Time: 119 Minutes
Age Rating: R13 – Violence and content that may disturb
Cast:
Gerard Butler as John Garrity
Morena Baccarin as Allison Garrity
Roger Dale Floyd as Nathan Garrity
David Denman as Ralph Vento
Hope Davis as Judy Vento
Director: Ric Roman Waugh

I went into Greenland only knowing that it was a disaster movie starring Gerard Butler. and I wasn’t expecting much at all, outside of some over the top destruction and action. It turned out better than I expected it to be.

As expected, Greenland is a rather conventional and predictable disaster movie, with plenty of cliches and silliness that comes with that. The fairly straightforward plot is serviceable, it is paced well and enjoyably over the top. At the same time, it actually plays more like a thriller than an action disaster flick at times, with heavy emphasis on the intensity rather than just the spectacle. It is more restrained than expected and leans more into the humanity aspect, honing in on being about a family trying to survive this event. This family focus already made it better than most other disaster movies, and felt comparatively small scale and grounded.

There are some good performances. Gerard Butler is grounded and reliable in a more restrained role, and one of his best performances. Morena Baccarin is also really solid and believable in her part.

Ric Roman Waugh’s direction is decent enough. The visuals work fine enough, the CGI is very dodgy, but there are still some tense sequences which deliver in a B-movie spectacle way. The smaller scale perspective and the focus on survival and humanity over the visuals of destruction also helps.

Overall, Greenland is a surprisingly effective and tense disaster movie that was better than expected.