This is under R because of director Ric Roman Waugh.
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Writer: Chris Sparling (Screenplay)
Starring: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd, Scott Glenn, Randal Gonzalez, Rick Pasqualone
Plot: A family struggles for survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster.
Runtime: 1 Hour 59 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Greenland starts as we meet John Garrity (Butler) and his family, wife Allison (Baccarin) and son Nathan (Floyd) who are going about their everyday life, knowing a comet known as Clark is passing by being a major event for a party, only when the first part of the asteroid hits, the shockwave hits John’s neighbourhood.
When John gets a message to inform him, he has been selected for shelter re-location, he must travel with his family to this location to survive a potential global killer coming to Earth, only not everything goes as planned and now John must locate his family and save them before it is too late.
Thoughts on Greenland
Characters – John has a career in building skyscrapers with his reputation being one of the best in the country, he is selected with his family for a re-location shelter when a asteroid is heading towards Earth, he needs to make difficult decisions, but when the plan goes wrong, he must first find his family if he is to have any chance of saving them. Allison is John’s wife, who is left with their son after they are rejected from the plane, she needs to keep his health up as she looks for the next best place to go for safety, believing John is killed in an incident at the airbase. Nathan is the diabetic son that stops the family getting on the plane because they will not accept anyone with an illness, he is put through a series of traumatic experiences looking for safety. We do meet different people that will get involved in helping or hindering the family’s attempts to escape the impending doom.
Performances – Gerard Butler does everything we would expect in the film, having a few glimpses of action, not doing anything wrong in the film, Morena Baccarin works well in her role, with neither needing to do that much work in the film. The support cast is fine, with the surprise actions of certain supporting characters getting more chance to shine.
Story – The story here follows a family as they looks to find safety after an asteroid is going to hit the Earth and destroy a large part of it, if not most of the surface, this does take on what feels like just one chapter of ‘Deep Impact’ with the idea of following an impossible journey to safety, which will see the most unlikely events happen along the way. It could have been a lot more intense or shocking, but by the end we are left with one that doesn’t do anything new, feels safe, even with the peril and fails to give us enough shocking action moments.
Action – The action disappoints more than anything, if you have seen the trailer, you have seen all the best parts, with more focus on the drama over the action.
Settings – The film takes us across America as we look to see how the family is going to find safety, starting in Florida, heading to Greenland, we don’t seem to get any iconic settings being used.
Scene of the Movie – The landing is a beautiful set of shots.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough action.
Final Thoughts – Greenland is a disaster movie that doesn’t seem to pack enough punches for everything it is trying to sell us on, despite the large scale destruction involved.
