Released, more or less, in 2020 at the height of the global pandemic, Ric Roman Waugh’s “Greenland” told the story of an ordinary family struggling to make its way to Greenland to take refuge in an underground bunker complex. There, they would ride out a cataclysmic disaster brought on by the oncoming Clarke comet and, if possible, try to rebuild afterwards. Whenever I see Gerard Butler top-lining a project, I immediately begin speculating on the 24 or so other actors who presumably passed on it before it came his way. But I was surprised to discover that, while not exactly good in the classical sense, it was a lot better than I expected. Although the plotting was often dumb, and it grew tedious towards the final reels when the special effects completely took over the proceedings, it was the rare disaster film that actually attempted to invoke something resembling an emotional core. Even Butler was borderline likable as an ordinary guy pressed into any number of extraordinary situations.
That said, I can’t say that I have spent the last few years pining for a continuation—the first one brought its story to a reasonably satisfactory conclusion. And, since (Spoiler Alert!) the comet did hit at the end, wiping out most of humanity in the process, it didn’t seem as if there was anywhere it could really go from there. However, since that first film proved reasonably successful with audiences, especially by pandemic movie standards, I suppose it was inevitable that a follow-up would eventually occur. That film has arrived in the form of “Greenland 2: Migration.” While the title may strike some as a bit of a provocation at this particular moment in time, it is perhaps the only real element of note. Otherwise, it’s a by-the-numbers sequel that mostly ignores the stuff that made its predecessor stand out in exchange for formulaic would-be thrills.
Picking up five years after the events of the first film, John Garrity (Butler), along with his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and now-teenaged son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis), are still living with other survivors at the Greenland bunker complex. There, they wait for conditions to improve so that they can return to the surface. Alas, they have already stayed down there three years longer than expected, and with supplies growing scarce, things are getting a little tense as everyone continues to live through this new normal. Before too long, increasingly severe tremors cause the entire complex to collapse, with John and his family among those lucky enough to escape via lifeboat. A scientist among them (Amber Rose Revah) theorizes that the biggest crater left by one of Clarke’s fragments, located in the south of France, might actually contain both the basic necessities for life and provide protection from the radiation storms that are constantly flaring up at a moment’s notice.
At this point, the film essentially becomes “Greenland’s European Apocalypse,” as the Garritys and a quickly-dwindling group of survivors struggle to make their way to the site of the crater in the hopes that the rumors are true. Along the way, they encounter trigger-happy troops in Liverpool protecting a bunker from those stuck outside, drive across a now-empty English Channel, and struggle to cross a gaping chasm using a rope bridge so rickety that it makes the bridge in “Sorcerer” seem like a model of stability. And don’t forget the people who are still willing to kill for the few remaining scraps of civilization. On the other hand, they encounter a French family who take them in for the night and then insist that the Garritys take their surprisingly salon-perfect teenage daughter Camille (Nelia Valero de Costa) along with them. At least from Nathan’s perspective, there is a bright side to this apocalypse after all.
The problem is that the human drama that made the original “Greenland” at least somewhat compelling is almost entirely absent here. Instead, Waugh and screenwriters Mitchell LaFortune and Chris Sparling have essentially cobbled together elements seemingly taken directly from the likes of “Children of Men,” “The Walking Dead,” “The Road” and the “28 Days/Weeks/Years” films, giving the proceedings an all-too-familiar feeling that grows tedious after a while. The interfamilial strife amongst the Garritys that gave the first film a little juice is gone, rendering them little more than blandly heroic (there is one attempt to introduce real drama between them that never quite hits the hoped-for mark). At the same time, new characters are barely introduced before being violently dispatched. Even the big-scale moments of destruction that peppered the first film are mostly kept to a minimum here, though the occasional tackiness of the special effects suggests that this might not have been such a loss after all.
For the most part, “Greenland 2: Migration” does not work, too often coming across like a $60 million work of uninspired fan fiction. Unlike the original film, I have no qualms about suggesting that you give it a pass. Yet, as Gerard Butler movies go, it is somewhat better than average, and he is about as close to likable as he may ever get. If you are a Butler fan and have actually spent the last few years hoping for a “Greenland 2,” this might prove somewhat satisfactory. If you missed the first film and never felt any real sense of loss, you can do the same here.
