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Nothing like a decent disaster movie every now and then. A film that can satisfy the disaster tourist in you. The number of such films that have already been made is countless. The causes of global destruction are varied. There were devastating earthquakes (“Earthquake” and only recently “San Andreas”) that lifted up plateaus and ripped apart entire metropolises. Boats that sank because of a huge wave (“The Poseidon Adventure”) or a stray lump of ice (“Titanic”). Erupting volcanoes (“Dante’s Peak”), oncoming ice ages (“The Day after Tomorrow”), tsunamis (“Lo Imposible”), or (and more appropriately at the moment) a rapidly spreading, deadly virus (“Contagion”). The storyline of such disaster films is generally the same. In the first place, you already know what’s going to happen and so you wait patiently for the catastrophic moment to kick in. Next, you’re witnessing the effects of the announced disaster. And secretly you feel that blissful moment realizing you are only a silent witness and not physically present. And each time, it ends well for the protagonists (with some random victims though). They manage to escape death in a miraculous way. Such films usually end with apocalyptic images that show how devastating it all was.
Lots of drama, limited disaster
In my opinion, “Greenland” fell outside the category of films that follow such a storyline. It rather fits in the list of films in which you can also find “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World”. You are aware of what drama is going to take place. But it won’t be really spectacular. The action-packed scenes in which fragments of the approaching comet hit Earth are rather scarce. A bit like in “Armageddon”, where topics such as almost impossible human missions and self-sacrifice were more central than the disaster part itself. In the latter, the spatial trip with a space shuttle was pushed to the foreground. In “Greenland” it’s the Garrity family’s trip to a certain place where John (Gerard Buttler) and his family are safe from the imminent destruction of all living things on Earth. In short, the approaching disaster shifts to the background and drama takes over. Admittedly, in many ways.
Hysteria and panic.
As befits a clichéd disaster film, you first have the family aspect. Usually, it concerns a family with relational problems. This is also the case here in “Greenland”. What John has actually done, isn’t explicitly stated. But rest assured, the longer the arduous journey takes, the more the mistrustful spouses grow closer together. I think that’s also a mandatory item that must be included in a disaster film. The film focuses more on the side effects of such a disaster that takes place all over the world. The hysteria and panic that arises. The looting and the massive exodus with the known monster traffic jams. The indignation felt by friends of John and Allison (Morena Baccarin), who attended a birthday party after John receives a personal message from the authorities to get himself and his family to safety in a secret place. One parent’s plea to bring her child to safety had more of an impact on me than the rest of the movie.
Realistic, yet a bit unrealistic.
The rest of the film shows the arduous journey to this secret place full of obstacles and adversity. Naturally, the son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd) suffers from diabetes and the vital medication shouldn’t be forgotten. And yes, you can expect problems related to that medication. In such a way that it’ll get on your nerves. Reaching the military airport to claim their reserved seats on a transport aircraft is also not without a struggle. And at some point, it all gets a bit too much. Just when you think this family has dealt with enough setbacks, the following presents itself. And although the makers have tried to give this film an extremely realistic character, it also contains some unrealistic situations, such as the chaos at the airport. I fear that if we are confronted with such a situation, in reality, a multitude of citizens would be in front of the control barriers. And the way things get resolved during these tumultuous times also sometimes seems a bit unbelievable and too good to be true.
Great actor, Butler.
Maybe my expectations for this movie were a bit too high and it turned out to be a rather disappointing experience. They’ve made an emotional rollercoaster rather than a disaster film “Avant la lettre”. But turn off your brain, and it’ll be quite enjoyable. And although Gerard Butler is usually associated with mindless action films, he knows how to convince in this film. Just like he did in “The Vanishing”. The very sympathetic family man who, thanks to heroism, manages to restore the broken trust. “Greenland” is certainly not a bad film, despite the shortage of action-packed and apocalyptic images. I found “2012” much worse, even though “Greenland” feels quite melodramatic at times. But this film isn’t boring. Before you know it, the 2-hour movie is finished. Unfortunately, this disaster movie wasn’t unpredictable compared to the oncoming comet.
Ever since Lionsgate greenlit this series in early 2017, fans of the franchise have been eagerly anticipating to see how the John Wick universe expands. 4 movies in, the John Wick franchise is widely known as one of the greatest action movie franchises of all time with our titular character (a.k.a Baba Yaga) becoming one of the most iconic and bad-ass figures ever in Hollywood. The Continental: From The World of John Wick is a prequel series that tells the story of Winston Scott and how he became the manager of New York’s The Continental branch.
The miniseries was developed by Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward and Shawn Simmons. It is executive produced by Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, Derek Kolstad, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, the director of all four John Wick movies. It is structured as a 3-night event told through three 90-minute episodes. The series was originally supposed to air on Starz, but the network sold it to Peacock in 2022. After 6 years in development, it finally aired on Peacock this September.
A lot has been made of the subtitle of the project ever since it was announced. The fact that the makers needed to include it says a lot about the show. It almost felt like the prime marketing asset for it many times as the other promotional material didn’t necessarily create a lot of hype for the show. Albert Hughes directed the first and third episodes, while Charlotte Branstrom directed the second, and disappointingly both directors do not bring the same novelty or creative prowess that Chad Stahelski managed to bring in the John Wick movies.
The Continental [credit: Peacock]
The show also surprisingly lacks any real star power. This franchise is one of Lionsgate’s most prized assets, so you would imagine that they would make sure to get a big cast and crew for this prequel miniseries, but they didn’t. Colin Woodell as Winston Scott is the clear standout among the cast despite delivering only a decent performance, which says a lot about the acting standards in this 3-episode miniseries. Many have criticized the casting of Mel Gibson in the series, but I personally had no issue with his performance and he’s also the most recognizable member of the cast despite having no real audience pull anymore.
The writing doesn’t offer too much to ponder upon or any seriously shocking turns in the story as most of the focus is on making the product as epic, badass and action-packed as possible. Some of the characters had some interesting layers to them, especially Charon (Ayomide Adegun) and Lou (Jessica Allain). Lemmy (Adam Shapiro) provides some much-needed comic relief with his witty dialogues. The structuring of the story works really well as a 3-night event which sets the high stakes and sets a standard of intensity for the narrative.
The Continental [credit: Peacock]
But the thing that people were most looking forward to, was the action and how it fared against John Wick. Unfortunately, that department was inconsistent as well. Ben Robson’s fight sequence in the early part of the first episode was great and it makes you optimistic that the action would get better from here on, but it never does. Most of the action blocks here involve explosions and guns rather than the hand-to-hand combat John Wick franchise is known for. Some of the action was awesome and some of it sadly wasn’t.
The Continental: From the World of John Wick brings a lot of glamour as it tries to expand its world but fails to engage with its paper-thin plot. The characters are mostly dull with a formulaic villain and misses the presence of a magnetic protagonist like Wick. A prequel about Wick’s backstory would’ve been much more interesting than this inconsistent prequel event saved by its style and some great action. It has almost enough to be its own thing but doesn’t quite have enough to match its parent movies.
The Continental: From the World of John Wick premieres on Peacock in the US and Prime Video in the UK and Australia on 22 September, with new episodes weekly.