The sequel to the 2020 disaster film Greenland, titled Greenland: Migration, has drawn sharp criticism in a Variety review for being a tedious post-apocalyptic journey. Directed by Ric Roman Waugh and starring Gerard Butler, the movie follows survivors navigating a ravaged world after a comet strike. Despite some action moments, it is faulted for lacking entertainment value and depth.
Greenland: Migration Review Highlights Sequel's Shortcomings
Greenland: Migration, the follow-up to the 2020 environmental disaster film Greenland, has been described as one of the soggiest sequels in recent memory. Released by Lionsgate and STXfilms, the movie picks up after the comet—depicted as a collection of rock fragments—has devastated the planet. Gerard Butler reprises his role as John Garrity, a structural engineer now waiting out the apocalypse in a bunker with his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis). With much of the world in ruins, including destroyed cities in America, Canada, and Iceland, the family embarks on a perilous migration to an oasis called the Crater in Western Europe.
Directed by Ric Roman Waugh, who helmed the original, the film features a screenplay by Chris Sparling and Mitchell LaFortune. Production involved Thunder Road Films, Anton, G-Base, and CineMachine, with Butler among the producers including Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee. The cast also includes Amber Rose Revah, Sophie Thompson, Trond Fausa Aurvåg, and William Abadie. Cinematography is by Martin Ahlgren, editing by Colby Parker Jr., and music by David Buckley.
The review, conducted at the Park Avenue Screening Room in New York on January 5, 2026, notes the film's PG-13 rating and 98-minute running time. Reviewer Owen Gleiberman calls it a 'dull dystopian slog,' criticizing its meandering pace after the initial disaster. 'It’s like the boring middle section of a picaresque disaster film, minus the showy kickoff and catchy climax,' he writes. Butler's performance is described as bearded and morose, lacking his usual gruff charisma seen in films like Plane and Den of Thieves.
The journey involves a tugboat across the ocean to a flooded Liverpool, encounters with marauders, and stops in ruined London. Brief action includes a comet shower and a rope bridge crossing, but the film is faulted for presenting itself as a serious social statement on environmental catastrophe and migration without entertaining. 'The trouble is that Greenland: Migration is so dull it makes you want to migrate out of the theater,' Gleiberman concludes.
The original Greenland, released at the end of 2020, resonated coincidentally with the pandemic, offering a B-movie take on end-of-days scenarios like Deep Impact. This sequel shifts to post-disaster survival but fails to recapture that tension, resulting in a banal family drama amid the rubble.
