by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I went into “Greenland” blind. As it opened, I thought maybe it would pass what I call the “10,000 year old story” test. This is the following test: could this story be told in some form 10,000 years ago?
It, at first, passes the test.
Man comes back from the hunt. Has problems with his wife. His kid is sick. The world is changing and the story is about how he protects his family in the context of that change.
Then things went crazy with “Greenland.”
The story was soooo contrived and leaned so heavily on zombie movie tropes (even without zombies) that I couldn’t bear to finish watching. Here’s what I would have done:
Greenland SHOULD have been about:
Act I
The lead up. At the end of the first act, the world ends and our Hero is now living underground inside Greenland.
Act 2
Hero and family have to get used to living in this new world.
Midpoint: His son, now an adult — rebels against the strict rules of under-Greenland meant to keep humanity alive (or something)
All is Lost:
His is exiled onto the Aboveland
Third Act
Hero and wife go searching for son.
They go through some adventures but finally discover him.
Turns out, the surface, while a struggle to survive on, is beginning to recover.
Our hero becomes the leader of Aboveland.
Or something.
But the Greenland I saw was a good movie…but not my kind of movie. Way, way, WAY too contrived.
