Hey everybody and welcome to a brand new movie review! Its been a while, but now I’m happy to say I’ve been motivated to get back into doing more reviews and have a huge backlog of stuff I want to cover from the 2020s decade. With that said, today I’m here to talk about the 2020 Gerard Butler starring disaster film, Greenland, which was initially intended for theaters domestically, but was moved to PVOD where it allegedly did quite well. As a fan of Gerard Butler as well as the director, Ric Roman Waugh (whose done solid work with the likes of Snitch and Angel Has Fallen), I was naturally interested in checking this out even if I can’t say my expectations were too high. Fortunately, I found myself liking this one more than I expected as it turned out to be a nice surprise. So, without further ado, lets dive into what makes this work as well as it does!
The film follows the estranged Garrity family comprised of structural engineer, John, his wife, Allison, and their diabetic son, Nathan. One day a recently discovered comet named “nick” is shown to be heading towards Earth, but expected to land in the ocean. While at the supermarket, John receives an emergency message that says that he and his family have been selected for sheltering. When he returns, the comet is shown to have made an impact Florida causing massive destruction, leading him and his family to leave their neighborhood behind and find their way to their designated shelter on a perilous journey which may prove to be more difficult than expected.
The thing that I really dug the most regarding Ric Roman Waugh’s direction for this movie is that he opted to go for a more grounded approach to this kind of story. Instead of focusing on how this comet storm is affecting the world at large and how they respond, he chooses to show this catastrophe from the perspective of this family and its an approach I quite liked, as it allows us to get to know our characters more and present the situation in an interesting manner. The film does a very solid job of setting up the main premise and these characters, often times letting things play out naturally rather than explaining everything going on and I love how the special effects driven destruction is used sparsely throughout the first two acts as just the small glimpses are enough to convey the stakes. There’s also a lot of interesting exploration into just how people would react to this situation and just what kinds of actions it can lead seemingly normal people to do. Waugh and writer, Chris Sparling are also able to keep things interesting by putting the characters into different scenarios that provide the needed intensity, and I will say that I was on the the edge of my seat, wondering where things would go quite often throughout the picture. That being said I do think the movie loses a bit of steam in the third act as the film becomes a more conventional disaster movie flick with plenty of sequences involving our characters trying to avoid the comets and stuff like that. Its still watchable and the focus is still on the family throughout, it just isn’t quite as compelling as what came before and I do think that a lot of the final sequences do drag quite a bit. That being said, the last couple of moments do hit hard emotionally and it all leads to a solid conclusion to the story.
On the subject of those sequences of natural disaster, while they can be repetitive they are mostly well done for the most part. The visual effects are well done and aren’t used to an overwhelming degree making these moments all the more effective and Waugh does well giving the sequences a “you are there” approach. Plus, I like the way the comet storm is shown visually as the bright colors really convey the feeling that an apocalypse is about to begin. That being said I will admit that he really shines in the scenes that mainly involve the family in the first two acts trying to find a way to sanctuary going through all of these different situations, trying to navigate the mass hysteria that is going on. It is here where I was really invested and Waugh as well as the performers does an excellent job with conveying the urgency. On that note, one reason that the family makes for an engaging perspective is largely due to the performers. Gerard Butler is very good as John, being able to get all of the different layers of him across, such as his intelligence, desperation, and love for his family. Same goes for Monica Baccarin as Allison and the two make for a believable estranged couple who have their differences but in the end care most about protecting their son and sticking together as a family. Speaking of which, Roger Dale Floyd, gives in a strong turn as Nathan, getting across the appropriate emotions someone his age would feel in a situation like this and I liked seeing how he would handle himself in some of the dangerous situations throughout. The supporting cast also does fine work with some notable players being David Denman and Hope Davis as a desperate couple that the family encounters at one point, as they represent the paranoia of the situation well, and Scott Glenn who gives a very touching and effective performance as Allison’s father, Dale.
In all, I found Greenland to be a very effective natural disaster survival story that appreciably takes a more grounded approach than one may be used to seeing from this type of movie. While it may lose a bit of steam in the third act as it becomes a more conventional, yet still watchable, version of this kind of movie and it does drag a bit, the first two acts great with solid direction from Waugh, lots of intensity, solid performances, characters I’m invested in, and some interesting exploration into the difficult choices that must be made in a situation like this. As someone who enjoys these kinds of movies done well I just really like it when one attempts to explore the more human angle of this kind of movie and create engrossing drama while making one realize the gravity of such a situation. I thought this did that very well and I look forward in seeing what Ric Roman Waugh does next.
Rating: B+
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