There's some sort of irony about watching a world-ending disaster flick at home (vs in theaters as originally planned) during a global pandemic.
Certain themes hit differently and particular moments that I previously may have scoffed at are now much clearer and, dare I say, poignant.
Greenland is definitely not "high art" in the sense that it's an Oscar contender or anything like that, but it's also a film that you may look at it and see Gerard Butler + disaster and think Geostorm leading you to write it off. For starters, Geostorm this is not (thankfully) and I'd caution against going into it purely for the disaster mayhem; there's actually very little of it here.
Instead, the outcome is a family-centered drama during the end of the world that gives us characters to invest in and - again, largely because of 2020 - moments of all-too-real chaos that feel semi-reminiscent of this past year. As much as I enjoyed it, and we'll get into that, I also find it hard to recommend in a year where it sometimes could feel like the "end". Because Greenland does a VERY good job at making you think that's what's coming here.
In general, I'm a fan of disaster flicks, but they often follow a few main issues: 1) they "blow their load" in the trailers meaning there's no reason for me to see the film. 2) they over-indulge on the disaster, leaving character development in the dust, becoming mind-numbing, and costing so much CGI budget that it doesn't look great. If you're a long-time reader you may already know this, but San Andreas is legit one of the best disaster films I've ever seen. Not only is it one of The Rock's best films, but it has a good balance of crazy disaster sequences (almost had a heart attack when the tanker comes over the tsunami wave!) and characters with stories who you invest in. I realize it's an island I may be alone on, but Greenland reminded me of a more serious (and deadly) San Andreas. It's less balls-to-the-wall action and mayhem, but in broad strokes they both achieve similar things.
Greenland is about an interstellar comet that the world "oos" and "awes" over until its apparent that it's going to hit earth. Even worse is that within its long tail of debris, there's a "planet killer" chunk that threatens to create an extinction event. It's all together far fetched and I found it laughable that scientists in the film went from "Wow look at this cool space event!" to "OMG it's going to hit" (but perhaps that was an unspoken mistruth to control the chaos?). Either way, it's preposterous - but so is 2020. And Greenland handles it in a way that's decidedly realistic and mature. There's no plot that emerges that Gerard Butler's John has to save the day by planting a nuke on the comet or anything like that. This is a survival movie, through and through. Mankind devolves into chaos as the world is given 48 hours to get its affairs in order. Moments of other humans being stupid or incredibly selfish would have been met with eye rolls a year ago. Now, they remind me of anti-maskers and "plandemic" morons. Suddenly, Greenland doesn't seem so far fetched. Equally, moments of tender human care from a soldier or Red Cross worker would have been there to just tug at my heart strings before. Now I recognize these moments of care and equate them to our frontline workers of this year and all the exhaustion, pain, depression, and burnout they've gone through. Sure, Greenland is still just a movie, and a very far fetched one, but it's subtly very good at hitting on current themes and emotions which is kind of just dumb luck on its part. 
"We gonna make it to Greenland 2?"
"Definitely"
Gerard Butler is a stoic lead and it's his best role in some time. He's not a modern day King Leonidas, but just a normal structural engineer trying to save his family. Morena Baccarin is given nearly equal heavy lifting and does incredible as a mom who has to survive with her son alone when the family gets separated for a time. Both of them probably keep their cool more than a normal couple would, but it was refreshing to see characters who - for all intents and purposes - have no idea what the hell is going on but they know they just have to keep going. I found the child actor, Roger Floyd, to not be great, though he's never really annoying and his role is small.
When there are scenes of destruction and chaos, because Greenland doesn't overindulge, the special effects are incredible and the sequences are intense. They're shot well and, probably a combination of 2020 plus the skill behind the computer, display the apocalypse with convincing clarity. I do wish there had maybe been more, or perhaps more updates from around the world, but the fact that Greenland doesn't put all its eggs in the "disaster porn" basket is also its strength, so I'd hate to mess with the balance.
I'm sure this review reads as praising Greenland more than I should, but I instead think it's more of a reflection of how our opinion on certain movie genres may change as we distance ourselves from the pandemic. It's an example of a really solid, good film that has extra heft because of what's going on in the world now. Yes, this is 2020 dialed up 1,000x, but you'll notice those subtle moments where your outlook has likely changed.
CONS
- As with most disaster films, there's some unbelievable moments
- I wish for more disaster sequences, or even a segment that better discusses the world's reaction/outlook
- Has a handful of generic disaster movie moments
- Not something I'm detracting points for, but may be too much doom and gloom for some this year
- Its focus on characters and the central family gives us something to care about amidst the chaos
- Takes a more realistic and mature tone than other films in this genre, and the world's reaction to the event is likely tamed-down, but believable
- Butler and Baccarin are solid leads and their "every-man" characters are integral to this film not being highly corny
- The disaster itself and the sequences of destruction are captivating and intense, even if only a few
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