Review of Greenland

In the last few years Gerard Butler, sadly, has become a synonym for a movie flop. There has rarely been a movie in the last five years with Butler in it, that was not either bad or completely awful. The last of which, to name few were, the last part of the Fallen Trilogy, "Angel has Fallen", the less than exciting WWII thriller "Hunter Killer" and one of the worst movies to be made in the last few years, "Geostorm". Knowing all this I went into "Greenland" with a certain level of skepticism. Luckily, Butler seems to have gotten a lot smarter in his choices because "Greenland" is a quite entertaining motion picture. While I am not a fan of disaster movies, mostly because they always follow the same boring concept namely, a family or gets separated for some stupid reason and tries to find each other again over the next two hours while their journey is complicated by various obstacles of human or nature kind. "Greenland" is no doubt a disaster movie but fortunately it is a little more exciting and creative than most of its kind over the last few years have been. The movie begins with John Garrity (Butler) visiting his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and their son Nathan. John and Allison are separated but they seem to get along fine. Nathan is fascinated by the stars and the asteroid that is shooting towards earth. Soon the Garritys invite some friends over, when a presidential alert appears on their TV and phone telling them to pack some bags and drive to a close by airfield. When they get there they are ushered in and just before they are about to board the plane the separation plot kicks in. Admittedly it's not as stupid as usual. Now this might sound like your typical disaster movie but trust me it's not quite. "Greenland" is smart in how it handles it's characters and the plot is not always straight forward. The movie tries less to create tension with the looming disaster but rather does so through the human element and the different characters the family members meet on their way. We only get to experience what the family members do. There are no five or six main characters that each have their own agenda. Even when they're separated, the Garritys stay the focus of the movie. They meet good and bad people along their journey and what I liked in particular was the honesty with which the director handles these characters. Many people are selfish and greedy and even in situations like this one, where working together is most important, people still only think of themselves. The movie works also because Butler and Baccarin have a very good chemistry. They are the couple that has had hard times but still loves each other and would do anything to stay a family. Butler is really good here. As good as he hasn't been in years. It's not a very difficult role or something that would be beyond his skillset but it is more serious and dramatic than his usual tough guy parts. Quite a few times I was happy to see that he can do more than growl and butcher an American accent. Granted, he still butchers it but at least his character is so charming and likable that we can overlook it. The love and tenderness he shows in his face a few times is one I have never seen of him and, in a particularly important scene, we see the self loathing and disgust in his face. I believe he always had it in him and I am glad he finally chose a movie that allowed him to bring out his full talent. Baccarin is good too, especially on her own. She hasn't had too many major roles yet in movies but I hope she will soon. She really is a capable actress. "Greenland" is certainly worth watching and if you have the chance and the current situation allows it, go see it next month when it's released. It makes for a welcome change of pace.