Greenland - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Right from the start, I could tell that Greenland was different. Not drastically different, mind you. This is a movie whose comfort is in the familiarity of tropes that the whole “end of the world” genre is known for. But from its opening moments, its focus isn’t on the spectacle; it’s with the humans who populate the story. It’s a film that understands that our investment in it depends on our connection with its characters. Yes, there are large-scale moments of destruction, awe-inspiring in their scope, with a mushroom cloud reaching to the stratosphere, right on the edge of outer space. But we view these moments from the ground, anchored by a human story of survival.

Gerard Butler plays John Garrity, a structural engineer in the midst of a separation from his wife, Allison (Morena Baccarin). Neither of them seems to be quite sure where they’re at in this marriage. He visits home on friendly enough terms, but feels more like an awkward guest than anything else. Their interactions are a sort of forced civility, with an underlying tension. The only thing keeping them together in this purgatorial limbo is their son, Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd).

John comes over for a weekend to spend time with the family during a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event. A massive comet named “Clarke,” which is really a cluster of smaller objects rather than just one big chunk of interstellar rock, is due to pass by the Earth in a terrific display of fire and fury. It burns in the sky, during broad daylight, almost a mundane sight, but as it nears, it’s supposed to be one hell of a fireworks show. Odd things begin to happen leading up to Clarke’s arrival. In the evening, we see the aurora borealis, in a place and time it doesn’t belong. The next day, the sky is filled with military planes. And John’s phone begins to screech an alert from the desk of the U.S. President.

Clarke’s appearance is not going to be so routine after all. A large portion of it is calculated to make contact with the Earth, leading up to a catastrophic, world-ending event. Those who have received the Presidential Alert are to be among a select few to move into underground bunkers all over the world to rebuild the world after its destruction. Nothing is as easy as it’s planned, and John must fight for his life to reunite with his family and lead them to safety.

When Greenland was first released, I’d heard whispers that it was actually quite good, despite sounding like a dime-a-dozen disaster flick about a doomsday event set to destroy the world. And even the human drama at its center sounds like a copy/paste from about a dozen other movies, that of the average Joe who must take on seemingly impossible, insurmountable odds, to come to the rescue of his estranged family. The difference is the sincerity involved. Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin have genuine chemistry together—not romantically, but a definite kinship. They feel like an old couple who’ve been through hell and back together.

On a human scale, Greenland is intimate and personal, delivering a story that engages us. As an action movie, it also delivers the goods. The sky is alight with fire, and the ground ablaze with massive destruction. In between those moments, we see what one final night on Earth might feel like, as drunken partygoers blast music, drink beer, and shout at the heavens when they witness explosions on the horizon.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Greenland arrives on 4K UHD Blu-ray in a two-disc release, housed in a standard case, with a removable slipcover. Both the case and the slip contain the same artwork, new to this release, with Butler and Baccarin in a tear-filled embrace, although the slip has a stronger teal gloss, echoing the final moments of the film. Inside the case is a code that can be used for redemption on digital platforms.

Greenland is presented in 2160p resolution, graded in HDR10—no Dolby Vision here. I know folks will likely lament the lack of Dolby Vision/Dolby Atmos, but the stats are excellent. Beginning with the video, this is a damn fine-looking movie. The start of the film grounds the epic goings-on with a sort of routine averageness to them. Clarke isn’t some giant ball of fire in the sky; it’s a small speck. And the first explosion is never directly witnessed; it occurs unexpectedly, hundreds of miles from where it was calculated to occur, and what we see of it is its aftermath, a shockwave felt 1,500 miles away from the event. As the film’s doomsday event nears, the color shifts to a hellish orange, which may have been a corny effect in less-skilled hands, and, through the adept use of HDR grading, includes a lot of variance. It doesn’t look like a silly filter effect; it looks like a terrifying sign from above.

Rather than boasting a Dolby Atmos track, viewers will just have to be content with an excellent DTS-HD MA 7.1 sound mix. I’m of the philosophy that any old day of the week, I would rather have a hell of a DTS-HD mix than an Atmos mix whose heart isn’t in it. This soundtrack may lack overhead engagement, but from front to rear, and from side to side, with some pinpointedly precise effects realization, this is an immersive sound design from beginning to end. And expect your subwoofer to get a workout in, as those LFEs are constant, but not in an aggressive, obvious way. The deep, low bass is adept at creating a sense of dread in the moments leading up to the inevitable, or in growling with terrible ferocity during an action setpiece.

On the special features front, supplements are a bit lacking, with an audio commentary track from the filmmakers, a very short featurette, and deleted scenes. Not bad! But for a movie with such a long-delayed physical media release, it would have been nice to have gotten some retrospective interviews.

• Audio Commentary – Director Ric Roman Waugh and producer Basil Iwanyk
• Humanity (HD 1:20) – Making-of featurette
• Deleted Scenes (HD 4:55)

Movies like Greenland are a reminder that it doesn’t really matter what a movie is about. It doesn’t matter how “derivative” it is. As long as you’ve got something meaningful to say, and you give a damn about the characters, you can go down a familiar path again and again, and still find joy in it, along with some surprising new twists along the way. Butler and Baccarin are excellent as a couple on the outs with each other, who have to set aside their differences in order to survive. The movie finds both beauty and horror in humanity’s final moments. Equipped with some terrific HDR10 grading, a great DTS-HD MA 7.1 sound mix, and a solid audio commentary to bolster the extras, Greenland is Highly Recommended.