Greenland
CatchPlay | Release Date (Streaming): December 18, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
85
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzFeb 4, 2021
If you want a movie to nail-gun you to your seat, then you must visit Greenland. Read full review
83
The Film StageDan MeccaDec 16, 2020
At first glance, Ric Roman Waugh’s Greenland appears to be a spiritual sequel to Geostorm. Also starring Gerard Butler, that 2017 film is a silly, diverting disaster-action epic. Greenland is decidedly more nuanced, cerebral, and, frankly, memorable. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeFeb 9, 2021
A first-rate B-picture, and a timely reminder of the delights of well-crafted popcorn thrills. Read full review
80
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Feb 5, 2021
Butler’s best star vehicle in years, what could have been a bombastic bunch of boulders is, instead, a refreshingly clear-eyed and compelling affair. One of the best disaster movies in years. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredMartin CarrDec 23, 2020
Gerard Butler's latest effort reveals a dramatic depth beneath the action man veneer. Brooding, bold and effortlessly engaging, Greenland breaks the mould. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriDec 19, 2020
It’s just escapist enough to fill our disaster-flick needs, but don’t be surprised if Ric Roman Waugh’s film sometimes feels like too much, especially in the middle of an ongoing real-life calamity. To put it a simpler way: Greenland is not just effective; sometimes it’s too effective. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichDec 16, 2020
Things grow a bit squidgy whenever Waugh goes in for the money shots, but his eyes are seldom bigger than his wallet in a film that mines little suspense from the Garritys’ far-fetched race to safety, and a lot from their scramble to reunite whenever they get separated. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 16, 2020
Unlike the typical, effects-laden, comet-threatens-the-planet B-movie, Greenland is more in the vein of Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds,” with the scenes of chaos and destruction serving as the backdrop for the story of one family’s desperate quest for survival — even when circumstances have ripped them apart. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 13, 2021
Rather than the overblown spectacle we’ve come to expect from films of this ilk, Greenland crafts a muscular, barebones survival story that even makes room for some genuine emotion. Hollywood disaster flicks have eradicated humanity many times before, but rarely as unassumingly as happens here. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerOct 15, 2020
And yet, what makes Greenland stand out is how, at certain times, what we’re watching doesn’t seem so spectacular, but very much like the real thing — albeit with a fair amount of VFX and Butler’s own brand of sweaty, stress-bucket bravado. Read full review
67
Original-CinJim SlotekFeb 4, 2021
It’s an unoriginal, budget-conscious and hardly brain-taxing race against time. But that doesn’t negate its entertainment value or its often heart-pounding pace. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleDec 17, 2020
Greenland might be a B-movie at heart, but in keeping at least one toe on the ground at all times, the filmmakers craft something that punches well above its weight class. Here’s to one of the more consistently surprising director/actor relationships of our era. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 21, 2021
Greenland doesn’t often surprise, but it never disappoints. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiDec 18, 2020
Ultimately, Greenland never comes together into a truly satisfying package, but it deserves a little credit for trying to do something unique within such a familiar framework. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 16, 2020
Greenland, a solid, stolid disaster film arriving on major streaming platforms this week, posits that the sky is falling, puts manly Gerard Butler in the middle of it, and asks us to be diverted by the spectacle of civic breakdown and mass panic. Are you not entertained? Somewhat surprisingly, yes. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiDec 16, 2020
Butler’s pretty bad — not horrible — but the movie itself is quite watchable, if a lot bleaker than your average disaster flick. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshDec 16, 2020
If we strip away the comets raining fire on the earth, this film is about how the ways in which how we treat each other can be a matter of life or death. Even in that darkness, it dares to have a little hope. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDerek SmithDec 13, 2020
There are enough left turns here to allow us to shake the impression that we’ve been to this rodeo before. Read full review
60
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeDec 16, 2020
For most of its running time, it has a palpable B-movie energy that gives a little oomph to the umpteenth cinematic portrayal of humanity’s end. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeDec 16, 2020
It’s an adequate, involving enough afternoon watch (faint praise: better than Geostorm) and for those with a certain destructive itch that still needs scratching, this should do the job. Read full review
58
The PlaylistAndrew CrumpDec 16, 2020
Greenland isn’t some self-insistently timely movie and it probably isn’t the movie we “need” right now. But it’s the movie we have, and its honest to goodness but unintended genre resonance makes it easy to embrace. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 23, 2020
As disaster movies go, Greenland is neither exceptionally good nor exceptionally bad. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyDec 17, 2020
If a movie has to kill off most of the species in the name of the nuclear family, it should at least do it with some staging and style. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanDec 16, 2020
In its relatively small-scale, often rather plodding B-movie way, it wants to do for apocalypse thrillers what “Contagion” did for outbreak movies. And there are moments when it does. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 18, 2020
Much of Greenland features chaotic crowd scenes. The real disaster is how quickly mankind descends into dismaying depravity. Read full review
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