Greenland 2: Migration dares to ask what few catastrophe films need to think about: What realistically occurs subsequent, when the mud has settled? Positive, there are films like 2012 that finish with a soar ahead in time, exhibiting that humankind will now try and rebuild—which is how Greenland ends as nicely—however the gritty particulars of how precisely the world can transfer ahead and what the fallout actually seems like are hardly ever explored.
But, it’s exactly in these particulars that Greenland 2 finds its manner, all whereas sustaining the tone, vitality, and excessive stakes of its predecessor.
The Final Of Us Meets Disasters On The Large Display screen (And It Truly Works)
If sequels are troublesome to tug off, then the uncommon catastrophe film sequel is that a lot tougher. Catastrophe films are likely to ask a variety of their audiences, notably with regards to suspending disbelief. Greenland did not try this to the extent of, say, Geostorm (one other Gerard Butler catastrophe flick), however even the Garrity household’s survival within the first film requires viewers to be a bit forgiving.
Greenland 2 shouldn’t be freed from this similar limitation, but it surely manages to stay on par with the quantity of grace required of its viewers—a feat in and of itself. The sequel picks up a number of years after Greenland ends, and the world is not fairly the place audiences would possibly anticipate following that film’s conclusion. Though the ultimate scene of that film means that the bunkers the world over are lastly reconnecting and the survivors are nicely on their approach to constructing a brand new Earth, Greenland 2 begins on way more dire footing.
The Garrity household stays of their bunker, as do all who made it to the Greenland protected haven, however that is so far as they’ll go. Along with the air being lethally poisonous, the planet is suffering from a bunch of storms in addition to comet fragments persevering with to crash-land at a second’s discover. What’s extra, humanity is much from popping out of this devastation with a renewed sense of unity. Battle, violence, and a worldwide shortage mindset make different folks as lethal because the climate occasions themselves.
Maybe the largest nice shock of Greenland 2 is the truth that the stakes proceed to really feel excessive, usually in fully surprising methods. The film is much less about shock issue and large-scale disasters (though there are some brand-new climate phenomena launched to the franchise, together with a catastrophe film fan-favorite, tsunamis) and extra concerning the realities of humanity and the way darkish an period this is able to realistically be.
In that manner, Greenland 2 feels extra akin to post-apocalyptic TV present The Final of Us than it does many catastrophe blockbusters. Sure, comet fragments rain down from the sky, and there are many death-defying moments, however there are additionally gritty scenes involving shoot-outs and depictions of people at their very worst, keen to kill or let others die if it means saving their very own pores and skin.
The film’s stars have additionally misplaced none of their coronary heart. One of many issues that set Greenland aside was how granular the deal with the Garrity household was, even because the thrust of the film was a planet-killing comet hurtling towards the Earth. Greenland 2 strikes the identical steadiness, with John (Gerard Butler), Allison (Morena Baccarin), and Nathan’s (Roman Griffin Davis) relationships and survival feeling simply as integral to the plot because the (albeit a bit far-fetched) geology.
Even past this one household, Greenland 2 considers finer particulars, equivalent to the federal government bringing extra therapists than surgeons into the bunkers as a result of they knew how traumatizing these occasions could be for the survivors. Gerard Butler in a therapist’s workplace is not precisely what one would possibly anticipate from a catastrophe film, but it surely lays the groundwork for the place the film in the end lands.
And therein lies the really spectacular facet of this sequel. Not solely does it keep away from catastrophe and demise solely for catastrophe and demise’s sake—a typical pitfall of the style—but it surely additionally has an precise message to ship, and ship it does, all with out feeling ham-fisted or clichéd. Whereas not precisely revolutionary by way of what that deeper which means is, the truth that the film achieves that depth alongside its death-defying moments must be applauded.
Greenland 2 wasn’t flawless, in fact. There have been particulars that needed to be ignored, notably when it got here to the Garrity household’s potential to get assist from strangers when the film went to nice lengths to indicate how desperation and survival instincts had led to an each man for himself mentality. It appeared that, at each flip, the household was capable of finding Good Samaritans within the nick of time.
There’s additionally the self-made downside of Nathan’s insulin, which solely seems like a niche in Greenland 2 as a result of it was such a serious component of the primary film. Actually, Nathan leaving his insulin behind is the very cause the Garrity household missed their alternative to board a aircraft to the bunker. Significantly provided that Greenland highlighted the federal government’s rejection of anybody with a continual situation, it is just a little odd that they however had sufficient insulin stockpiled to supply it for a number of years.
The titular migration additionally avoids any deal with Nathan needing his insulin, exterior of the truth that Allison tells Nathan to seize as a lot as he can. Even these gaps may be forgiven, nevertheless, as it is simple sufficient to think about that, whereas the federal government wasn’t selecting to avoid wasting anybody with a continual situation, they might have hoarded as many assets as potential, and that Nathan may have been managing his insulin off-screen.
All issues thought of, these grievances are trivial, and Greenland 2 manages to place itself in a league of its personal, proving that, not solely can catastrophe films keep away from being completely nonsensical, but in addition, there can be one thing that comes after—and that exploration of what is subsequent may be simply nearly as good as what got here earlier than.
- Launch Date
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January 9, 2026
- Runtime
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98 Minutes
- Director
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Ric Roman Waugh
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Gerard Butler
John Garrity
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William Abadie
Denis Laurent
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Tommie Earl Jenkins
Common Sharpe
