Greenland [Blu-Ray]

Director: Ric Roman Waugh

Cast: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, David Denman

Release Date: February 9, 2021

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

A family fights for survival as a planet-killing comet races to Earth. John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his estranged wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), and young son Nathan make a perilous journey to their only hope for sanctuary. Amid terrifying news accounts of cities around the world being leveled by the comet’s fragments, the Garritys experience the best and worst in humanity while they battle the increasing panic and lawlessness surrounding them. As the countdown to global apocalypse approaches zero, their incredible trek culminates in a desperate and last-minute flight to a possible safe haven.

Please Note: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Greenland’ accompanies John Garrity (Butler), his estranged wife Allison (Baccarin) and their son Nathan (Floyd) who must fight for survival when a massive, planet-sized comet hurtles toward earth ready to eradicate the majority of life on the planet. Initially believing to be among the fortunate group selected for government relocation and protection, an unexpected situation causes them to not only lose their place on the extremely limited list, but to be separated after John must return to their abandoned vehicle to find their son’s lost medicine. Before long the family ends up split and each stuck in various, increasingly dangerous circumstances as the world around them panics and humanity starts to crumble as things get worse. But if they can find each other and come up with a plan to reach a rumored shelter, they might still stand a chance at survival.

Directed by Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen, Snitch) from a screenplay written by Chris Sparling (Buried), Ric Roman Waugh does a pretty great job at the helm of ‘Greenland’ capturing the heart and soul of the individuals and their difficult journey throughout. The film also owes plenty of credit to the cast which features a handful of talented individuals and includes Gerard Butler (Olympus Has Fallen), Morena Baccarin (Deadpool), David Denman (Brightburn), Hope Davis (TV’s Your Honor), Roger Dale Floyd (Doctor Sleep), Holt McCallany (TV’s Mindhunter) and Scott Glenn (TV’s The Leftovers) along with more, nearly all delivering quite solid performances in each of their respective roles and helping this incredibly human disaster film to evolve into something far more than you might initially expect.

‘Greenland’ is more than your average run of the mill disaster flick. Wisely opting for focusing primarily on the characters within and the painful struggles and uncertain situations they are forced into along their journey to potential safety, as opposed to the catastrophic event itself which allows it to become a far more emotional and intense adventure than we often see in high budget disaster movies. That’s certainly not to say that there isn’t plenty of nice effects, intense scenarios and confrontations that consistently keep the story from ever becoming even the slightest bit dull, merely allowing the extravagance to take a backseat to the human individuals which is likely the film’s greatest strength. Especially with the capable guidance of director Ric Roman Waugh and a notable cast that includes Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin and Scott Glenn who each help tremendously in allowing this one to work as smoothly as it does. I would strongly encourage everyone to try and give ‘Greenland’ a fair shot whenever possible. It’s a surprisingly powerful and well-acted disaster film that’s worth taking the time to give a chance. If you’re a fan of similar films or of any of the key cast members, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll end up thoroughly enjoying this one.

Overall, ‘Greenland’ is a powerful and consistently tense ride that wisely chooses to focus on its characters as well as their painful and uncertain journey to hopeful safety over the extravagant portrayal of the looming catastrophe itself, which in this case is a near extinction level impact from a comet heading toward our planet. The key focus on the individuals allows for a surprising degree of heart and emotion within, while naturally still providing its share of excitement, explosions and other insanity to appease a certain group of the core audience. ‘Greenland’ is definitely recommended, especially for anyone that enjoys a well-constructed disaster flick, not to mention fans of leads Butler and Baccarin whose solid performances really help to make ‘Greenland’ the riveting ride it becomes. At the very least this one should certainly be worthy a rental one relaxing evening at home.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Greenland’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks great as a whole and offers a smooth, sharp and richly detailed presentation that never suffers from any notable problems along the way. It holds up remarkably well even during the numerous darkly lit, heavily populated and fast moving sequences throughout, never allowing anything that might be occurring onscreen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a top notch high definition video presentation from Universal that should easily please fans and first time viewers alike.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio Soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack makes a wonderful compliment to the onscreen tension and excitement and provides a clean and hard hitting, immersive soundtrack from start to finish. It constantly takes full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send everything from vehicle activity and music to crowds yelling and bullets flying throughout the various speakers quite regularly. All while always making certain that any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously remain clean and fully audible. Overall, this is a wonderful 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack, a constant treat that more delivers every step of the way.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Greenland’ includes a few decent extras worth checking out. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Director Ric Roman Waugh and Producer Basil Iwanyk’, in addition to a few ‘Deleted Scenes’ with optional Introductions by Director Ric Roman Waugh (running approximately 5 minutes in length altogether, or approximately 8 minutes in length with the introductions). Also included is the brief Behind the Scenes Featurette ‘Humanity’ (running approximately 1 minute).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

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‘Greenland’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from STX Films & Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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