Greenland

A very sober and rational view of disaster. Understandably it doesn't have the fun factor of Armageddon or San Andreas, but Greenland surprisingly maintains a high stamp of believability and raw reality most of the time. Too bad about some infuriatingly clichéd scenes (the ending), but thank heavens for the likeable moments that are pleasantly chilling in places and very well acted. Baccarin is surprisingly commanding, Butler is just OK. The pace is great and even though you can see that it's kind of a low budget movie, the filmmakers managed to camouflage it well. Decent and overall smart entertainment. (12/11/2020)

Greenland is essentially another of the "end of the world" disaster movies that we've certainly had no shortage of in recent decades. Within its genre, the film doesn't have much to surprise, but I still have to appreciate the relatively believable depiction of the last days before the coming apocalypse. For my taste, the film dealt far too much with relationships revolving around clichéd conventions, and I personally would have cut it by twenty minutes. On the other hand, Greenland does have a number of engaging and noteworthy moments (the lines with Allison's father and the opening departure from the house were the ones I liked the most). Gerard Butler will probably never be my favourite actor, but he was thankfully balanced by Morena Baccarin and Scott Glenn. Last but not least, it should be noted that this is a passable piece from a technical standpoint, offering a fairly decent soundtrack. (04/04/2021)

It has its weaker moments (the entire final half-hour is such a clichéd Hollywood construct, completely different in mood from the previous realistic action), but otherwise it's far from Geostorm and similar recent bullshit. It's a believable look at human behaviour in extreme situations, when a planetary catastrophe brings to the surface their egotism and low instincts. The special effects are sparse, but the ominous sights of the changing sky has an unsettling charm and visually it really looks good and believable. But I expected it, Ric Roman Waugh is a smart guy, he's done it a few times already, and his latest film so far certainly doesn't deserve to be in the blue. (11/15/2020)

A comet is heading for Earth and Gerard Butler must save his family. Not the world or civilization, just his family. On the surface, Greenland is a very ordinary disaster movie, but what makes it different from the others is that it revolves around ordinary people trying to survive. Nothing more. Solid actors, very brisk pace and well built tension. Nothing too new, but above average entertainment. (11/24/2020)

A down-to-earth disaster nail-biter with an unexpectedly realistic first half. After the excellent first hour it jumps feet first into the realm of Hollywood and things start to work miraculously. Vaughn approaches this in the same way as Seňor Spielberg in War of the Worlds, concentrating on an ordinary family with Butler in the role of a dad chosen to survive. It chugs along marvelously and there’s always something happening. Surprisingly, the government does what it should; the other characters are not one-dimensional; the powerful scenes with fire raining down and blast waves work splendidly. Movies like this a needed in this day and age; it makes you realize that things could be much, much worse. Covid is nothing in comparison to Clark. (12/07/2020)