Greenland Movie Review - Disaster Movie and More!

In the film Greenland, skyscraper-builder John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his estranged wife Ali (Morena Baccarin) and their severely diabetic young son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd) must get to safety when a huge, planet-killing comet hurtles toward Earth. Random, hit anywhere fragments break off and destroy things on the way, like whole cities world-wide. The family interacts with the best and worst of humanity in a desperate, race-against-time flight to safety before the nine-mile-wide main comet hits!

One of the fragments strikes EarthCourtesy of STXfilms

Big Comet Coming

Structural engineer John Garrity and his wife Ali have split up. After working on constructing a skyscraper in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, John rushes to his former home in order to help with a party for their young son Nathan. Nathan has been studying in school about a comet named Clarke that is supposed to bypass but come very close to Earth. It’s made up of hundreds of pieces of rock and ice and a few pieces might break off but TV news says don’t worry they will burn up in our atmosphere. Neighbors arrive for the party and all end up watching news of the comet on TV. The kids are excited.

The family and neighbors hear about the comet on TVCourtesy of STXfilms

Shelter Alert

At a grocery store parking lot, John and Nathan notice a big fleet of military cargo transport jets flying north in formation. Inside, John receives a strange automated phone call, saying that he and his family have been pre-selected for emergency sheltering. Huh? Worried, John rushes home to hear on TV that a big fragment is supposed to hit near Bermuda in the ocean. It hits and a big shockwave rolls by as the fragment wipes out Tampa, Florida instead!  The TV goes to a message telling the Garrity family to bring nobody and to get to a nearby air force base to make an evacuation flight. The neighbors run home but one has learned that the major comet will hit and destroy the whole planet in two days! As the family drives away, one woman begs that they take her young daughter with them. They can’t. Whatever this list is, she’s not on it.

After the first shockwaveCourtesy of STXfilms

Traffic Jam

With all commercial flights grounded, terrified people hit the roads. The family finally makes it to the airport where hundreds are trying to get in. The Garritys were selected so are let in but have left Nathan’s insulin supply in the car! Ali and Nathan go on through the line while John goes back for it. When it’s learned that Nathan is diabetic, the soldiers won’t let him and mom through. Nobody with a chronic illness can go! After some horrible mix-ups on whether John is on a plane or if Ali and Nathan are on another one, desperate people with no clearance break through the airport gate and rush the runways. Shots are fired, people are hit and one plane blows up! John narrowly escapes and Ali and Nathan are escorted off the base. They leave a note on their car that they have gone to Ali’s dad’s house in Lexington. John is frantic.

Nathan wants his family reunitedCourtesy of STXfilms

Good or Bad People?

To get insulin, Ali and Nathan go to a pharmacy but it is being looted and they narrowly get away. They are picked up on the road by couple Ralph and Judy who are headed toward Lexington. John is on foot also trying to get to Lexington as comet Clarke is seen closer in the sky. He gets through very briefly to Ali’s phone before the call is dropped. When Ralph learns that Ali and Nathan were selected and have wristbands, he kicks Ali out of the car rips off her band and kidnaps Nathan while John hitches a ride in the back of a truck headed to Canada. He learns from a guy named Colin that the military transport planes are headed for big bunkers in Greenland. John builds buildings. That is why he’s selected. He will be needed when the world is destroyed. The truck is going to Canada where civilian pilots are flying people to Greenland.

Ali is separated from JohnCourtesy of STXfilms

Wreck and Reunion

When another passenger in the truck sees John’s wristband he thinks he can use it to escape so jumps John. A fight ensues and the truck wrecks, killing Colin while the crazy guy still won’t stop fighting John for his wristband. John has to kill him. Meanwhile, Ralph, Judy and Nathan arrive at a camp and say they are Nathan’s parents and are selected, showing Nathan’s and Ali’s wristbands but Nathan tells a solider that these aren’t his parents and he was kidnapped. They are prevented from entering and Nathan is taken to a tent for lost kids separated from their parents. Ali finally makes it to the camp where she and Nathan are reunited with the help of a kindly nurse.

A meteor swarm on the highwayCourtesy of STXfilms

Grandpa’s House

The following day, an exhausted John wanders through an empty neighborhood and breaks into a house to find food and water. He turns on a TV and sees that more fragments have hit worldwide and everyone is counting down to the final extinction impact.  With nobody around, he leaves a note and steals a car, finally making it to Ali’s dad Dale’s (Scott Glen) house where, eventually he’s reunited with Ali and Nathan. Recalling what Colin said about pilots in Canada flying people to Greenland, John suggests they go. Dale who refuses to go, gives them his truck.

Ali and John are reunited at her dad's placeCourtesy of STXfilms

15 Hours Left

On the way to Canada, molten rocks fall from the sky. The family has to hide under a bridge and John burns his hand rescuing a guy from his burning car. Making it to the small Canadian airport, John drives the truck in front of the last plane taking off and talks the pilot into including the family even though the plane is overweight. Approaching Greenland, another impact downs the plane. Will John and family make it to the bunkers in time? Will some of the human race worldwide survive the big impact?

The family on the plane on the way to GreenlandCourtesy of STXfilms

Wrapping Up

At first I said “Oh no. Not another comet is going to hit Earth movie!” but wait! This one is really good.  Yes, the special effects are believable, the fast-paced race against time will keep you on the edge of your seat, uh couch, the acting is convincing and the script is well-written. But, most of all, the movie is about a family never giving up against some impressive negative odds.  Mom and dad have broken up but there is still love there and both will do anything to get their 7-year-old son to safety. In the process, they reconcile.

Comet fragments hit the highwayCourtesy of STXfilms

We are again reminded here that, no matter what the disaster, there are always human beings who will put themselves above others with awful results but, good, kind people are in the mix too!

Gerard Butler, whom you are used to seeing lately saving the White House and President or some other dignitary, is just an average guy here. He is a man who loves his family but has strayed and who is now determined to make up for it, reunite with the wife he still loves and get the family to safety no matter if he has to steal of even kill to do it. Morena Baccarin is not only pretty but impressive as a shell-shocked, emotionally wrecked but determined wife and mom and young Roger Dale Floyd (Stargirl, Dr. Sleep, The Walking Dead, World Beyond) is wonderful as ailing Nathan who wants his family back together in one piece even as the Earth is shattered all around him.

On the way to Canada as comet fragments strike the roadCourtesy of STXfilms

Yep, bad things happen to good people. We see that all around us now every day but it’s how we survive them and move on that counts. Greenland reinforces that all while being just an entertaining, rock-um-sock-um action disaster film. Don’t see any problems so we award five stars.

Greenland Movie Rating: 

Courtesy of STXfilms

See Greenland streaming on demand everywhere this Friday, December 18^th.