In 2020, Greenland was the surprise disaster hit that actually had a heart. It wasn’t just about meteors; it was about a family trying to survive the unthinkable. Now, six years later, director Ric Roman Waugh and Gerard Butler are back with Greenland: Migration (2026).

The question is: did we actually need to leave the bunker? As a critic who usually champions Butler’s “everyman” heroics, I wanted to love this. But after 98 minutes of post-apocalyptic hiking, my opinion is a bit more complicated.

The Premise: From Bunker to Badlands

The story picks up five years after the Clarke comet turned Earth into a charcoal briquette. John (Butler), Allison (Morena Baccarin), and a now-teenage Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis) are living a cramped, claustrophobic life in the Greenland bunker. When the shelter’s structural integrity finally fails, the family is forced onto the surface to find a rumored “sanctuary crater” in Southern France.

The “Neutral” Problem: Why It Feels Unnecessary

The biggest issue with Migration is that it feels safe. Where the first film was a race against the clock with high-stakes tension, the sequel is a “road trip” movie that feels like it’s checking off a survivalist’s bucket list.

• The Repetitive Loop: Every group the Garritys meet follows the same formula: awkward silence, slow music, and a general lack of trust. We get it—society has crumbled—but after the fourth suspicious survivor group, the tension starts to evaporate.
• The “Sadness” Factor: Gerard Butler is a great actor when he’s allowed to be gritty or charming, but here he’s just… exhausted. He spends the entire movie looking like he needs a nap more than a new home. It’s realistic, sure, but it doesn’t make for an engaging lead.

Visual Inconsistencies & Logic Gaps

For a movie that takes itself this seriously, the world-building is all over the place.

• The Environment: In one scene, the planet is a radioactive ash-heap where nothing can grow. Ten minutes later, they’re walking through lush green fields like they’re in a nature documentary. Apparently, the apocalypse only hit certain zip codes.
• The Bridge Scene: There is a sequence involving a rickety series of ladders and rope bridges across a dried-up English Channel that is meant to be terrifying. Instead, it feels like a low-budget Chutes and Ladders game. It’s one of those moments where the CGI and the logic just don’t line up.

The Verdict: For Completionists Only

Greenland: Migration isn’t a “bad” movie, but it is a “neutral” one. It exists because the first one did well, not because there was a groundbreaking story left to tell. If you loved the first film, you’ll probably find enough here to justify a stream, but don’t expect it to stick with you once the credits roll.

Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars