Greenland Review

Certificate: 15

Running time: 119 minutes 

Starring: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, David Denman, Scott Glenn, Roger Dale Floyd

Directed by: Ric Roman Waugh

The story: John Garrity and his family face a race against time when they desperately try to seek shelter as a planet killing comet streaks towards earth.

The verdict: I have found that the last couple of Gerard Butler films that I have seen have been very hit and miss - in particular Hunter Killer was one of my least favourite cinema watches of 2018. But, I absolutely love disaster films. As you can see, these two things don’t really compliment each other in regards to Greenland - a disaster film featuring Gerard Butler. So with that in mind, I approached Greenland with a mix of excitement and trepidation. 

Within minutes Greenland had already scored a massive plus for me in that my other half was watching it. A strange thing to say you might think, however my other half has zero interest in films and rarely consents to watching one with me. Deciding that I would put Greenland on, they decided that they’d go and do something else except that never happened. Throughout, we were both throughly engaged in Greenland. 

What separates the wheat from the chaff in any disaster film is a true sense of tension and peril, and I found that Greenland definitely fulfilled that criteria. Very quickly, we found ourselves watching on the edge of our seats as a series of catastrophic events played out. 

In terms of plot and narrative, I didn’t find that Greenland particularly brought anything new to the table. It follows a standard disaster film template. This is merely an observation rather than a criticism.

I have seen several reviews remark on a mixed accent, and thus a mixed performance, from Butler in Greenland. I never noticed any problems with his accent and I felt that his performance was good as a man just trying to protect his family and help them survive. I also thought that Morena Baccarin and Roger Dale Floyd were great in their roles. 

As with any disaster film, there were moments where a bit of suspended belief was required but on the scale of realism for disaster films, I did feel that Greenland felt higher on the scale compared to many of its counterparts. 

Interestingly, though I was utterly engaged in Greenland during its running time, it has proved to be reasonably forgettable in the mere twenty four hours between watching it and writing this review. This isn’t necessarily a problem for me as I don’t believe that films need to stick in your mind to be a good film. However, it is true that the great ones do. 

Overall, Greenland was a film that kept us entertained and engaged throughout. It is full of suspense and tension and will make you question what you would do if the world was ending. Though it is unlikely to make my top films of the year, it is pretty much a perfect Saturday night film.  

The rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️