the system to self-destruct. It later comes out that the sabotage was intentional, being performed by U.S. Secretary of State Leonard Dekkom.

Dekkom's motive is to employ Dutch Boy as a tool for use in a secret operation codenamed Project Zeus. Dekkom wants to eliminate political enemies, regain U.S. control, and obliterate America's enemies using specific climate catastrophes. With such control, Dekkom plans to redefine the geopolitical scene in the U.S.'s interest.

Cheng, one of the very few who see the threat, is murdered before he can reveal the entire plan. But his last word, 'Zeus', puts Max and his Secret Service colleague Sarah Wilson on the trail of Dekkom's plot.

As the virus continues to spread, cities all over the world are battered by extreme weather: Tokyo is pummeled by hail, Rio is iced by an offshore cold front, and Orlando is hit by a killer lightning storm. If nothing is done, the Earth is only hours from an environmental disaster.

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What happens at the end of Geostorm?

The closing act of Geostorm unites concurrent efforts on Earth and in space to prevent the looming catastrophe. As Jake labors to reboot the ICSS systems from orbit, Max, Sarah, and President Palma scramble on the ground to acquire and relay the kill code required to override the virus.

This results in a final confrontation with Dekkom, who is finally revealed and arrested after his scheme is foiled.

In space, Jake experiences betrayal by Duncan Taylor, one of his crewmen who has secretly been working on behalf of Dekkom. During a brief scuffle, Jake overpowers Duncan and starts the Dutch Boy system reset. Satellite control is transferred back to NASA, and the virus is deactivated.

But now the self-destruct sequence on the station is underway. Jake and Ute narrowly escape in a replacement satellite pod and call out a distress signal.

They are rescued just in time by Al Hernandez, marking a hopeful end to the global crisis. In the epilogue, Jake returns to his family but prepares to return to space, now under a new set of international cooperation.

Dutch Boy, once a symbol of unilateral authority, is entrusted to a global committee responsible for ensuring the technology is utilized for the greater good of all.

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Interested viewers can watch Geostorm on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix.