From: psperson1@ix.netcom.invalid   
      
   Please advise of any ruffled feathers.   
      
   I recently saw the film /Greenland/ and found it not so great. Now, my   
   general rule of reviews is that, when a reviewer doesn't like a film,   
   he (or she) generally just criticizes whatever comes to hand (CGI,   
   acting, plot holes -- whatever). I will try to do better.   
      
   /Greenland/ is an end-of-the-world film told from the viewpoint of a   
   family (husband, wife, child) as they try to survive not just the   
   Giant Space Rock that is coming but the decaying society around them.   
      
   This sort of thing can work (well, for me, anyway). HG Well's novel,   
   /The War of the Worlds/, does this (for a single person, not a   
   family). Spielberg's movie adaptation does the same (but for a   
   family), and I really appreciated how much of the novel he managed to   
   pack in. But /Greenland/ didn't work for me, and I think these are the   
   actual reasons:   
      
   First, I did not connect with any of the major characters. That is, I   
   really did not care what happened to them. This is never a good sign.   
      
   Second, while the special effects were well-done, most of them   
   consisted of various Space Rocks hitting the Earth. They all looked   
   much the same: a streak of light, a big explosion, and (if it was one   
   of the larger ones) a blast wave resulted. These became so similar   
   that I empathized with the people throwing a party while watching a   
   series of the smaller Space Rocks demolish neighborhoods. We do see   
   The Big One hit at the end, and then it's a race to the shelters (see   
   below).   
      
   There was an exception: the "rocks" came down and set cars on fire.   
   This was very effective because the cars were driving about trying to   
   escape at the time. The problem here is, of course, that these   
   couldn't have been "rocks" or they would have pulverized the cars.   
   This were Very Small Pebbles, and they worked exactly as Lava Bombs   
   did in other films. Still, it was fun (to watch, not to be in) while   
   it lasted.   
      
   Third, Homeland Security guarantees our family a place on a plane for   
   evacuation to an unspecified destination (hint: name of film) where,   
   it turns out, they will be stashed in leftover bomb shelters to   
   survive The Big One. There is just one minor problem: the guarantee   
   was not honored because the child was diabetic, and no sickies were   
   allowed. So why did they pick the family in the first place? Well,   
   clearly, because otherwise /there wouldn't be a movie/.   
      
   Finally, after seeing The Big One impact, our family and friends are   
   rushed into the ancient-but-presumably-refurbished bomb shelter. This   
   is a scene we have seen before (in /Mockingjay 1/ and /War Games/, for   
   example): a bunch of people running, a disembodied voice counting down   
   to the point where the Really Big Door must close, people urging them   
   along, etc, etc. It's all there and it works -- up to the point where   
   we expect to /see/ the Really Big Door, that is; because we don't.   
      
   Don't see the Really Big Door, that is. And that, I think, is the   
   underlying problem with the film: it just doesn't deliver on it's   
   promises. They've studied other films (/Deep Impact/ and /2012/ are   
   two I recognized) and pulled out the bits they wanted and (I want to   
   be clear about this) crafted a perfectly fine story from them, but the   
   stuff those bits lead to in the originals is noticeably (and   
   annoyingly) missing here.   
      
   One might almost say that the film itself is missing, without   
   exaggerating too much.   
   --   
   "I begin to envy Petronius."   
   "I have envied him long since."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)