Greenland

STORY: Amidst a global apocalypse, John Garrity and his family experiences the best and the worst in humanity, as they struggle to find a safer ground. But what is more dangerous – humans in distress or nature’s destructive force unleased?

REVIEW: John Garrity (Gerard Butler) isn’t exactly having a great day, thanks to his strained relationship with his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and a 7-year-old son, who is diabetic. But their lives are about to take a dramatic turn as a deadly comet is about to strike planet earth. Like most others, the Garritys are following the news of the fast progressing doomsday on TV but the disaster hits much closer home when a comet strikes their own neighbourhood. A ray of hope comes in the form of a government message that says the Garritys have been chosen for a safe passage to an undisclosed military location. They are asked to report to the nearest military airbase. This even as their friends wonder why only the Garritys are the chosen ones. Not sparing a thought for the less fortunate ones, John Garrity immediately gets going. He vehemently ignores the pleas of their friendly neighbour to take her kid along because the message clearly states that only his family is chosen. Somehow beating the traffic and rampant lootings on the road, the Garritys reach the military base, but realise that their son’s insulin pack has been left behind in the car. John returns with the pack only to find that his wife and son have not been allowed to board because of his son’s chronic sugar condition. All of this unfolds quite grippingly in the first few minutes. From there on, director Ric Roman Waugh and writer Chris Sparling give the viewers an insight into not just the impeding doom but also bring to fore some of the most convincing human reactions to a catastrophe of this scale. As the narrative delves into the practicality of surviving a disaster, they also build the tension and drama that comes along with it. But none of it is done excessively to lose focus from the underlying human story about an average American family trying to survive the worst night of their lives. The catastrophe itself never overtakes the human tragedy – visually or virtually. The GFX and sound effects are understated but the feel is real.

The action is believable and just enough to depict the dire circumstances that brings out the worst in people. Gerard Butler is restrained and unheroic as he plays the man, who goes from being the chosen one to the one who fears losing it all. Morena Baccarin also brings in the conviction of a mother, desperate to save her fragile son. Roger Dale Floyd (as Nathan) portrays the vulnerability of a child, who is constantly in harm’s way yet mature enough to understand the gravity of the situation.

Some might find the film slow because it ditches the regular disaster movie tropes and chooses to concentrate on the practicality of surviving a catastrophe. In that sense, Greenland is a slow-burning, mature and nuanced take on a life-altering and destructive fictional event that is all too familiar in today’s time. It’s as grounded as it is gritty, leaving you emotionally heavy and cinematically satisfied.