Gerard Butler and the end of the world haven’t been very suitable bedfellows, with the actor lending support to Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey in apocalyptic dragon actioner Reign of Fire back in 2002, which is admittedly a stupidly entertaining movie if not a very good one.
Geostorm, meanwhile, was awful whichever way you want to cut it, though, with the combination of Butler and the fate of humanity going two-for-two in terms of critical and commercial duds. However, third time proved to be the charm when it came to Greenland, which saw the actor reuniting with his Angel Has Fallen director Ric Roman Waugh.
After accomplishing the rare feat of turning a profit at the box office in 2020, when it hauled in $52 million on a $35 million budget, scoring strong reviews in the process, Greenland eventually wound up being added to Prime Video where it’s proved to be one of the most popular titles of the year so far, remaining at the top of the platform’s most-watched list for weeks on end.
It’s definitely one of the leading man’s better efforts, and forgoes the usual city-wide carnage in favor of a relatively contained family-orientated story, albeit one that still features things getting wiped out, blown up and destroyed in pretty spectacular fashion. Greenland has only reinforced the actor’s credentials as one of mid-budget cinema’s most popular and reliable names, too, something he’s fully aware of at this point.
The hot streak of the 300 star and director Waugh is only set to continue as well, with the pair reuniting for franchise sequel Night Has Fallen and action thriller Kandahar, both of which see Gerard Butler on familiar turf as a rugged veteran agent more than skilled with his fists.