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The disaster movie, Greenland, was released in 2020 just as another real disaster, Covid, was running rampant through the planet killing millions. It forced the film to debut digitally and not in theatres due to their closures. Timing is everything. And don’t confuse this at all with current headlines about Trumps threats to take over the real Greenland. This is not that, but a sequel to the original film.
Greenland 2: Migration picks up the story, if not the furious pace, and takes us five years later into the bunker where a precious few humans were able to survive the earth’s destruction by the massive Clarke Comet. Among those survivors are the Garrity family, led by John (Gerard Butler), his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), and teenage son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis). This one is opening exclusively in theatres.
In the bunker, which is protected by large steel doors that clamp down and are meant to withstand anything the outside world can throw at it, is a thriving community trying to figure out how and when they may be able to resurface on the planet which has been so destroyed the air is not inhabitable and life is not possible without gas masks. John is something of a warrior venturing out into it to try and find answers but it has wreaked havoc with his body due to radiation exposure. Near the start of the story he barely makes it back in during one of the frequent attacks from the crumbling Clarke Meteor. He does, but it isn’t long before a devastating earthquake hits completely destroying the bunker and setting its inhabitants loose to try to survive. Chief among them are the Garritys who set off on a perilous journey on land and then water in a primitive covered ship roaming the ocean until it stalls out on top of drowned buildings that used to be Liverpool England.
Their trip leads to one encounter after another as they dodge more meteor blasts, visit a home for Alzheimer patients that has somehow survived, fight roaming gangs out to scavenge what they can using guns to make their point, and much more. The goal now is to reach what is rumored to be the last place on earth where it is possible to give life a rebirth, a kind of “lost horizon” in Northern France known as the Clarke Crater where the impact was initially felt. Can they arrive before John, given just weeks to live by his doctor, can navigate his family there for a new beginning even after he is gone?
So is this alternately exhausting and intriguing episodic trek the real focus is keeping the family unit together, the only hope for humanity against the decay of everything around them and the increasingly violent nature of many remaining humans (think early Mad Max apocolypse sensibility). The message is strong for a real world that is increasingly unhinged in so many ways. Right now this nightmare may be only a movie, but who knows?
This family incredibly stays alive despite every frightening situation. They face impending death with grit and determination in a movie that mixes disastrous situtions with lighter interludes where they play games, summon up memories of happier times, and even find budding romance for young Nathan who is full of youthful wanderlust that he may never get to fulfill. The best scene is a visit to a French man named Denis Laurent ( a fine William Abadie) who may have the ticket to the Clarke Crater and a way they can traverse a horrendous live war zone to get there. Poignantly he sends his teen daughter Camille ( a lovely Nelia Valery DaCosta) on the road with them for a shot at life herself, and a new friendship with Nathan.
For me Butler is the real deal as an action star, always reliable in movies made for a price. His strong screen presence keeps us engaged and here he is once again working with director Ric Roman Waugh who returns to the franchise and also worked with Butler on Angel Has Fallen and Kandahar. He keeps the action humming and production credits are top notch. Baccarin is a warm addition to all the mayhem, and Davis joins the troupe with just the right sense of hope for a future in a world that has lost its way.
Producers are Butler, Waugh, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Alan Siegel, Sebastien Raybaud, John Zois, and Brendon Boyea.
Title: Greenland 2: Migration
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release Date: January 9, 2026
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Screenplay: Mitchell LaFortune and Chris Sparling
Cast: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roman Griffin Davis, Amber Rose Revah, Sophie Thompson, William Abadie, Nelia Valery DaCosta.
Rating: PG13
Running Time: 1 hour and 38 minutes
English (US) ·