Story Movie
The aftermath of the catastrophe that struck Earth five years ago still looms over humanity. It is no longer safe to remain in Greenland: the few who managed to survive are threatened by a constant barrage of asteroid debris. Humanity—or rather, what remains of it—must undertake the most important and dangerous migration in history. People will have to seek a new refuge.
Review 4K Movie
It has been five years since John Garrity’s family took refuge from the apocalypse caused by a comet strike in a bunker in Greenland. But even the sturdiest bunker is powerless against shifting tectonic plates. Now John and his family must flee once again. But where to?..
Rick Roman Waugh may not be the most famous action movie director, but his films are almost always distinguished by the powerful figure of an invincible hero on the poster, shot from a low angle: Stephen Dorff, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and, most likely, Gerard Butler—he has already starred in four of this director’s films (“Angel Has Fallen,” the first “Greenland,” “The Runaway,” and the “Greenland” sequel). “Greenland 2: Migration” continues the story of the Garrity family, in which the main character is exactly that—mighty and invincible—neither a comet, nor earthquakes, nor a tsunami can touch him. The same cannot be said for his companions—anyone standing next to his family is at heightened risk.
I watched “Greenland” way back in 2020 and clearly remember that I liked the movie, but I don’t recall any details—which is telling: despite the beautiful visuals and Butler’s charisma, the film felt rather derivative and didn’t leave a lasting impression. Much the same can be said about the direct sequel—yes, comet debris continues to rain down on the long-suffering Earth, and giant waves sweep everything off the face of the Earth, but the plot remains familiar: the hero and his family are heading toward some goal (in the first film it was Greenland; in the sequel, a potential paradise on Earth near Italy, in a crater where the main mass of the comet landed).
The Achilles’ heel of this genre is the way the story plays into the protagonists’ hands—they get lucky far too often while the people around them perish one after another. The heroes will escape from a destroyed bunker, make it onto a lifeboat—and so on and so forth. Yes, they’ll encounter looters and bad people along the way—but far more often they’ll meet good Samaritans and unexpected friends, ready to share shelter, food, and even a bottle of wine. At the same time, it’s best not to ask yourself questions about logic or the natural sciences—for example, how can a functioning hospice for the elderly exist peacefully for many years in a ruined London, where comet debris is falling from the sky and looters are running rampant? Why, in any critical situation, does the hero manage to persuade his opponents with the simple phrase, “I must protect my family”? Why don’t the heroes stay in the safe place—or places—they find along the way, but instead stubbornly press on toward a risky and potentially hopeless goal?
All these questions are swept aside by the powerful presence of Gerard Butler, as if the eternal echo of his cry, “Sparta!!!” still resonates from the screen. The screenwriters deliberately endowed him with critical vulnerability, but this doesn’t hold up for practically the entire film—his character neither burns in fire nor drowns in water. Climbing over a chasm on a wobbly ladder during an earthquake? No problem! A comet is falling? Hold onto the tree—and me! Had to abandon the car—we’ll find a new one right away (with a full tank of gas and the keys)! Brazilian actress Morena Baccarin has returned to the role of the hero’s wife and, in principle, handles the role of the “eternally rescued” heroine well—a woman who deeply sympathizes with her husband but constantly demands heroic deeds from him. But the one who unexpectedly turned out to be the weak link is the character of the teenage son, Nathan Garrit.
In the first film, the character was a ten-year-old boy. It would make sense to assume that in the sequel, released five years later and set five years after the first film, the same boy could star—he would have just turned fifteen, and the kid (Roger Dale Floyd) actually did a pretty good job. But for some reason, the role was given to 18-year-old actor Roman Griffin Davis, who looks too grown-up for a naive teenager. And the main mystery is—why does this character seem so dull and uninteresting? Yes, one could always say that the script doesn’t give him anything to play. Although in reality, there is plenty to play—teenage carefreeness, the desire “to be a hero like his father,” a sudden coming-of-age in a dangerous situation, and taking responsibility for the family. But Davis plays it flat, quietly, and inconspicuously. Yet he’s a good actor—his first role was immediately a lead in Taika Waititi’s Oscar-nominated “Jojo Rabbit” (remember the curly-haired boy?), and less than a year ago he played a supporting but emotionally crucial role in the Stephen King adaptation *The Long Walk*—remember the curly-haired kid who’s the first to drop out? Maybe it was the curls—now he has a mini-copy of Butler’s dark mane: he really is his son!
Finally, the plot’s illogicality and sloppiness mean that the most interesting part of the film is the beginning, where the characters are still sitting in a bunker in Greenland (which, as it turned out, appeared in news reports in 2025 far more often than this film) and continue to survive, while the “council” has to solve complex ethical dilemmas, such as whether to accept a large group of refugees into the bunker if they themselves don’t have enough food. And for a disaster movie, where the beginning is usually the most boring part—that’s a troubling sign.
If you’ve come to appreciate Rick Roman Waugh’s style, don’t be sad that the movie is over—literally tomorrow, another of his films, *The Shelter*, will hit theaters. Naturally, it features an invincible hero on the poster (Jason Statham), shot from a low angle.
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