In mild of current remarks from public figures fantasizing about buying Greenland, alongside comes Ric Roman Waugh’s “Greenland 2: Migration,” a sequel I’m nonetheless not totally satisfied exists. I principally loved Gerard Butler corralling his household onto a treasured one-way ticket to the slick Danish territory within the 2020 thriller, a film that imagined a comet wiping out greater than 75 % of the planet whereas leaving Greenland miraculously untouched. That movie labored as a result of it knew precisely what it was: a blunt, efficient environmental catastrophe film anchored by Butler, who’s so brooding and authoritative that if he informed me to leap off a cliff, I’d at the least take into account it.
“Greenland 2” is a sillier, much more nonsensical endeavor that, very like its predecessor, barely takes place in Greenland in any respect. The primary movie was about attempting to make it there. This one, having already arrived, is about fleeing as soon as once more after life on the island has one way or the other turn out to be unstable and practically uninhabitable within the 5 years between installments. As an alternative, the sequel spends most of its time in France, hinging its total narrative on an unverified concept that the comet fragment that landed off the Mediterranean coast within the first movie has turned that area right into a type of earthly nirvana. Assume lush grass, limitless blue skies, and pristine our bodies of water. It’s much less post-apocalypse and extra aggressive journey brochure.
If the primary “Greenland” functioned as a grim allegory for local weather change and humanity’s common incapacity to get its act collectively, “Migration” doesn’t abandon that concept a lot as dilute it. The idea is correct there within the title. A planet pushed to its breaking level, forcing mass displacement, is hardly a stretch of the creativeness. The movie picks up 5 years later and follows John Garrity, as soon as once more performed by Butler, alongside his spouse Allison (Morena Baccarin) and son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis), as they try to achieve this rumored comet sanctuary earlier than worsening climate patterns and lingering particles end the job the primary affect began.
To Waugh’s credit score, he squeezes some real stress out of the premise. The movie is peppered with strong set items, together with shootouts with marauders, collapsing caves, and a standout sequence wherein the household crosses a makeshift ladder bridge stitched along with rags whereas violent winds threaten to tear it aside. Waugh excels at inserting characters in speedy, bodily hazard and pushing ahead with out overthinking the main points. Sadly, the film additionally relies upon closely on comfort. Characters seem precisely when wanted, delivering strains like, “Good factor I discovered you otherwise you’d be useless,” and not using a trace of irony. A lifeboat floating within the ocean that has conveniently run out of fuel simply occurs to float into Liverpool on the precise second provides are depleted. And Nathan, who was established within the first movie as diabetic, by no means as soon as injects insulin. Apparently, on this apocalypse, insulin is simpler to search out than widespread sense.
The place the unique movie thrived on its sense of panic and emotional relatability, “Migration” feels curiously hole. The characters are extra hardened, which is smart after half a decade of world collapse, however that emotional armor drains the story of urgency. Greater than something, the sequel underscores how pointless it’s. Butler and Baccarin stay dependable anchors, and Butler specifically continues his long-running custom of proudly owning the January launch calendar. The script by Mitchell LaFortune and Chris Sparling does what it might with a skinny idea stretched even thinner, however no quantity of competence can totally justify the train.
January is commonly a dumping floor for studios, and whereas “Greenland 2: Migration” is much from excessive cinema, its simple, meat-and-potatoes survival mechanics give it a baseline degree of watchability. Even when it’s uninteresting or outright foolish, it has a pulse. It’s simply not the type of pulse that calls for a sequel, not to mention insists on one. However they will’t all be “Den of Thieves 2.”
GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION is now enjoying in theaters.