Another cinematic casualty of 2020 is this new occasionally striking, though cliched disaster film starring Gerald Butler.
Greenland is the second collaboration between Butler and helmsman Ric Roman Waugh after Angel Has Fallen that may not be seen as it deserves to be in spite of how folks continue to soup-up their home theatrical experiences.
What could be a picture like Deep Impact and the more recent San Andreas relies on the human element (like the former directed by Mimi Lender) with orange-hued CGI more judiciously employed to provide moments of agape.
Butler shifts from harried Secret Serviceman Mike Banning to Joh Garrity who has forty-eight ours to get his family to the eponymous safe haven; the comet Clark is hurting towards a nearby continent and has disintegrated into fragments in a prelude to global extinction.
Monica Baccarin (Deadpool) brings intense maternal instinct to wife Allison with Roger Dale Floyd as diabetic son Nathan will need to have a lasting supply of insulin.
So, Waugh and Butler try to establish a resonance into doping mechanisms of humanity — the nobler and darker impulses — that can delay gratification at the expense of draining emotion Panic, looting and senseless violence may resonate for some in light of current on-going viral and social issues.
It’s a bit curious as the decisions and entitlement among other things manifest themselves that doesn’t allow the vicissitudes to truly enrapt. Even as the conflict and what is at stake is expressed without much emoting by Butler and his co-stars. Look for Scott Glenn and Hope Glenn as the most accomplished auxiliary performers who don’t have a chance to stand out in an apocalyptic aura that ultimately proves indistinguishable.