In a 2015 study written by geologist Michael Rampino and scientist Ken Caldeira, the authors linked the age of impact craters with recurring mass extinctions of life. Their research showed a cyclical pattern, with impact craters and extinction events taking place every 26 million years. In the world of cinema, that frequency increases dramatically. It seems like an asteroid or comet is slamming into our pale blue dot of a planet every few years. Among the most memorable films that fall into this category are “The End of the World” (1916), “When Worlds Collide” (1951), “Meteor” (1979), “Tank Girl” (1995), “Armageddon” (1998), “Deep Impact” (1998), “Melancholia” (2011), and “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” (2012).
A large, mass extinction level impact event will happen again: There’s no avoiding that grim prospect. Not to worry, though, because — statistically speaking — it’s not likely to happen in our lifetimes. In 2014, Tulane University earth sciences professor Stephen A. Nelson published a paper that calculated the lifetime odds of dying from a global asteroid or comet impact at 1 in 75,000. You are much more likely to die in a car accident, in a fire, or in a flood. You are also more likely to be murdered — and the chances of that seem to be steadily increasing in the United States.
On the other hand, you are more likely to die in a fiery, Earth-destroying impact event than to succumb to food poisoning by botulism or a shark attack. Maybe Nelson should have kept that part to himself.
“Greenland 2: Migration” is a post-apocalyptic survival disaster thriller film. Directed by Ric Roman Waugh, the story picks up five years after the events of the previous film, “Greenland” (2020). In the first film, an interstellar comet crashes into Southern France, devastating most of the Earth and wiping out roughly 75% of humanity. Survivors find sanctuary in underground bunkers, including one near Thule Air Base in Greenland.
In “Greenland 2,” that’s where we find our protagonists, the Garrity family: John, a structural engineer; his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin); and their diabetic son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis). The film opens with John wandering about the blistered Greenland landscape on a scouting mission, presumably hoping to salvage useful materials. Along the coastline, he discovers several fully enclosed lifeboats and a beached warship. A sudden electromagnetic storm causes him to race back to the bunker. Soon after, shifting tectonic plates result in a series of earthquakes that destroy the bunker … Wow! Good thing those lifeboats washed ashore just before all that happened!
Alas, there aren’t enough lifeboats to save everyone in the bunker. Those left behind, though, don’t have to worry about perishing due to radiation exposure or lack of food and water. Their fate washes over them immediately.
This incident triggers a desperate road trip across postapocalyptic terrain. The Garritys — along with a few of their former bunker colleagues — believe that a habitable pocket has formed inside the impact crater in France. They are determined to travel to this refugium. To get there, they will have to cross the North Atlantic, traverse England, cross the English Channel, and navigate between warring European armies fighting for control of dwindling resources. The odyssey pits them against a long list of all manner of obstacles and challenges, both natural and manmade.
Unlike “Greenland,” this sequel places significantly less emphasis on the Garrity family dynamic. In the previous film, the end-of-the-world scenario was almost a backdrop to the very compelling story of a family struggling to reunite after being separated in all the chaos. This time, the film is more interested in depicting an endless string of catastrophes, overwhelming the viewer with some grim but impressive visual effects. The number of trials the family faces — and the way some of these seem to wait to happen at just the right moment to imperil their chances of survival — is both exhausting and unrealistic. Any rational viewer can accept that a postapocalyptic world would be full of unexpected dangers; but asking the viewer to embrace multiple coincidental disasters and setbacks is a stretch. The protagonists also have a habit of making bad decisions.
The script makes little effort to develop emotional engagement. It’s possible that the audience is expected to understand how strong the familial bond is between the Garritys since it was so skillfully represented in the previous film. That connection is halfhearted for much of “Greenland 2.” By the final act, it does rematerialize. There is also an odd scarcity of strong emotions displayed when other characters die.
As stated earlier, Waugh prefers to shine the spotlight on the struggle for survival, endurance, and the many hardships and ordeals that endanger not only the Garritys but the remnants of humanity. “Greenland 2” portrays both the good and the bad elements one might expect to see in a society constantly on the brink of collapse. There are scenes that focus on the compassionate and the kind, those who seek to build communities with shared purpose and common interests. There are also scenes that focus on those who want to control by fear and force, to stockpile and exploit resources and to suppress opposition.
Despite the film’s portrayal of a slowly dwindling civilization torn apart by marauders and despots, “Greenland 2” offers many understated glimpses of hope.
There is a scene in “When Worlds Collide” where business magnate Sidney Stanton (John Hoyt) — basically a despotic, selfish oligarch — chastises astronomer Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating) for failing to secure the spaceship that will transport refugees to a new planet. Stanton has stockpiled weapons and expects violence as people not chosen to board the “ark” start to panic.
Says Stanton: “You don't know what your civilized people will do to cling to life. I do because I know I'd cling if I had to kill to do it. And so will you.”
Fortunately, not everyone is a Sidney Stanton.
Lee Clark Zumpe is entertainment editor at Tampa Bay Newspapers, a Tomatometer-Approved Critic, and an author of short fiction. He can be reached by email at lzumpe@TBNweekly.com.
