Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin fight against the end of the world in Greenland, an average disaster thriller. It is a movie filled with good looks. Chased after by desperate people, becoming scorched cities and the customary ticking down to extinction; all this forms part of the background. These are perfect ingredients for gritty popcorn cinema. However, syrupy romance and hackneyed twists doom it as a tale. Mediocrities win in Greenland where it could have been far more engaging.
John Garrity (Gerard Butler) is introduced to us as a recent divorcée who works as an architect in Atlanta. His wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) got his house with their son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd). The story opens with John, Allison and Nathan throwing a birthday barbecue in their backyard pool. When they hear on TV that a comet called Clarke will brush past Earth later on that day when they plan and buy food for the party.
A message pops up on his phone making him nervous. In addition he sees war planes crossing across the sky above him from his yard at home .The realization finally dawns on him half way through the party. News about Clark comes in different dimensions .So this comet has many fragments enough to destroy planet earth. Another text arrives indicating what next should be done by John’s family who should leave immediately if they want to survive its biggest hit.
First act of Greenland is gripping. Director Ric Roman Waugh (Felon, Angel Has Fallen) captures how frightened people turn during an existential crisis like this one superbly .It becomes deeply emotional when Garritys’ neighbors are left behind as well . John reasonably decides that his spouse and child can only be saved by an action which is quick and ruthless.Trouble starts brewing when another McGuffin complicates the plot further.That’s pointed out early so you know you’ll be seeing it again soon.This kind of thing only cheapens the story.
All hell breaks loose as Greenland enters histrionics with its characters behaving stupidly. Yes, it’s the end of times, and people will mess up for sure. John and Allison however are not stupid characters. They exhibit folly and endanger their lives in ways that are just silly when a decision has to be made about Nathan especially.There are parts of the movie with no logic in them which make you weep. Fortunately it gets more action-packed towards the predictable climactic explosion.
Adding other perspectives could have helped the narrative along. A government perspective on other hand could have been interesting to watch besides what goes on in Garritys’. The film’s most interesting character is actually the comet itself (to me). Clarke throws a series of jabs and then lands one really impressive punch.The choice to spread out comet’s destruction carries you through the overly-sentimental downbeats that seem unnecessary at times.It heightens the threat by showing how lethal even a small fusillade of space rocks can be.
In this movie Gerard Butler is not an ass-kicking action star, but he can still pull off his signature intensity as needed. Morena Baccarin cries her eyes out but she isn’t just another damsel-in-distress either.These two actors do justice to the melodrama parts. The plot issues notwithstanding, Greenland provides an escape from dark winter caused by pandemic .Some theaters across global markets released it earlier this year as part of projects.The big screen would have done justice to its epic scale destruction.That Anton, Thunder Road Pictures and G-BASE produced Greenland.
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