John Garrity, his estranged wife and their young son embark on a perilous journey to find sanctuary as a planet-killing comet hurtles toward Earth. Amid terrifying accounts of cities getting leveled, the Garrity’s experience the best and worst in humanity. As the countdown to the global apocalypse approaches zero, their incredible trek culminates in a desperate and last-minute flight to a possible safe haven.

Rotten Tomatoes

This atrocity of a film is rated fresh by Rotten Tomatoes and scores an unbelievable 78%! But I kinda agree with them.

It is misogynistic to the hilt. Big, burly, bearded oke saves 100s, survives a fist fight and a crazy car crash, while his pretty wife gets herself and her son kicked off the plane to Greenland, then loses the son and must be saved by the army. Morena Baccarin, who stole the show as Vanessa in Deadpool, deserves more than that. Can somebody please cast her as an uber villain?

The family values portrayed – it’s okay if we die because we are dying together as this special family unit we created – is so 1990. I mean, grandpa stays to die on the farm where grandma died? Instead of going with his daughter and grandson to Greenland? I am not even getting into Alison blaming herself for (spoiler alert) John’s affair. Yuck.

There should have been no dialogue, just pretty people, locking eyes, holding hands, and ducking asteroids.

Why was it so gripping then? First off, the sound design combined with editing. The controlled use of background noise puts you on edge from the first minute you are with John on top of a skyscraper. There is nothing happening, no threat, but the hum, the rustling of the paper he rolls up, him looking up in the air just freaks you out.

Cutting to absolute silence in the perfect spots makes you hold your breath, and then gasp for it when the shockwave hits, or John realises he just killed someone.

Action flicks can also be a non-stop assault on your ears. Greenland gives you thuds, and momentary noise, and effective pauses. You don’t feel the need to have your ears tested afterwards.

The pace is quite fast, but it is coupled with a clean, straightforward storyline and intermittent breaks where you can pause and rest.

Lastly, some of the visuals around the asteroids entering the atmosphere are quite cool. It is not over the top, yet haunting.

In conclusion, if you want to forget about 2020 for almost two hours, and you know to ignore the schmaltz, watch Greenland.