The story for Greenland centers around a family on the brink of separation, fighting to remain together for their own survival as a comet prepares to collide with Earth, threatening mass extinction across the globe. The plot for Greenland feels like a combination of Deep Impact meets Steven Spielberg's War Of The World's with Greenland inheriting the comet aspect of Impact, as well as the subplot involving the fight to seek shelter as the comet strikes Earth, along with the film showing the family perspective in the midst of the chaos like Worlds. What's most unusual about the script for Greenland that makes it work exceptionally well for being a disaster flick, is its focus on establishing the main central characters, as well as showing the cataclysmic disaster from their perspective. Greenland trades the excessive action and visual set-pieces that generally accompany natural disaster films and instead puts both the characters and plot front and center, making for a surprisingly admirable effort which improves the overall quality of the film in comparison to many others within the genre. While Greenland still offers audiences excitement and thrills, those moments are grounded with characters the latter become connected to as well as performances that manage to generate some of the best acting out of the films main leads in their respective careers. Greenland is a unique catch of a cataclysmic disaster story with it playing off the basic conventions of the genre while surprising audiences with its insistence on making them connect with those caught within the disaster with the destruction being shown through their perspective. The film serves as being an efficiently thrilling story revolving around the fight for survival during the worst kind of natural disaster with it always maintaining a firm grip on the heart of the story, which is the characters. Although the film doesn't come across as being a work of art, its surprising thoughtfulness to add depth to its story while providing the audience with thrills make Greenland an unique offer that audiences can't refuse as being a highly rewarding form of popcorn entertainment.
One of the most thrilling aspects of Greenland outside of its intense visual moments, are the performances delivered by the main cast. Greenland is made as effective of a disaster flick as it ends up being because of the effort the main actors put into making their characters both believable and sympathetic. Both Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin deliver performances that are compelling to watch along with bringing a great deal of emotional depth to their characters, which allows the audience to connect with their plight. With Butler, he delivers his strongest performance in years as John Garrity with him brilliantly conveying the emotions of playing an everyday working man dealing with the early stages of a divorce, while fighting to save his family as he slowly realizes that the situation is far more serious than what is being reported to people regarding the status of the comet. Butler makes for a solid leading man in the role with Baccarin delivering an equally effective performance as Butler's wife Allison Garrity. The latter impresses with her ability of showing emotion during the films high moments of intensity with both her and Butler making for a believable couple, whose strength is binded through their ordeal together. Other noteworthy supporting roles are Roger Dale Flloyd as Butler and Baccarin's son Nathan Garrity with Flloyd meeting all the emotional requirements of playing the part with him sharing tons of nice acting moments with both Butler and Baccarin. The main trio do such a convincing job of playing a helpless family struggling to survive during the ultimate nightmare with Scott Glenn stealing the show with his minimal yet tenderly moving part as Allison's father Dale. The acting for Greenland is one of the main reasons the film works so well as being a thoroughly intense and believable disaster drama with Butler, Baccarin, and Flloyd's performance ultimately being the heart and soul of the film. Their acting is ultimately what keeps the audience engaged with the story as the action takes a backseat to both the plot and character development.
In addition to the films terrific acting performances, the directing conducted by Ric Roman Waugh is well-handled with the film being both impressively crafted and assembled in regards to the story remaining both straight-forward and focused. Waugh proves successful in giving the story the appropriate look and feel of a disaster film with the cinematography being visually stunning in not just showing the images of the comets destruction but also utilizing the orange lighting in key outdoor scenes to show the progressive change in the atmosphere as the comet approaches. Greenland carries a well-established pace that keeps the story rapidly moving while allowing the characters to have key emotional moments, where the audience becomes connected with them and experience their dilemma with the Garrity family trying to stay together and survive. The films CGI effects are reasonably decent with their usage being carefully utilized throughout the story to make their moments appear as being visually breathtaking to the audience. The score is well put together with the music enhancing both the intensity of the story, along with helping to create an experience for the audience that's emotionally absorbing. The most impressive aspect of Waugh's directing on Greenland is how solid of a job he does in keeping the story grounded in reality with the experience feeling both gritty and real while managing to pull it off with the films $46 million budget (Which is relatively low by Hollywood's standards for a typical disaster flick). He exercises both skillful craftsmanship and creativity with telling the story, while showing his capability of generating strong performances from his actors. In what could've easily ended up being a mindless disaster flick that prioritizes explosions over emotions, Waugh surprises and earns massive commending for doing the exact opposite along with showing great restraint in delivering the spectacle aspect of the story with the focus always remaining on both the characters and story.
Along with the films directing doing a great job of setting up the plot and main characters, the films screenplay by Chris Sparling lays out a solid foundation for both the filmmakers and actors to work off in bringing this scenario to life. The screenplay prioritizes characterization and utilizes its time very well in doing so. Besides the comet destroying Earth being the main focus of the story, the heart of the film revolves around themes of love, family unity, and remaining together when facing the ultimate peril. The audience is given a limited amount of information regarding Butler's character and the circumstances surrounding the separation from his wife Allison with their bond being strengthened throughout their fight for survival, making the overall family dynamic feel heartwarming. Butler's character is shown to be remorseful of his actions in the implied affair he had that broke up his marriage, and seeks both redemption and forgiveness from his wife through his actions. The audience feels the pain and regret that John feels both through the films strong writing as well as Butler's performance, and see that Garrity's actions in protecting his family carry a deeper meaning. The script is written in the form of being a rollercoaster ride, that's full of endless suspense and drama as audiences are given numerous twists and turns involving nightmarish scenarios the main characters find themselves in which include temporary separation, abduction, and fighting over who gets to survive the comets impact by boarding military planes and transporting people to secretive shelters in places around Europe such as Greenland. The script throws clever scenarios and concepts at the audience such as one involving only a certain number of people being selected for protection in the shelters, which carries a huge emotional weight over the story with it placing the main characters in dangerous positions at times in terms of them becoming targets with people noticing their shelter/protection wristbands. The audience also see's the buildup animosity, envy, and guilt that others have towards the Garrity's for being selected to fly to the shelters, making the story more compelling and unpredictable. The script works enormously well in keeping the audience in suspense with them guessing what happens next in the story, as it's not made certain whether the main characters will make it to Greenland at the end nor survive the events unfolding in the film. The screenplay remains focused on the Garrity family from start to finish with the side characters introduced never distracting the story from its main narrative, but are still given minimal key roles which leave an impact with the audience in conveying the horrors of the situation. Whereas most disaster films suffer in the writing department and have poor characterization, Greenland manages to subvert expectations in the best way and give audiences an experience that's both tensely exciting and unexpectedly moving.
As Greenland shows, audiences don't need endless amounts of explosions and overlong destruction sequences to excite and thrill them. The film abandons much of that and keeps it minimal with its greatest strength relying on its solid form of storytelling, as well as the firm grip it holds over its characters. Whereas the story still remains an experience that's both intense and harrowing, Greenland trades the typical Roland Emmerich style spectacle of destruction for a more quieter and personal approach of one families struggle of surviving the apocalypse with them rediscovering what makes them strong which is being together. Although carrying a lower budget than the average big-budget Hollywood disaster flick, Greenland makes the most of its limitations and prioritizes both plot and character development over spectacle. The film serves as being a welcomed surprise for those craving popcorn entertainment, while helping to redefine the possibilities of what makes a disaster movie good (Which as Greenland shows is strong character development and heart behind its storytelling). While it most likely won't change the way future disaster films are made, it shows the potential they carry as well as the possibilities if more filmmakers follow suit in trading the enormous destruction set-pieces for the story. Greenland is not the disaster flick that audiences were craving for, but it's absolutely the one that's needed not just for the purpose of entertainment but as a reminder of the importance of storytelling that's effective and ultimately inspiring. Greenland serves as being the uncommon film within its genre that audiences will unquestionably be impressed by, as well as appreciate its ambition to be different than the other films in its genre while giving them a genuinely exciting time.
Final Verdict: Fans of disaster films and Gerard Butler will be pleasantly surprised with Greenland's strength as a cataclysmic disaster flick, that rightfully places both its story and characters front and center.
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