Directed By Ric Roman Waugh

Starring – Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roman Griffin Davis

The Plot – In a continuation of the story, the Garrity family (Butler, Baccarin, Davis), who survive a near-extinction level event when an interstellar comet hits Earth, must leave the safety of the Greenland bunker and embark on a perilous journey across the decimated frozen wasteland of Europe to find a new home.

Rated PG-13 for some strong violence, bloody images, and action.

Greenland 2: Migration (2026) Final Trailer – Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin

POSITIVES

Between a compellingly grounded original installment and an unforeseen sequel five years later progressing the Garrity family’s journey, this marks twice that this franchise has surprised me, and while “Migration” doesn’t reach the heights of prominence that its superior predecessor encompassed, it does provide a few key ingredients to possibly persuade audiences to give it a chance, beginning with Ric Roman Waugh’s intense direction underlining tension within twice as many action set pieces. Say what you will about Waugh’s proven track record, but the man clearly knows out to draw out the vulnerabilities of every sequence in ways that not only help transcend the predictable outcomes of these main characters’ well-being, but also brings some much-needed urgency to the narrative in periodic doses that help with so much of the sluggish pacing that plunders so much of the storytelling. On top of this, Waugh’s depiction of society in turmoil maintains the same unabashed honesty and insight of its predecessor, particularly in the overpopulation of even 25% of the remaining world fighting for the crumbs in food and shelter that not remain in a desolate and post-apocalyptic landscape. This was without question the most endearing angle, to me, in terms of the movie’s world-building, depicting the crippling nature of dog-eat-dog desperation, especially when these characters are forced to think quickly on their feet for survival, and though Waugh’s spoon-fed message of optimistic caution during the movie’s closing moments feels a bit unearned and even pretentious in a movie this logically and creatively flawed, it does come at a time of divide within our world where advice of togetherness and compassion feels most necessary to those who have overlooked its value, proving Waugh’s intentions to dig much deeper than an entertaining manner of escapism, even in a movie that never comes close to sniffing tonal or thematic prominence. Lastly, the performances have little to do with the peril of plundering characterization, as Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin maintain the charms and energies of their various deliveries, even against material that offers them minimalized opportunity to challenge their respective registries. Butler’s brutish take charge initiative conjure an everyman humanity that shine under the most dire of circumstances, balanced with a far more vulnerably frail portrayal than I ever saw coming, and Baccarin, while still maintaining the hearty determination that makes her the fearless protector of this family, shines like a light of empathetic sincerity in a dark and damning world, an aspect made better by the lived-in brand of chemistry between her and Butler that never loses sight of the family-first ideal that Waugh holds so close to the consistency of his messaging.

NEGATIVES

In a lot of ways, “Migration” is the uninspiring and illogical movie that we expected from its predecessor, especially in the confines of a coldly uncalculating screenplay that frequently lost my attention throughout a disappointing sequel that doesn’t even live up to the Greenland setting firmly established in the movie’s title. While it’s easy enough to convey that this is a boring movie, the reasons for it can be found in a repetitious outline, transparent predictability, and flat characterization that continuously undercuts the magnitude of what should be the movie’s monumental potential, making this feel like a superfluous obligation of a sequel, instead of an opportunity to thoroughly flesh out the stakes and circumstances of the aforementioned world-building. In particular with the characterization, the writing rests on its laurels of laziness in ways that not only refuse to evolve these characters in the five years that have transpired since their search for shelter, but also rush through those quiet moments away from devastation that give us a greater and grander purpose for the film than just destruction porn, leaving the pacing working overtime to maintain any semblance of momentum, as it tediously deviates between underwhelming action set piece and overly dramatic scene. Part of the appeal with the first film was living within this family in ways that maintained their synergy despite the world crumbling down around them, and while the situational outlook evidentially feels far more bleak and lifeless than that movie, their personalities are shaped in ways that feel like a wet blanket for the movie’s appeal, especially with the coldly flat and unregistering addition of “JoJo Rabbit’s” Roman Griffin Davis’ takeover of the older Nathan character. The script also stumbles towards maintaining the grounded sensibilities of its predecessor, particularly during its bouts with radiation poisoning that doesn’t make sense, to say the least. An example pertains to these frequent lightning storms that surmise radiation, where characters wear masks during said storms, but then take them off mere minutes after their passing. Did the radiation evaporate as quickly as the storm clouds? If it affects characters, why is John the only one coughing from their overwhelming toxicity? This is made even funnier by the family’s objective to migrate towards the initial asteroid’s point of impact, where green life has emerged, compared to everywhere else on Earth that looks like a desolate wasteland. The script’s inability to even express how this is even possible is hilarious, as they lightly graze over it like they’re swatting at flies during a family picnic, without anything even remotely pertaining to the atmospheric radiation that would be stronger here than anywhere else in the world. Aside from the script, the movie’s technical impulses also leave plenty more to be desired to the movie’s presentation, surmising a clear front-running favorite for the ugliest cinematography in any movie, in 2026. While I wholeheartedly understand that the destruction enacts an intended desolation that shouldn’t be pleasant to look at, I’m instead talking about the weathered color grading and horribly rendered greenscreen backdrops that stand out like a sore thumb whenever a character is plastered directly in front of its overwhelming artificiality, featuring this glaring tint of an outline around them that feels like Netflix levels of glaring distraction, but seen on the biggest screen to magnify them even further. This is balanced with obscured framing and intrusive editing that not only make it difficult to coherently interpret just what is transpiring in any scene involving character physicality, but also yearn to influence what are already pathetically unimpressive action sequences, featuring their own brand of shaking camera captivity that was outdated by 2017 action movie standards. Even if this movie had the budget to pull off impressive feats of destruction, the creative ambition simply isn’t there, as the movie continuously deviates to the easiest path of depiction, in order to convincingly execute them, making conflicts so epic in scope and scale feel entirely small scale in their registered rendering, regardless of the aforementioned suspense that Waugh revels so effectively in. Finally, as indicated with the consistency of the movie’s structure, the tone is entirely one-note on the crossroads of dull and tedious, with very few moments of levity to take away from the movie’s overly serious demeanor, which is established as immediately as its opening scene. As to where the first movie balanced its societal tragedy with those periodic moments of the family attempting to hold onto their humanity, the sequel feels so overly pessimistic, even as a majority of its narrative pertains to the family optimistically seeking a place to start over, and it leaves the whole experience compromisingly unengaging to audience curiosity, without anything remotely resembling a personality to inscribe a spark to these characters or the movie that surrounds their efforts.

OVERALL
“Greenland 2: Migration” is a drably dull and generically lifeless sequel that puts the disaster in disaster movie, delivering little in the way of progression or pay-off to those surprised by its superior predecessor. With artificially oversaturated action sequences articulated at a limitedly small scale, and minimized characterization squandering a magnitude of melodramatic sequences, Ric Roman Waugh finally capitalizes on the cinematic terror that we were initially expecting, five years previously, and while those involved on-screen seek shelter from a world teetering on extinction, it’s the franchise off-screen that stumbles towards its own Armageddon, failing to justify its existence in the process.

My Grade: 4.7 or D-