Greenland 2: Migration Review

"Greenland 2: Migration" is probably as good a sequel to a disaster film can be: the principal cast returns, (Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin as John and Allison Garrity, respectively) as does all the family drama, societal disintegration and special effects. Compared to the first "Greenland," seeing the latter on the big-screen mostly satisfies.

Taking place in the bunker from the original, years have passed and supplies are dwindling, the neighboring Earth either destroyed or inhospitable due to radiation from the meteor that crashed all those years ago. The Garrity's live in one of several bunkers throughout the world, so we get the obligatory scenes in a picture like this about where the survivors can possibly all travel to to avoid starvation. In a likely unintentional twist of current events, some of the countries are fighting each other (here over the site of the crash), where Dr. Casey Amina (Amber Rose Revah) believes that life can begin anew, free from the poisons polluting the air. She compares the theory to the time of dinosaurs at one point, which just made me wish a giant T-Rex showed up too, but alas, that never happens.

But it doesn't take long for, ahem, disaster to strike again: an earthquake destroys their safe-haven, everyone trying desperately to escape. Masks are a premium, as the air is eventually toxic, and John has his stolen during this initial chaos as everyone eyes one of the limited escape ships that washed up ashore recently. They dock in what used to be England, a partially flooded hellscape where the military patrols that country's bunker from non-government personnel. One just needs to watch the news in real-life to guess what happens.

The original, released during 2020 in the heat of the pandemic, and yet somehow six years later, scenes of this civil unrest play out far too hauntingly, and unfortunately, relatable. Even the film's title country is in the news.

A lot more happens, including a particularly effective scene where the family needs to cross a gaping valley on makeshift ladders and ropes, but John's been hiding a secret: he's sick, and it's not the kind that's curable. He claims he has just six to eight weeks from the time he begins coughing up blood, and while I won't spoil what ultimately happens to our aging action star, Butler is quite good here. His performance is one of exhaustion, reluctantly putting himself into situations to save his family, but never appearing bored with the role.

His son Nathan, played now by Roman Griffin Davis, remains diabetic like before, but aside from a throwaway line about "packing all the insulin he can grab," it never comes up or interrupts the small group's mission to the crater. There are a few other inconsistencies (like how the scattered survivors never show any obvious signs of radiation), but "Greenland 2: Migration" is consistently engaging, frequently thrilling and occasionally timely.

Primate Review

Horror movies aren't all that unlike the common "feel good" dramas- they're both purely exercises in audience manipulation. And in "Primate," a mad-slasher picture about an evil monkey from Paramount, I was manipulated. Totally and completely. I sat in darkness on the torn leather reclining chair, my eyes glued to the screen, not wanting to miss any of the surprisingly gory carnage.

There is no reason this should have opened in January, the famous "dump month" where studios send out their movies to die an unseen death: this would do some serious damage anytime of the year. 

As the film opens, the titular monkey brutally kills a vet (who visits at night, I guess it's supposed to be scarier at night) and escapes into its owner's house, where deaf novelist and it's owner Adam (Troy Kotsur) has left his daughters (the elder Lucy and the younger Erin, played by Johnny Sequoyah and Gia Hunter, respectively, who are not deaf) and friends alone in his remote Hawaiian house. The little primate has suffered a bite from a wild mongoose, who found its way into his cage, and the poor family's pet (named Ben) develops rabies. 

If you think I glossed over the plot just now, the film's lean eighty nine minute runtime means as does director Johannes Roberts (who shares co-writing credit with Ernest Riera). A veteran of the horror genre, I was impressed with Roberts' work on 2021's "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City," and he continues to showoff his skills behind the camera here.

A plot like this runs the risk of the audience sympathizing with the animal, but that doesn't happen here: not only does the initial attack really dissuade any ape empathy, but the suddenness of the mayhem that follows means we sit at the edge of our seat at this unexpectedly successful little thriller. What it lacks in narrative purpose, it more than makes up for it in terms of pure movie making. The soundtrack from Adrian Johnston especially, which echoes the electronic simplicity of John Carpenter to great effect.

Lucy, Erin and friends (which starts at two girls and a boy, only to grow to include an additional two males), immediately make their way into the pool, once Ben goes berserk and sinks his sharp, drooling teeth into the leg of the junior sister. Ben stalks his prey from the edge of the water, sometimes finding his paws onto an unsuspecting person, and other times disappearing into the house. The groups' mission is to get a phone that works, so to call for help, but this proves quite difficult when there's an animal killer on-the-loose.

I saw "Primate" in a relatively packed theater, and it's exactly how one should watch this: every time the music cut and a character went somewhere they shouldn't, everyone went dead-silent, only to yelp in surprise at the shadowy figure just barely visible in the background, followed by a light laugh in the back of their throats, directed at themselves for getting suckered in again. I was doing all of these right there with them, and I'm only slightly ashamed of myself.

If you're thinking "Hawaii is the only rabies-free state," don't worry, the film does acknowledge this bit of trivia. It doesn't answer it, but hey, I only noticed long after once my fingers began typing out this review.