Greenland (4K UHD Review)
- Review Date: May 13, 2026
- Format: 4K Ultra HD
-
Director
Ric Roman WaughRelease Date(s)
2020 (March 31, 2026)Studio(s)
Thunder Road, Anton, G-Base, STX Films, Riverstone, Universal (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: C-
Review
John Garrity (Gerard Butler) is an Atlanta-based structural engineer. He supervises the construction of tall buildings and he’s damn good at it. Unfortunately, he’s less good at his marriage, though he’s been making an effort to get back in the good graces of his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), so she lets him return home to host a planned neighborhood barbecue. But just when it seems like the Garrity’s life might be returning to normal, the news reports that a newly-discovered comet called Clarke is approaching Earth. It’s made of hundreds of smaller fragments, and the experts on TV say that one is about to land harmlessly in the ocean. But as the world watches live, the impact turns out to be much bigger and more damaging than people expected. Suddenly, there are additional signs that the worst is yet to come—and that the government has been hiding the truth. So John, Allison, and their son Nathan find themselves in a fight to survive with the rest of humanity around them.
Right off the top, this needs to be said: Greenland is the single best comet-hits-Earth movie that’s yet been made. It’s remarkably personal and a genuinely tense viewing experience. Writer Chris Sparling and director Ric Roman Waugh (Snitch, Angel Has Fallen) have resisted the urge to use a huge ensemble cast, unlike every other disaster epic. By limiting their focus to the members of just this one family, the entire story becomes more realistic and effective. The fact that this couple is having marital problems, and that their son has a chronic health issue, only makes things that much more believable. Lots of little but unsettling touches add to the realism too. Best of all, Butler (300, Hunter Killer), Baccarin (Homeland, Firefly), and supporting cast member Scott Glenn (The Hunt for Red October, The Right Stuff) keep everything grounded and relatable. This is just a damn good film.
Yet for quite a while now (since 2021), the only way to get this film on 4K disc has been to import the German 4K edition from Tobis Film and LEONINE Distribution. That disc (reviewed here on The Bits) was quite good. Thankfully, Lionsgate and STX Films have now released the film in 4K here in the States, just in time for its sequel, Greenland 2: Migration (2026), to join it on the format.
Greenland was captured digitally in the ARRIRAW codec (at 4.5K) by cinematographer Dana Gonzales (Snitch, episodes of Fargo, Legion, and Alien: Earth) using Arri Alexa Mini LF cameras with Cooke Anamorphic/i and S4/i lenses. It was finished as a native 4K Digital Intermediate at the 2.39:1 aspect ratio and was graded for high dynamic range (only HDR10 is included on this disc).
The first thing to note is that this image is high contrast by design. It was almost too dark on regular Blu-ray (reviewed here), so the HDR grade makes a big difference here. The shadows are deeply black, yet still detailed, while the highlights are bold and also retain good detail—they’re right on the edge of being eye-reactive. What’s important is that the wider gamut improves detail visibility and offers much more nuanced colors. This is a film that lives and breathes on atmospherics (smoke, haze, falling ash, etc), but when textures are visible, the detail is notably tighter and better refined. A pleasing but very light film grain texture has also been added to lend the image a pleasing cinematic quality. And here’s an improvement over the German 4K release: Lionsgate has encoded the film for release on a 100 GB disc, so video data rates average about 95 Mbps (that’s more than double the German release). The result is noticably greater dimensionality and a gorgeous 4K image.
Lossless audio is available on the 4K disc in English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio format—the same track found on the 2021 Universal Blu-ray (note that the German 4K release included 5.1 DTS-HD MA only). It’s an excellent mix, a big and fully hemispheric sound environment with plenty of bluster, strong dynamics, and highly atmospheric use of the surround channels. Panning is smooth and natural, and the LFE has genuine bite in all the key moments you’d want it to, including gunfire, explosions, panicked crowds, and debris impacts. The David Buckley score is workmanlike, effective, and mixed here in good fidelity. English Descriptive Audio is also available, as are optional subtitles in English SDH and Spanish.
Lionsgate’s 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray package includes the film on both formats. And it appears that the Blu-ray is the exact same disc originally released by Universal. Each disc includes the following special features…
- Audio Commentary with director Ric Roman Waugh and producer Basil Iwanyk
- Humanity (HD – 1:30)
- Deleted Scenes (HD – 2 scenes and the original ending, with optional director intros – 6:30 in all)
This is essentially the same content that was found on the film’s original 2021 Universal Blu-ray release. The commentary is low key but informative, and it was obviously recorded over Zoom or Skype given the pandemic. As Waugh and Iwanyk discusse their approach to the story, it quickly becomes clear that this was a project the latter had a strong hand in championing and guiding to completion. The deleted scenes are brief but worth your time—more of John and Colin talking in the back of the truck, a brief moment with John and Allison’s father, and the film’s original “happy” ending.
Sadly missing is a bit of good content produced exclusively for the German 4K release, including…
- Mini Making-of (HD – 4:20 – German audio only)
- B-Roll (HD – 3:55)
- Image Gallery (HD – 2:32)
- Kino Trailer 1 (HD – 1:06 – German audio only)
- Kino Trailer 2 (HD – 2:27 – German audio only)
- Original Trailer 1 (HD – 1:02)
- Original Trailer 2 (HD – 2:23)
- Gerard Butler Interview (HD – 26:50)
- Morena Baccarin Interview (HD – 11:13)
- Ric Roman Waugh Interview (HD – 7:37)
The interviews are the best of that lot, so if you have the German 4K disc, you may wish to keep it. You do at least get a Digital copy code here on a paper insert in the packaging (though not Movies Anywhere).
Comprehensive extras or not, Greenland is a pretty damn terrific disaster thriller—one of the best in years and one I can’t recommend more highly. The film looks and sounds great here, and US fans finally have an excellent 4K disc option. If you’re a fan, Lionsgate’s release is well worth getting your hands on.
- Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media on X, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)