Review: Greenland

‘Movement is life!’  It’s been said about exercise, but the same holds true in good disaster movies, like Greenland!

Gerard Butler’s latest Doomsday/Disaster/Drama/Thriller has hit On Demand and HBO Max, as a non-stop, ground-level, thrill-ride that can only end in one place, the aptly titled ‘Greenland’.

Plot – Greenland

Greenland stars Gerard Butler as John Garrity, a structural engineer who’s better at building skyscrapers than building a strong marriage.  Deadpool’s Morena Baccarin shines as estranged wife Allison and mother to Roger Dale Floyd’s Nathan, a 7 year old kid living with Type-1 Diabetes.

The Garrity’s lead a seemingly comfortable, upper Middle Class life in suburban Atlanta. However, they’re stuck between trying to keep up appearances with the neighbors, while rebuilding their broken marriage and dealing with their son’s Diabetes.

We find John driving home to reconnect with his wife.  On the way, radio reports relay that a Comet innocently named ‘Clarke’ is about to fly close to Earth.  As John runs errands before hosting a party, ominous signs start to pop up, slowly raising the tension and stakes.  He then gets a cryptic text message and robo call, telling him to evacuate his family to a nearby military base.

What follows is two hours of an ever escalating, ground-level action, drama, thriller, escape, disaster journey for their family.

The Good – Greenland

Unlike most Doomsday/End of the World/thrill rides, Greenland is primarily a family drama.  But, THIS family drama plays out with CGI comets hurling towards the Earth.  Greenland has an organic, grounded-in-reality style that stands apart.  ‘2012’, ‘Deep Impact’ and ‘Knowing’ this film is not.

Director Ric Roman Waugh has teamed up with Gerard Butler for an Action/Drama before in Angel Has Fallen, but Greenland focuses almost entirely on the family’s evacuation to safety.  We’re not seeing the President coordinating escape plans, or NASA trying to blow the comet out of the sky.  We simply follow the Garrity family as they battle through all the logistics, red tape, and breakdown of society on their way North to a hopeful salvation.

Every cent of the film’s reported $35 Million Budget appears to have made it onto the big screen.  Tons of extras, and a large extended cast; big and varied locations, and CGI that doesn’t suffer from trying too hard; all build a believable end-of-world scenario.  But, the true focus of this movie is the family’s inner battle for survival, rather than the cosmic one.  Every obstacle, every Comet fragment is merely background for the family drama.

Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin are pitch perfect as husband and wife, together or apart.  Scott Glenn provides some character depth at just the right time in the second act, just before the final leg of the journey.  And Roger Dale Floyd holds his own with veteran actors Butler and Baccarin, rounding out the family unit.

Also of note, David Buckley’s score is strong throughout and adds to the drama and building tension as the film goes along.

The Bad – Greenland

Very few weak points in this film.  CGI can always be improved on any budget film, but this CGI fits in nicely, despite being clearly on a much smaller budget than normal Disaster films.

Pacing, editing, and cinematography also areas that normally would suffer in a budget of this size, but all add to the storytelling in this film.

The only real weakness of this film would be the expectations of viewers as to the type of movie they thought they were getting based off the trailer.

The Review – Greenland

Go see this film if you’d like a different take on the Disaster movie genre, and want a compelling family drama playing out during the end of the world.

The believability of the marriage problems and resolution is as solid as the believability of the world created seen in the film.

Well worth the time spent watching this two hour film.

Check out my VIDEO Movie Review for Greeeland on Dragon Movie Guy!