Greenland Movie Review

Greenland (2020)

Rent Greenland on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Chris Sparling
Directed by: Ric Roman Waugh
Starring: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Scott Glenn
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
A family struggles for survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster.

Verdict
It's a pretty typical race against the clock disaster movie. It has some moments, though it never escapes feeling like a movie I've seen before. While entertaining, I wish it was more engaging. It never explores the question of how far do you go and how far is too far. The leads never quite feel like a couple, and the kid is little more than a plot driving prop.
It depends.

Review
This was originally going to be directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie) and star Chris Evans (Knives Out, Avengers: Endgame). Waugh directed Butler in Angel Has Fallen.

It's not as cheesy as San Andreas or as mindless as 2012. At times it approaches the bleakness of The Road, before pulling back.

Morena Baccarin and Gerard Butler play Allison and John Garrity.

A family going through a rough patch plans for a meteor party. Meteorites are going to burn up in Earth's atmosphere, the only catch is that the government hasn't revealed how detrimental these meteorites are really going to be.

John and Allison (Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin) are selected to be taken to a secret bunker. That's where the adventure starts as they face many hardships in the pursuit of survival. This has a great start that provides enough information to pique interest while still leaving a lot of questions. The movie doesn't waste much time getting into the plot.

Meteorites, meteorites everywhere.

This does include a lot of the usual tropes. This is a dinosaur extinction level event. There's a lottery to be saved, but the limited number of spots cause riots. A lot of the story beats are predictable. This maintains tension, but it also feels like a movie I've seen before. I really liked the moments where this focuses on society collapsing, but the movie didn't do enough with those scenes. They don't create an emotional toll that stays with characters. There's no moment of reckoning for anything anyone has done in the name of survival.

The relationship drama between John and Allison is just typical movie filler. It's an attempt to create faults that are depth, but I never bought into how they deal with or address their personal problems. A disaster doesn't make it go away. You work through it, but those feelings remain. This could have removed the relationship drama and just focused on the race for survival.

This has a built in countdown clock that keeps the pace moving, but overall it's too safe and predictable. The Road explored how far you go to keep you family safe. Do you violate your morals for protection? This wants to ask the question, but never goes that far.
It's entertaining, but that's only enough to keep it out of the bad disaster movie category. That doesn't take it to the good category.