Greenland 2: Migration Review

Greenland was among the most surprising disaster movies of recent memory, with genuine dread and a strong emotional core. Ric Roman Waugh’s film also came out at a surprisingly appropriate time, as it felt like we were weathering through the apocalypse in 2020. Almost six years later, Greenland 2: Migration has unusually apt timing. Just as the filmmakers couldn’t have predicted the pandemic, there’s no way they could’ve known that Donald Trump would be floating the idea of acquiring Greenland. Yet, here we are in what feels like the beginning of the end.

Greenland 2: Migration manages to be bleaker than its predecessor, but somehow more optimistic. The first film left us on a cautiously hopeful note. That hope is waning as what remains of humanity is still largely confined to a bunker almost a decade later. John Garrity (Gerard Butler) remains committed to his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis). I honestly didn’t realize that the Jojo Rabbit actor had replaced Roger Dale Floyd as Nathan until looking up the film’s Wikipedia page. While the bunker ensures their survival, some might describe this as a slow death. In any case, the Garritys are eventually forced to flee.

The family treks across a most barren Europe in search of greener pastures. Along the way, they encounter a revolving door of side characters who mainly exist to die. Meanwhile, our main trio dodges floods, asteroids, and other disasters, some more natural than others. The first film constantly had the audience questioning how the characters would get out of several seemingly impossible situations. Here, we get one too many close calls that aren’t quite close enough. Part of that’s because the film can come off as rushed, with a runtime just over 90 minutes.

This isn’t to say there are no stakes in Greenland 2. It’s established early on that no matter how many times our heroes come out unscathed, time will inevitably take its toll. Somebody else will inherit the world we leave behind, assuming there’s a world left. Greenland 2 encourages us to not only take care of the world, but also the people who inhabit it. Although the film isn’t saying anything new, Greenland 2 does manage to get its message across with more subtlety than others. Even the closing nation can be read in a few different ways. To some, it’ll be an environmental message. To others, it may be geared more towards the political divide that’s more likely to destroy our world than an interstellar comet.

Greenland 2 isn’t as solid as the original, but it has just enough going for it. The performances, especially from Butler, still bring a lot of charm to a murky environment. The action doesn’t overshadow the characters or the deeper themes, although the film never becomes pretentious. We probably don’t need a Greenland 3, as this one seems to wrap up on a fitting note. Then again, Waugh has now made two films that mirrored reality in unintentional ways. Perhaps it would be interesting to see if Waugh can predict the future in a third film.