3+1 Short Paragraphs: Greenland

 2020, Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen) -- download

I have to clean out the last few of these pre-Xmas movies before my stream becomes inundated with unrealistic optimism. So, considering it feels like End of the World Lite these days, why not a Disaster Movie for The Pause. For The Pause, you ask? Well, Production disarrays being what they are this year, this movie almost seemed like the indie genre version of a disaster movie, in that it was light on the disaster, and more on the people. But not in that cheap looking Straight To way, where the disaster always happens off screen while everyone looks up aghast, more that this movie was about the End of the World, and not so much about all the World Ending things that happen on the way to the End. You know what I mean -- most of these movies rely on a few (some, like 2012, more than a few) key scenes where the impending disaster causes pre-emptive destruction, like a few stray rocks fall from the sky, or the catastrophic weather wipes out a city or two. Oh, that does happen here, but the camera stays with our main characters, and experiences it through their eyes, remind me more of scifi indie dear Monsters than anything.

We get right into it. John Garrity (Gerard Butler, Gamer) is an engineer -- he builds skyscrapers -- on the outs with his wife, and coming back to their suburban home for a neighbourhood BBQ. The tension between his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin, Firefly) is tangible, but they hold it together for the sake of their son, and to make nice-nice with their friends, during the news coverage of a comet bypassing the planet, which will be spectacular. Alas, not the kind of spectacular they are looking for, as Emergency Alerts start ringing on phones and TVs, and its the Garrity's only. They are deemed essential, while the rest of their friends, are not. The absolute sense of dread in these initial scenes is heavy, a feeling we are all now very personally familiar with. What's going to happen next? As a disaster movie viewer, we know, but the sinking feeling on the faces of everyone on screen is heart breaking.

The idea is pretty much the same as the aforementioned 2012, in that the leaders of the world must have been aware that this comet could lead to the End of the World and have prepared for it. But through the eyes of the Garrity family, we learn how frantic and unprepared the whole endeavour is. It should be easy; get on the planes and fly to Greenland, to safety inside the bunkers. But this is people we are talking about, and (again!) this year is showing us all how even the most straight forward initiatives to Save People can be easily derailed by the selfish, greedy and panicked. 

I rather liked this movie, as it sidestepped the thrills and rollercoaster ride of most disaster movies, and focused more on the people. It is rather speedy and very narrowly focused on this family, and this family only, finding their way from Atlanta to Greenland, by any means possible. Of course, this is all under-stress acting and situations, which can only lend to so much in the way of dramatic appeal. But it all felt very genuine to me, dispensing with a lot of the typical tropes of disaster movies, in return for the human element.