Title – Greenland (2020)

Director – Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen)

Cast – Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd, Scott Glenn, Holt McCallany

Plot – With a devastating collection of comets hurtling towards the Earth, John Garrity (Butler) and his family must fight for survival as they look to find shelter to weather the most destructive moment in human history.

“Your life flashes in front of your eyes when you die. I think it would be better if it did that while you lived”

Review by Eddie on 22/02/2021

Becoming a surprising hit through V.O.D platforms and a much better performer at the box office than predicted through markets where it could show in the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, Ric Roman Waugh’s throwback disaster thriller is the exact type of film you are promised through its marketing as the ever the same Gerard Butler races the clock to save his family while the world around them crumbles in the wake of a significant global event that is heading their way.

Feeling as though it could’ve easily existed in the 90’s where these type of over the top disaster thrillers lived and breathed in a frequent manner, Greenland is a film that fails to surprise in any way, shape or form as Butler’s everyday family man John, his wife Allison (played with mediocrity by Morena Baccarin) and his diabetic son Nathan try and navigate a world gone crazy whilst finding potential shelter and safety from the impending doom and gloom.

Your enjoyment of film with depend entirely on ones expectations heading into it but even the most forgiving of viewers may find themselves growing tired of the antics of Waugh’s film that could’ve done with more comet action rather than human v human run-in’s and separation anxiety that were perhaps born out of necessity when Waugh and his crew realised that the films CGI was going to look akin to a PS2 level of graphical goodness.

Making a name for himself as a director with his second feature, the underrated prison thriller Felon, Roman Waugh has since been a director of a string of run of the mill mid-tier Hollywood productions and all the grit and heart he bought to his career defining sophomore effort now appears to be lost in a director for hire funk that he appears unlikely to get out of anytime soon.

Any hope Greenland had of overcoming its low-balling script and budget basics set pieces laid almost exclusively on the back of one time heavy-hitter Butler but the up and down performer doesn’t get to do a lot here as John, with his performance virtually feeling like a mere carbon copy of any number of his previous years efforts (with particular similarity to other disaster thriller Geostorm) and a sense that Butler is merely ticking off his duties as a signed employee, stuck in a job that everyone knew was going no where and quickly accepted the project for what it was, a mostly lifeless and thrill free property.

Final Say – 

Not attempting to have much fun as it remains po-faced throughout, Greenland is a dull wannabe disaster epic that might not be downright atrocious but certainly fails to create any real reason to seek it out unless you’re stuck for anything else to watch on a given night.

2 FBI agents turned pilots out of 5