Greenland 2: Migration (2026)

​“Greenland 2: Migration” stars Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roman Griffin Davis, Amber Rose Revah, and Trond Fausa Aurvåg.  Released on January 9, 2026, the film follows the Garrity family as they journey across the decimated Earth to find a new home.

The film was directed by Ric Roman Waugh, who also directed films such as “In the Shadows”, “Snitch”, “Angel Has Fallen”, and “Kandahar”.  It is a sequel to Waugh’s 2020 disaster thriller, “Greenland”.  The end of the world usually means the end of humanity’s life on Earth, as foretold in the many end-of-days films we’ve watched in previous years.  But in some cases, our planet’s end means a new beginning for the remaining survivors, depicting another chance of survival.  Given the conditions left behind by the disaster, it’s far from an easy feat compared to before Earth was reduced to ashes.  “Greenland” was one of the cinematic victims that skipped the theatrical release due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to its straight-to-video-on-demand release.  While seen as another typical disaster film filled with visual spectacle and massive destruction, “Greenland” pulled off an impressive hat trick by emphasizing the human drama about hope and survival amid an extinction-level crisis.  The result is a thrilling and surprisingly heartfelt experience that stands out as one of the more enjoyable outings from the disaster genre.  It also resulted in a sequel in which Gerard Butler once more protects his family from an even greater danger that awaits after the comet decimated most of Earth’s environment.  It’s not January without a Gerard Butler movie, after all, even if it’s in the form of a sequel.  Does it retain the heart and thrills of its predecessor’s impending doom, or does it deserve to go extinct?  Let’s find out.   

The story takes place five years after the events of the first film, when most of Earth was demolished by the Clarke interstellar comet.  Former structural engineer John Garrity (Butler), his wife Allison (Baccarin), and his son Nathan (Davis) continue to adapt to their new lifestyle within the underground bunker in Greenland.  However, their new sanctuary suddenly came crashing down when a series of earthquakes forced the family and the other survivors to evacuate the facility.  Now out in the open, John and his family embark on a treacherous journey throughout the decimated Earth to search for the “promised land” in the Clarke crater.  Their trek is far from easy, as they encounter several obstacles that test their resilience and familial bond, including electromagnetic storms and the radioactive fallout from the Clarke comet.

I’ve seen plenty of disaster films that I mostly enjoyed for the spectacle, but “Greenland” is that rare occasion where I appreciate both the destruction and the human soul residing within it.  I would even say it’s one of, if not my favorite, disaster movies, based on my recent rewatch.  It featured the usual elements we’ve seen from other familiar disaster thrillers, especially the destruction sequences occurring in the background.  Fortunately, they didn’t overshadow the heart at its core, grounded in themes of family, hope, and generosity amid Earth’s final days.  In short, it’s a surprisingly good mid-budget “comet destroys Earth” film that features one of Gerard Butler’s most heartwarming performances.  That’s why I find it surprising that we were getting a continuation of the film that further explores the aftermath of Earth’s final hours, as “Greenland” was more of a one-and-done deal.  Most people survived, and Earth got wrecked by a big-as-hell comet, end of story.  Is there really much else to tell?

Well, director Ric Roman Waugh and writer Chris Sparling answered that question with “Greenland 2: Migration”, a sequel no one really needs, but got it anyway because Hollywood.  Now, I do want to express my apologies to you all for two different reasons.  First off, I want to apologize for getting to this movie a week late, as I was coming down with something and needed to take the week off to recover.  Second, I want to say sorry to all of the Gerard Butler fans reading this review from the bottom of my heart because I was really disappointed with his latest sequel.  I would probably say that this might take the cake as my least favorite movie that Butler has starred in.  While it may have featured the post-apocalyptic spectacle audiences come to expect, “Greenland 2” lacks much depth in its story and emotional thrills to make this aftermath actually worth exploring.

One element I should give “Greenland 2” credit for is that the sequel retained most of the small-scale drama amid its apocalyptic scale.  As I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed “Greenland” for how it balances the small-scale family drama with the end-of-days spectacle dancing in the background.  The destruction sequences in that film were pretty enjoyable, but the emotional core of the family’s survival was what drove the stakes even higher, at least in my eyes.  Instead of being nothing but visual chaos, Chris Sparling ensured that the Garrity family’s personal struggles remain front and center, notably John’s strive to protect his family, through his screenplay.  “Greenland 2” continues Sparling's thematic essence with co-writer Mitchell LaFortune, as John guides his family through a post-apocalyptic wasteland while battling his own health issues.  Given the stakes that stemmed from the comet’s aftereffects and humanity’s post-apocalyptic paranoia, this would’ve been another thrilling roller coaster packed with plenty of feels.  Instead, it came across as a dry, derivative, and visually murky trek that wasted its potential just like how the Clarke comet wasted almost half of Earth’s population.

“Greenland 2” is basically another post-apocalyptic thriller that depicts a character’s journey to the “promised land”, one that should’ve been more exciting than what we have now.  On the one hand, the screenplay maintains its predecessor’s reflection of hope, survival, and family amidst people fighting for themselves.  That alone is enough to inject some interest in the Garrity family’s struggle, particularly when it refers to John’s sickness.  On the other hand, it’s got multiple plot elements that weren’t explored much to achieve the poignancy the film was hoping to achieve.  Along with the formulaic tropes we’ve seen in similar post-apocalyptic thrillers, the film failed to fully capitalize on Nathan’s character arc, in which he wants to be a scout like John.  It was mentioned in the film’s first act, but then it was never brought up again, leaving me with a father-son relationship that lacks the spark and subtle depth of its predecessor.  Roman Griffin Davis was a decent substitute for Roger Dale Floyd in his performance as Nathan, but I feel like the script didn’t fully develop the character’s arc to showcase the young actor’s talents.  It also made the third act’s emotional payoff feel very unconvincing, given the lackluster familial core and the narrative's low stakes.

Ric Roman Waugh isn’t the type of director who makes action movies into art, but strives to make them entertaining when it counts.  “Greenland” is undoubtedly his best work for providing emotion that’s well-earned along with his approach to small-scale thrills, so seeing him returning to direct “Migration” should give us some hint of merit, right?  Well, not exactly.  Waugh retains the small-scale essence of its character-driven drama amid its destruction, but he doesn’t offer much else in his vision to keep the film from careening towards direct-to-streaming territory.  That includes the action set pieces, which were more ho-hum than exciting, though the English Channel crossing sequence was pretty intense.  I also found Waugh’s approach to the human drama less compelling than what he accomplished in the first film.  I guess with the world already at its end, there’s really no other emotional chord to strike when they’re surviving for the second time.  As for the visual effects, they’re not entirely bad for the post-apocalyptic wastelands, but I wouldn’t say they’re awe-inspiring in the film's murky atmosphere and destruction sequences, especially the tsunami.  Even the post-apocalypse can be limited by its budget.

Regarding the cast, they did all right, but none of them really stood out for me.  As mentioned earlier, Roman Griffin Davis was a respectable choice to play Nathan despite the script underutilizing his character.  The young actor has certainly come a long way since his Golden Globe-nominated role in “Jojo Rabbit”, and even though this film isn’t his best work, I still appreciate that he’s still finding more acting roles.  Besides that, the only other actor that actually caught my attention was Gerard Butler, who reprised his role of John.  While his performance was a bit rough, Butler remains a compelling figure who drove the film’s subtle heart, even if that aspect falls short of rewarding me with its poignancy.  It bears repeating that if you like Butler in his other films, action or otherwise, you might feel the same way towards him in “Greenland 2”, though not as much as how you feel towards his previous roles.  Morena Baccarin was also fine as Allison, while Amber Rose Revah provided a commendable performance as Dr. Amina, one of the survivors who accompanies the Garrity family.

Overall, “Greenland 2: Migration” forms the new year’s cinematic wasteland with a dreary and disappointingly lackluster sequel that’s more disastrous than the Clarke comet’s destruction.  Despite retaining the heart of its themes of family and survival, the movie relies mainly on its post-apocalyptic narrative trappings to chart its course rather than to heighten the thrills from its stakes and drama.  As a result, it became an unnecessary and mediocre continuation that only exists to capitalize on Gerard Butler’s star power and nothing else.  I wouldn't say that's a bad thing since Butler was one of the only elements keeping it from losing too much hope, along with its intense English Channel crossing sequence.  But regarding a story that lacks a compelling emotional hook in the familial bond and murky visuals, this is another film that deserves to go extinct along with the other second-rate January movies.  For both Ric Roman Waugh and Butler, I would say that this is the worst collaboration I’ve seen from them so far, let alone a pretty big step down from their surprisingly solid work on “Greenland”.  Waugh has another thriller on the way later this month with Jason Statham in the lead role, so we’ll see if that could help the director overcome his post-apocalyptic blues.

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