Greenland 2: Migration
In Ric Roman Waugh’s woeful post-apocalyptic sequel, Gerard Butler is back to face a series of improbable disasters and inexcusable dialogue.
Comet con: Gerard Butler and Roman Griffin Davis cling on
Image courtesy of Lionsgate.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
If there’s one thing worse than yet another post-apocalyptic thriller, it’s the sequel to yet another post-apocalyptic thriller. The original Greenland (2020) – pre-empting by five years the US threat to absorb the territory – was not a critical disaster. It was a disaster film of a different stripe, in which a structural engineer and his estranged wife and son face the consequences of a rogue comet called ‘Clarke’ slamming into – and obliterating – Florida. And that was just the start…
It might help if one had seen the first film as this sequel is brow-knittingly awful. After a quick recap by John Garrity (a puffy-faced Gerard Butler), we realise that all is not well: “Seventy-five percent of the world – maybe more – gone. Five years since impact, but Clarke wasn’t done with us yet. Fragments stuck in our orbit, pelting us without warning. We tried rebuilding, but the world wasn’t ready...” However, it’s not all doom and gloom as some parts of the planet “for reasons we don’t understand,” John tells us, “stayed green.”
John and his now far-from-estranged wife Allison (Morena Beccarin) and son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis) are hiding out with a gaggle of survivors in an underground facility in Greenland. Allison has taken on an administrative role while John occasionally leaves the bunker in a biohazard suit scavenging for abandoned equipment. Meanwhile, further comet fragments rain down on the planet, radiation is everywhere and most cities have been laid to waste. And there’s worse. Allison explains to her committee that “the tectonic plates are shifting again” and, as astute as ever, John notes, “Jesus, another fissure’s opened up.” The world is imploding and yet the reflex is to laugh at the improbability of it all.
John and Allison are constantly stating the bleeding obvious and when yet another fissure opens up, their bunker starts to collapse and, wisely, John yells to Nathan and Allison: “We’ve gotta go! We’ve gotta go!” – as if the idea had never occurred to them. One hopes that in real life he might have trusted the survival instincts of his wife and son without having to obey the dictates of the terrible script. The dialogue is appalling. When they meet up with an old friend in a devastated London, she (Sophie Thompson) notes, “London isn’t London anymore.” Next there’s France, when, miraculously, they stumble across a sympathetic Frenchman with a gun (William Abadie) and his daughter, the prettiest teenage girl in Calais who, in spite of the conditions, has managed to learn perfect English in the last five years. None of the film makes any sense, while the most (hypothetically) suspenseful scenes completely lack excitement. Meanwhile, poor old Gerard Butler just looks indifferent and tired. But you can be reassured – there won’t be a Greenland 3.
Cast: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roman Griffin Davis, Amber Rose Revah, Sophie Thompson, Trond Fausa Aurvåg, William Abadie, Nelia Valery Da Costa, Ken Nwosu.
Dir Ric Roman Waugh, Pro Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Sébastien Raybaud, John Zois, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Ric Roman Waugh and Brendon Boyea, Screenplay Mitchell LaFortune and Chris Sparling, Ph Martin Ahlgren, Pro Des Vincent Reynaud, Ed Colby Parker Jr, Music David Buckley, Costumes Amanda Monk, Sound Tomas Blazukas.
STXfilms/Anton/Thunder Road/G-BASE Film Production/Cinemachine-Lionsgate/Amazon Prime.
98 mins. USA/UK. 2025. UK and US Rel: 9 January 2026. Australia Rel: 26 April 2026. Cert. PG-13.
