BUNKER MENTALITY (GREENLAND)

 

It's been a hard third lockdown for countries still trying to get to grips with the global pandemic.

With snow and rain storms battering our homes in winter, it makes harder to grab fresh air.

And with more public health advice urging us to stay home and save lives, television and streaming continue to offer a means of temporary escape from depressing reality unfolding around us.

So what could be more diverting than a Hollywood disaster movie?

Ric Roman Waugh's $35 million movie 'Greenland' is exactly what is needed for a bit of escapism.

The film is centred around a global catastrophe - a comet strike that threatens human civilisation.

Had Covid-19's new strains not closed the bulk of cinemas oncecagain, 'Greenland' might have been onr of those surprise box office hits that creeps up on us all.

Instead, it has had to avail of an Amazon Prime release in some territories and availability o  other video on demand services elsewhere, like HBO Max in the United States.

Waugh's thrill ride stars Gerard Butler, the growly voiced Scottish action hero as John Garrity, a structural engineer who is trying to repair a marriage that is on the verge of an irrevocable split.

Garrity tiptoes around his estranged wife, Morena Baccarin's Allison and revels being back in the company of his young, comet obsessed diabetic son, Roger Dale Floyd's Nathan.

The family are planning a barbecue with neighbours in their suburban Atlanta home, when Allison insists on John getting more wine and hot dog rolls.

As the news channels jabber excitedly about the recently discovered comet Clarke which is entering the Earth's atmosphere, he rushes to the local supermarket with Nathan.

When they arrive, people in the parking lot are staring up in wonder at the sky.

Military jets are streaming above their heads as Garrity and Nathan catch sight of the comet for the first time.

They go into the store but in the middle of their shopping, Garrity receives an automated phone call labelled Presidential Alert, informing him that he and his family have been selected to go to an unnamed location to shelter from a major disaster.

The robocall insists the Garritys must report to the local Robins air force base.

Shaken by the call, John quickly pays for his groceries and rushes home with Nathan to find the neighbours gathered around the TV, marvelling at the news footage of the comet entering the Earth's atmosphere.

But instead of watching a fragment land in Bermuda, they watch in horror as it hits Florida and obliterates Tampa.

John receives the automated phone call again, with his smart TV relaying in front of his wife and neighbours that the Garritys have been chosen for shelter.

At first, his neighbours are puzzled as to why John has received the automated call and they haven't.

Then panic sets in, as another comet strike shatters the windows of every house in the neighborhood and blows John off his feet on the front lawn.

The Garritys frantically scramble to get their belongings together and reluctantly leave for the air force base, as one neighbour desperately pleads with them to take their young daughter with them.

Distressed that he cannot his neighbours, John explains he cannot take the child as she doesn't have access and would be left stranded on her own at the base.

The journey to the base is scary and stressful.

On the route, the Garritys witness society breaking down as neighborhoods are looted.

During the journey, Nathan also reaches for a blanket out of his rucksack but inadvertently knocks his insulin pack onto the car floor.

Arriving at Robins, they are confronted by a traffic light.

The Garritys grab their belongings and abandon the car to set off on foot for the gates of the base.

The family force their way to the front of a desperate crowd and gain admission after presenting a Q code on John's phone.

They are given unique wristbands that can mean they can move in and out of the base, if needs be.

As they wait for one of several military planes to ferry them to safety, the couple suddenly realise Nathan's insulin is back in the car.

Garrity goes back to retrieve the pack but has only 15 minutes before the planes start to board with the designated survivors.

After a few minutes of anxiously waiting for her husband, Allison gets worried that he may end up boarding a different plane and become separated from them going to another location.

However when she seeks reassurance from a soldier, she inadvertently reveals John is retrieving an insulin pack for Nathan and is escorted to an office only to be told by a military official that she and her son cannot board a plane.

Incandescent at this decision, she is told she and Nathan must leave the base as no-one with a medical condition is allowed on board the plane.

When John gets back inside, all hell breaks loose as he searches for his wife and son.

He boards one plane and then disembarks because he realises they are not there.

As the plane opens its doors, a mob breaches the base and surges towards the air hangers in a bid to climb on board the flights.

An oil tanker spills, soldiers try to stop the mob and carnage ensues as the planes blow up.

What follows is your standard apocalyptic drama fare, with the family splitting up, desperately trying to get together again and encountering very scared people who start to lose the plot.

Think Steven Spielberg's 'War of the Worlds' with Tom Cruise and you are in the right ballpark.

It's complete guff but entertaining guff nevertheless.

Chris Sparling's screenplay is not particularly brilliant but what elevates 'Greenland' from standard guff is under the guiding hand of its director, the desperation of people to survive is believable.

Waugh does a really effective job imagining how ordinary suburban life would be upended by an event of this kind

From the supermarket car lot sequence to even the tone of news coverage, 'Greenland' feels authentic.

Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin and Roger Dale Floyd do a decent job portraying an ordinary family who find themselves in an extraordinary situation of being chosen ones.

It is an honour that doesn't sit easily on their heads.

The film convincingly imagines how society would break down as people go into a blind panic.

'Greenland' wobbles a little in the final third of the film as, rather predictably, Butler gets to wrestle, punch and gouge his way back to a reunion with his family.

But this predictability is offset by genuinely shocking sequences.

Allison and Nathan hitch a lift with David Denman and Hope Davis' initially kind couple Ralph and Judy Vento - only to see them turn on a sixpence as they figure out they might be better off if they turfed the boy's mun out of the car, stea her wristband and drive to another air force base pretending to be the parents of her son.

Scott Glenn pops up as Allison's stoic father Dale in Lexington, Kentucky but is saddled with some on the nose dialogue.

The film starts to really stretch credulity when John discovers the planes have been heading to specially constructed underground bunkers in Greenland.

He also learns that there are flights being arranged near Canada to get people to safety.

But despite these flaws, Waugh has conjured up an entertaining tale that certainly looks like it cost a lot more than its $35 million budget.

As a calling card for a future, bigger budget, effects driven adventure, it is a pretty impressive one.

It is just a shame that 'Greenland' never really got a proper theatrical run to enable audiences to properly revel in the noise and the spectacle.

If you just want two hours of apocalyptic escapism, 'Greenland' will certainly do.

It will not be the greatest movie you will see in 2021.

Nor does it pretend to be.

However as thrill rides go, it is worth climbing on board and just letting it take you through all its highs and lows.

('Greenland' was released for streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK and Ireland on February 5, 2021)