Greenland is a different kind of disaster movie. What if instead of special effects being the star, it were the human characters instead? It seems like an obvious thing to do, but the fact Greenland does it well makes it both sad that’s not the disaster genre’s regular focus and makes this particular movie all the better.
A well-researched and sincere screenplay from Chris Sparling sets everyone up for success, including Gerard Butler’s best performance in years. Not only does he get to keep his real voice, he gets to show real vulnerability as a normal Dad trying to keep his family safe. Better still, the whole family pulls equal weight.
The basic premise is a large comet is heading for Earth, expected to obliterate the world in two days. John Garrity (Butler) is chosen for special protection at a bunker in Greenland with hie wife Allison (Morena Baccarin, of the Deadpool series) and diabetic son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd), but they have to somehow get to the bunker in time from their home in Atlanta.
This isn’t the first time director Ric Roman Waugh and Butler have worked together - they were the director/action star combo in 2019’s mediocre Angel Has Fallen. But that film was dark, gritty and soulless.
Not here. What impressed me the most in Roman Waugh’s disaster story is the focus is heavily put on the crisis of a family wanting to reach a shelter instead of the global crisis around them. The “end of the world” is a good premise, but focusing almost entirely on the Garrity family’s quest to reach safety is far more interesting.
We as humans love human interest stories, even if they're fictional. Most disaster movies have too much scientific (or pseudo-scientific) mumbo-jumbo and cold, unemotional characters trying to fix the impending catastrophe. They're boring and predictable.
The Garrity family are just a bunch of ordinary people who do something extraordinary; and that is what makes it so easy to root for them. Because the tactics parents John and Allison use are so believable, Greenland feels like one of the most realistic disaster movies ever made.
Most of the film doesn’t rely on big-time special effects or adrenaline-pumping action scenes of cities being obliterated, but there are three or four big stunts that add the necessary Hollywood pizzazz. I’d argue using it sparingly enhances the movie’s authenticity and heart.
If there’s one downside to this approach, it does take away some of the cheap, pandering excitement. As a whole, Greenland is thoughtful and interesting but rarely is it particularly entertaining. The ending is predictable and there aren’t any surprising plot twists, either.
But don’t let that stop you from watching. It’s intense without being brutal, making it a rare PG disaster movie that’s…well, good. Especially as cinephiles pine for the day Ontario re-opens movie theatres, this is as close as we’ll get for a while longer.
Greenland
7 out of 10
PG, 2hrs. Disaster Adventure Drama.
Directed by Ric Roman Waugh.
Starring Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd and Scott Glenn.
Now streaming on Amazon for subscribers.
