2020 brought Greenland, a tale of attempted survival in the face of an extinction level event. 2026 delivers Greenland 2: Migration, a follow-up that concentrates on the survivors’ next steps.

Five years earlier, a comet hit Earth and killed off much of the population. John Garrity (Gerard Butler), wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis) managed to stay alive in a bunker in Greenland.

Because the planet remains unstable, this facility becomes uninhabitable. This sends the Garrity clan on a perilous journey to find a new home.

Originally intended for release in summer 2020, the original Greenland encountered multiple delays due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually the studio threw gave up on a US theatrical release and put it out streaming/on-demand at the end of the year.

I guess it did decent numbers in that realm, though apparently not so good that Migration landed on the fast track. Actually, the production company announced the sequel summer 2021 but some financial issues disrupted its path to a shoot.

Which explains the more than five-year gap between the release of the first movie in December 2020 and the second chapter’s arrival in January 2026. I wouldn’t expect a third film, though, because Migration didn’t even earn half its $90 million budget at the global box office.

The 2020 Greenland turned into a surprisingly effective disaster movie. While not a classic, it kept me involved and engaged.

With the same director, writer and lead actors, I hoped Migration would fare at least as well. Unfortunately, it becomes a more generic and less thrilling adventure.

Everything about Migration simply feels more anonymous than its predecessor did. Not that the 2020 film delivered a disaster flick that seemed especially creative or original, but it nonetheless managed to bring zing to the genre.

Via its theme, Migration can come across like a remake of the 2020 tale. In that one, the Garritys fled a catastrophe to find safety, and they do the same here, with plenty of risks and danger along the way.

Granted, the nature of the world the Garritys encounter differs from the prior flick to this one. Still, we get essentially the same concepts and concerns in both.

If director Ric Roman Waugh brought some spark to the proceedings, this wouldn’t matter. However, he makes it a paint-by-numbers affair.

Which doesn’t surprise me. Across his decades as a feature director, Waugh has proven to be persistently workmanlike and without cinematic inspiration.

Waugh produces fairly generic action flicks on fairly reasonable budgets. Though most don’t rake in much money at the box office, I suspect they do well enough via other outlets to ensure Waugh’s continued employment.

Migration provides another perfectly competent but unremarkable thriller. Honestly, it delivers what I expected from the 2020 Greenland, and that makes it a disappointment.

Again, I don’t want to bill the prior flick as some classic. Nonetheless, it did well for itself, especially given Waugh’s limited filmmaking talent.

Migration turns into the more generic affair I expected back in 2020. It throws enough danger and drama at the viewer to ensure involvement, and it also benefits from a shorter running time than its predecessor.

Indeed, that movie’s 120-minute running time felt like its biggest weakness, as I thought it would’ve fared better at more like 105 minutes. At least the 98-minute Migration fixes that “mistake”.

Nonetheless, I’ll take the surprisingly effective disaster tale of the 120-minute Greenland over the spotty thrills of the 98-minute Migration. While I can find many worse action dramas, the sequel just seems flat and mediocre.

Greenland 2: Migration appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect the usual high-quality presentation here.

Sharpness looked good. Only a few slightly soft interiors occurred, so the film usually felt accurate and concise.

No concerns with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and edge enhancement remained absent. Source flaws also failed to create problems.

In terms of colors, Migration went with a dingy green/teal much of the time to match the post-apocalyptic setting. Some amber popped up as well and the hues seemed appropriately rendered given these choices.

Blacks were deep and firm, while shadows showed good delineation. Overall, this was a pleasing image.

Similar thoughts greeted the good Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Migration. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I felt the soundscape delivered an involving experience in which the action scenes offered a nice sense of impact.

The film packed plenty of these elements, so we got many instances of disaster-related tidbits. Overall, the mix filled out the room in a satisfying manner.

Audio quality was positive. Speech came across as natural and concise, without edginess or other issues.

Music showed good range, and effects offered a nice sense of impact. These were the kind of loud, impressive elements one would anticipate, as they showed solid clarity. This was a very fine soundtrack.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find four featurettes. Rebuilding runs eight minutes, one second and offers notes from director Ric Roman Waugh.

He discusses what brought him back for the sequel, working with the cast, and story/character areas. Waugh brings us no real insights via this dull chat.

Pushing Forward goes for nine minutes, 47 seconds. It presents info from actor Gerard Butler.

The star tells us about his collaboration with Waugh and his co-stars plus locations, themes and narrative domains. Although Butler gives us better material than Waugh does, this nonetheless feels like a superficial discussion.

Next comes Heart and Soul. A seven-minute, seven-second reel, this one features actor Morena Baccarin.

She covers what brought her to the franchise and what she hopes the films convey plus working with cast and crew. Like Butler, Baccarin manages a few worthwhile thoughts but we don’t really learn much of interest.

What We Leave Behind occupies three minutes, 12 seconds. Here we get remarks from actor Roman Griffin Davis.

The reel looks at how Davis came to the project along with his connections with cast and director. Nothing compelling arrives, and we don’t find out why Davis replaced Roger Dale Floyd, the first movie’s Nathan.

Although Greenland became a pleasant surprise in 2020, its sequel seems more ordinary. Greenland 2: Migration delivers a watchable but ordinary and lackluster extension of the first film. The Blu-ray boasts strong picture and audio but the disc comes with forgettable supplements. While moderately engaging, Migration doesn’t connect as well as its predecessor did.