Sixty-five million years ago, Mills (Adam Driver) took a job as the pilot on a two-year-long exploratory mission so he could afford to pay for his daughter’s medical treatments. While on this mission, Mills’ ship runs into an uncharted asteroid belt, causing the ship to crash onto Earth, leaving Mills and a young passenger, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), alive. Mills quickly discovers that they are not alone on the alien planet. There is only one chance of survival, to travel 15km to an intact emergency vessel. They have to make it the distance while being stalked by the alien lifeforms on the planet, the dinosaurs. It also becomes a race against time since the dinosaur-killing asteroid is approaching Earth.
I was looking forward to this film; one-off, small-scope sci-fi films that don’t require other films to set them up don’t come around very often. The concept was good; I liked the setting of Earth and that the dinosaurs served as aliens. Ultimately, this film just wasn’t very interesting, and it was only mildly entertaining. The overall familial themes didn’t resonate with me and quite frankly, those portions of the story were boring. I would have been more entertained if this film had been an hour and a half of Adam Driver running around without the kid, just blasting the dinosaurs into oblivion.
I do have to give the writers/directors, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, a little credit here. They kept the story’s scope small and focused on a few characters. The film did look nice as well, both the effects and the natural scenery of Oregon. This being said, I haven’t seen Beck and Woods’ A Quiet Place, and after seeing 65, I will avoid anything else they write or direct.
This film was just ok and is slowly being erased from my mind. Within a few days, I’ll probably forget that I saw it at all. If you’re looking for a relatively family-friendly PG-13 sci-fi film, 65 was made for you. Though, I would suggest waiting for streaming, one, because it’s only 93 minutes, and two, this film will be pushed out of theatres with all the showings of Shazam next weekend.
5.7
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I’m a Data Analyst, from the land of Matthew McConaughey. I’m an avid movie-goer and love seeing films in theaters. My most recent favorite films are Good Time, Only Lovers Left Alive, TENET, and England is Mine. When I’m not at the movies, I’m either reading or watching obscene amount of true crime and historical documentaries.
