A new international film arrives at the cinema on October XNUMXst, one of those productions to be defined as “important”. We are probably talking about the third major production later Tenet e The wrong day, which marked the film industry's return to post-lockdown life; and while Tenet continues to be screened in theaters, even if the earnings begin to fall, undermined in the charts by The wrong day, here is that the scene is about to appear greenland, the new film by Ric Roman Waugh, in his seventh job behind the camera.
So back on the big screen Gerard Butler, one of the most appreciated faces internationally, who in the last 20 years has participated in films such as Tomb Radier - The cradle of life, The Phantom of the Opera, 300, but also films where he was the absolute protagonist like Private justice. In Greenland he is a leading actor, but also a producer. Interpret John Garrity, construction engineer, father of a family, but with a marriage in crisis. Him and his wife Allison they have had some problems, but they want to continue to have at least a friendship relationship to protect their child Nathan, in need of a united family also because of his pathology: the chronic diabetes. In the world, however, something is about to happen that will change all the rules for survival. What appears to be a comet, but which then turns out to be a large trail formed by a collection of comets and interstellar debris, is about to hit Earth. All the newspapers talk about it as a unique event, but not too dangerous. Many expect it as the attraction of the period, as a new story to tell, but the reality is quite different. John, as well as other people around the United States, receives a 'presidential alert who invites him to get ready, together with his family, to escape to reach the nearest airport as soon as possible and, later, the Grolandia (Greenland, in English). Apparently some comets are much larger than previously thought and are potentially destructive to the planet.
Greenland and originality?
From here begins the story, told in 119 minutes feature film. Seemingly trivial, apparently very similar to the plot of other apocalyptic type films 2012, in part it is not at all, in part it is. We know very well, when it comes to films of the genre, originality can never be an option. By now it has all been told, by now cinephile viewers from all over the world have been used to seeing it end due to climate change, nuclear wars, seismic events, tsunamis and zombies. What can change is the way an apocalypse can be told, the point of view of those who will face a disaster of such proportions. Here, for once, the usual individual who matters a lot in the world was not favored. No President of the United States of America, no General, no daughter of the guy who has to save the world and so on. The protagonists John, Allison and Nathan are very normal people, as viewers of the film could be, who have no idea why they were selected by the government to be rescued and taken by state flights in fallout shelters in Greenland.
They don't know, but they accept that they are at the mercy of events and begin their journey of hope and salvation. Things are not going well, as easily predictable. John and Allison get lost when they reach theairport from which they had to start and begin to live a series of misadventures typical of such a situation, in which no one knows how to behave and above all, as many post-apocalyptic series have taught us, where someone's will to survive may coincide with the will to hinder or even kill someone else. In short, for the umpteenth time, another non-original thing that can be understood by viewing the film lies in the fact that the main danger for man is not nature (as it would seem from the synopsis), but man himself. At the same time, this could not be a concept to be ignored in a feature film that works precisely in its part of immersion in history. There film script he manages to make us experience the right sense of anxiety, together with the protagonists, but for once by making sure that the viewer does not feel like advising the actors what to do or where to go, because no one knows. We could find ourselves so much inside history that we experience that same desperation and inability to reason.
Normal people at last
That's right, that's the point, the protagonists of Greenland they are not heroes, they are not special, they do not think like geniuses, but they just survive, trying to do what is possible for the family. A few romantic moments, a few touching moments and a series of usual banal sub-plots to lengthen the broth a little. In fact, in the end the juice of the film, which is nothing more than a long one move from point A to point B, it works. Everything else is an enrichment that is sometimes useful, sometimes less useful, but in the end it fits. There acting it is good and convincing. Gerarg Butler is a bear dad who wants to save his family, with good and reassuring eyes. Morena Baccarin it has a thickness, it is not the usual shoulder of apocalyptic films. Secondary actors do what they have to.
La direction it is essential, it does not invent anything, just like the photography. Me too'audio, apart from a few glimpses of quality, it is anonymous, as is the colonna sonora, which could resemble that of at least fifty films. Notable the visual effects, performed with a CGI first-rate, which, however, all too often exaggerates and makes the scenes so spectacular, but a little far-fetched (on the other hand we are well used to this in American cinema). All in all Greenland, to be a disaster film, yet another disaster-movie American on the likely end of the world, it's not too bad. He lets himself be watched quietly, without infamy or praise, without remaining in the hearts of the spectators for more than a few minutes, or being scandalized by some wrong choice.
