Danielle Solzman
Greenland is a thrilling race against time for one family as they hope to get to safety in the bunker before it ends up being too late.
The short of it is that Greenland is the modern-day Deep Impact with a lottery system deciding who lives and who dies. There is a difference between the two films as this film does not focus on the government leaders or news coverage. Instead, the focus is on one family that happens to get split up. Even if they didn’t get split up, the rules would have prohibited them from getting on the plane.
A planet-killing comet is an extinction-level event. This comet, which was supposed to just pass by, seeks to wipe out all of humanity. There now is little time remaining to save humanity. John Garrity (Gerard Butler), estranged wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), and son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd) are among the lucky ones. Or so they think. All chaos ensues when John goes back for Nathan’s diabetes medicine and then it only gets worse from there. Rejection. A security breach. And, oh yeah, the bad things just continually keep coming. Just when you think you’re out of harm’s way, something terrible is bound to happen. There’s always a bigger fish, right?!?
When they get separated, Allison leaves a note on the car with her plans to head to her family’s place in Lexington, Ky. The journey to get there, of course, is easier said than done because the world is ending and the film just wants every possible obstacle to get in the way. If this were a Michael Bay film, there would be never-ending explosions. Will they make it or not? You’ll just have to wait and see.
A wristband is the difference between life and death. If you don’t have one, you’re doomed and your family won’t be able to save you. Knowing these circumstances, people are willing to do whatever it takes to get a spot in the shelter. The catch is that the shelters are also in a classified location. We later learn that all the planes are headed to Greenland. Or at least, that’s where all the planes in the US are headed. Smaller plane operators are also flying to Greenland but there is no guarantee that any passengers will be accepted.
I will not lie that this is the entertaining thriller I needed for Monday night viewing. On the other hand, it’s terrifying to know if there is potential for life imitating art. How would you feel knowing that your relatives will live while you have a different fate? It is not a fun feeling at all. If you don’t have a certain skill, you will not be there to help rebuild the planet. Once the evacuations begin, stores are looted as everyone soon fends for themselves. If you survive the looting, you still have to survive everyone who wants your wristband.
Director Ric Roman Waugh reunites with Angel Has Fallen star Gerard Butler. Having seen their last film, I admit that I wasn’t expecting much out of this one. Sometimes you just need to watch a high-stakes thriller where you don’t have to think. In terms of comet-killing movies, Greenland is in the middle of Deep Impact and the lesser Armageddon. Greenland won’t win any awards but it’s entertaining enough to close out this dumpster fire year.
DIRECTOR: Ric Roman Waugh
SCREENWRITER: Chris Sparling
CAST: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, David Denman, Hope Davis, Roger Dale Floyd, Andrew Bachelor, Merrin Dungey, with Holt McCallany and Scott Glenn
