by Is 65 ridiculous? Absolutely. Is it tropical and occasionally too serious about itself? Also yes. But was I still having the time of my life? You’re right I did.
Of course, it probably helps that I’m obsessed with the basic premise: “Adam Driver fights dinosaurs.” Take an Oscar nominee famous for his intensity, put him up against a bunch of prehistoric predators, and I’m 100 percent in.
65 it also incorporates the “lone wolf and the cabbie” trope and a narrative about family grief, but it works best when it’s a no-holds-barred thriller about — say it with me now — Adam Driver fights dinosaurs. While these Driver-dino encounters, tragically, happen less often than they should, much of the rest of the film is delightfully based on these encounters, with some particularly great sequences overshadowed by 65The stingiest narrative strikes.
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Why is Adam Driver fighting these dinosaurs?
Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt in ’65.
Credit: Song Pictures Entertainment
While the trailers for 65 to tell you that “65 million years ago, humans discovered the Earth”, it is important to note that 65 it is not a time travel story. Instead, the film tells us in its opening text that “before the advent of humanity,” other civilizations explore space. Don’t think too much about it – whatever brings us to the dinosaurs faster.
65 it follows Mills (Driver), a pilot from one such civilization who goes on a larger exploratory mission to find more money to care for his sick daughter Nevine (Chloe Coleman). An undocumented asteroid belt puts his ship and most of its passengers into cryostasis, leaving only him and young Koa (Ariana Greenblatt) as survivors. Their only hope of returning home is a distant escape pod, but hordes of dinosaurs and natural hazards stand in their way.
The following story is like what you would get if Jurassic Park, The last of usand After THE earth (Show understanding) had a B-movie baby, alternating between doomsday set pieces and bonding sequences between a tough survivor and a premature child. Driver and Greenblatt share a sweet rapport, and even though their characters don’t speak the same language, you have no trouble believing their connection.
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Some of the scenes involving Mills and Koa can feel a little too cute, while the many flashbacks to Mills’ daughter lead into innocuous territory. Every time Mills watches Koa do something, there’s a chance he’ll remember something similar to Nevine. For example, a moment when Koa needs to examine a river cuts to a day spent by Mills and Nevine at the beach. Writers and directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who also co-wrote A quiet placewe’re bombarded with Mills and Koa’s new father-daughter relationship when we can tell it’s coming from the moment the two meet.
Despite these flaws, 65 pulls off some pretty cool moments from the threats posed by prehistoric Earth. An exploding geyser makes for a surprisingly effective jump scare, while a claustrophobic cave system gives us a harrowing chase and fight sequence. Greenblatt and especially Driver do enough walking, climbing and sprinting around these ancient landscapes to give us a solid idea of the range of mammoths of this world — and how small they are within it.
65Dinosaur fights are fun — and I wish there were more of them.
Adam Driver in ’65, along with a dinosaur he didn’t kill.
Credit: Patti Perret/Sony Pictures Entertainment
You can’t do “Adam Driver fights dinosaurs” without the dinosaurs and 65 comes with some truly bloodthirsty raptors and T-Rexes — as well as a larger-than-expected volume of truly nasty bugs. The driver cuts through most of them with his handy laser weapon. Did I punch when he head shot a particularly formidable enemy? Maybe, who can say? (Of course I did.)
But as was my complaint with Cocaine bear, 65It’s twin in wild facilities, we definitely could have used more time with the film’s main beasts. The film pays tribute to Jurassic Park throughout, including a rain-soaked T-Rex jumpscare, but we have little chance to wonder about these creatures before they start gnashing their teeth.
Part of this may be due to 65Running time under 90 minutes, which is perfect for a popcorn flick, but also results in some rushed dino mayhem sequences. However, the film’s final sequence, in which Driver and Greenblatt face off multiple T-Rexes and an asteroid shower is an absolute delight of sci-fi madness. Really, nothing could have prepared me for the joy I felt when 65 revealed its secondary “antagonist” to be an asteroid on track to hit Earth — perhaps even the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. These are the levels of ridiculousness of the genre I wrote in, people!
Even though the premise of the film is out there, Driver approaches the role of Mills with his usual combination of intense commitment and physicality, and maybe that’s why I ended up rooting for Mills and Koa’s journey so much. The way these two fight tooth and nail through every obstacle Earth throws at them is strangely inspiring, to the point where my most cynical 65 thoughts fell aside. Sure, a dinosaur space thriller sounds bananas, but I choose to embrace it. Adam Driver does fight dinosaurs, and while he is indeed flawed, he’s also pretty awesome.
65 hits theaters March 10.
