by Henry Pham
Disaster films are one of my least favorite movie genres as they reflect real-life disastrous events happening in our world (including America) that greatly affect adults and children of all ages at home, school, or work. It has been five years since the original movie was released in 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Greenland 2: Migration takes place just years after the Clarke interstellar comet destroyed most of Earth, and follows the Garrity family – consisting of John, Allison, and Nathan – who must leave the safety of the Greenland bunker and embark on a perilous journey across the wasteland of Europe to find a new home.
Gerard Butler (How to Train Your Dragon films) and Morena Baccarin (Deadpool films) reprise their roles in the sequel, while Golden Globe nominee Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit) replaces Roger Dale Floyd as Nathan Garrity, the diabetic son of John and Allison. The film follows the Garrity family and other survivors, who have lived in the Greenland bunker for five years since the Clarke comet struck Earth. As resources dwindle and the bunker collapses, the family is forced to seek a new refuge. They join a group of survivors in an attempt to reach the European crater, which John believes offers safety.
Based on the characters written by Chris Sparling, Ric Roman Waugh returns to direct this sequel, with Butler and Basil Iwanyk (producer of the John Wick films) serving as producers. Due to its title, the sequel is often treated as a disaster road-trip movie, blending the mixtures of the Mad Max films, I Am Legend, and other post-apocalyptic films. The main acting trio is great, as they never lost an inch with each other. It is nice to see them together after being separated in the first film. Their performance and their emotional well-being teach the audience that being together as a family is extremely important and that families are all part of the survival mode, which highlights the disaster movie’s versatility and credibility. The CGI and the visual effects are not bad. However, my main issues are the distracting camera shakes (mostly in the first act) and the pacing, which was dragging somewhat quickly due to the film’s 98-minute runtime.
Gerard Butler continues to demonstrate strong survival (and emotional) instincts in Greenland 2: Migration. While the 98-minute runtime is 22 minutes shorter than the original, the film still delivers with raw emotion. The story relies on some convenient and predictable elements toward the end, but overall, it balances action, survival, thriller, emotion, disaster, and hope effectively. For those who have not seen the original, I recommend watching it first to avoid spoilers. I found this sequel to be a worthy successor, and I would welcome a third installment exploring the remaining characters. But we will see, depending on how this sequel performs in terms of critics’ reviews and/or box office performance. Still, please go out and watch it.
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