Greenland (2020) Film review

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Star – Gerard Butler My Rating *** Genre – Action Run Time – 2 hr 2 Minutes. Certificate – PG13 Country – U.S.A Awards – 1 Win & Nominations 2 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = So Greenland, yet another action blockbuster that got bogged down by the pandemic and had to be released away from the main cinemas, especially in America and Europe, key markets. HBO eventually took it on and it was released on Amazon Prime soon after, before China and other territories not hit so hard by the pandemics first wave did a theater release. It’s directed by Ric Waugh, an experienced director that has done just ten films in his 25-year career. It stars Gerard Butler, Waugh previously directing the gruff jock on the dreadful Angel Has Fallen. It was originally going to be directed by Neill Blomkemp of District 9 fame and Chris ‘Captain American’ Evans in the lead, a very different movie likely to the one we have here. -Cast – • Gerard Butler as John Garrity • Morena Baccarin as Allison Garrity • David Denman as Ralph Vento • Hope Davis as Judy Vento • Roger Dale Floyd as Nathan Garrity • Andrew Byron Bachelor as Colin • Merrin Dungey as Major Breen • Holt McCallany as Twin Otter pilot • Scott Glenn as Dale John Garrity (Butler) is a structural engineer, good enough to be put on a secret and important list without his knowledge. When he receives a mysterious automated text from the Department of Homeland Security, informing him that he and his family have been selected for emergency sheltering, he is confused and alarmed. But for what and why? He slowly puts two and two together as he returns home to his family. The world was anticipating, and told, they would suffer a near miss from a comet and small segments were expected to breech the atmosphere but not cause any major issues. But as the world gathers around the TV to watch the expected small impact near Bermuda as a way bigger lump than expected slams into Florida and obliterates Tampa, and a big chunk of the Sunshine State. John, then receives a call with instructions to head to Robins Air Force Base for an evacuation flight with his family. Garrity and his neighbors then learn the comet is on a direct collision course with Earth, and the entire planet will be bombarded with hundreds of fragments within the next 48 hours, more cities likely to be leveled, with the largest fragment expected to cause an earth extinction level event on the surface. The Garrity’s pack up and flee in their suburban, unable to take anyone else, despite their pleas, as they would be denied boarding. It doesn’t go as planned at the base has panicked crowds gathering outside as the fragments begin to hit America as order breaks down across the world. If they miss this flight then what? ===Results=== Now I know what you are thinking. It’s a Gerard Butler action movie so it’s not going to be great, certainly not cerebral – perhaps rather clunky, a bit noisy and an overdose of testosterone. Although Butler lives in that world his action movies are not that bad if you actually bother to watch them and it’s rare that he has a stinker although the later President Has Fallen movies not great. The less said about his rom-coms the better. But action films like Geostorm, Hunter Killer, The Vanishing, Olympus Has Fallen and Machine Gun Preacher, for example, are fun and entertaining and the point of a good action film is its exactly that, entertaining, and nothing more matters. Greenland is that and some and definitely one to seek out if you are in need of your celestial body hitting the Earth disaster movie. For its surprisingly tiny $35 million budget it looks great although most of the movie is suggested menace rather than constant action but when the key special effects are needed, they deliver. It’s only managed$52 million box office but that’s pretty good for a big film released during the pandemic landscape. It’s got more substance to it than just crash bang wallop and a good and very likely premise that this is what would actually happen in an event of a near Earth ending asteroid or comet impact, the chosen few not told until the last moments, the population not told at all what’s coming although it would be leaked online pretty quickly in real life, Joe Rogen most likely to get the scoop and no one with a brain would believe him. ===RATINGS=== Imdb.com 6.4 /10.0 (106,234 votes) Rottentomatos.com –79% critic’s approval Metacritic.com – % critic’s approval ===Trailer=== https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7737786/