65 is a new movie starring Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt, it is directed by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck. The premise of the film is absolutely amazing, “After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills quickly discovers he’s actually stranded on Earth — 65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance at a rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa, must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures.” The film is also a brainchild of the makers of The Quiet Place. On paper you would think that this film has everything to become one of the best sci-fi thrillers we have seen. You’re right, it had unfortunately the film is also one of the best examples of how an amazing concept, actor and talent overall can be wasted in a film. Let’s talk why.
65 Movie Review: This Film Should’ve Been Amazing!
This is going to be a short one because quiet frankly this won’t be a discussion rather a straight up list of things that went wrong with a film that I desperately wanted to be good. I’ll be honest, I had no idea this exists until I saw the trailer for it last year. I was already on board because of Adam Driver. I have loved that man in anything that I have seen him in. His best performance came in 2019’s Marriage Story, undoubtedly. I will watch the man in anything. The more I researched about the film, I could only get more excited.
I loved the premise of the film, finally a film with a good budget trying to give us a survival thriller with dinosaurs except for the Jurassic franchise which has only deteriorated since the first film. I loved The Quiet Place, it is on my list of the Best Survival films ever made. How could this film not work? Well, for that you need to watch it as the makers have clearly shown how a good concept can fail with having all the ingredients one need. The film opens with Adam Driver’s character travelling in space where he is hit with an asteroid belt.
This makes him the ship fall on Earth, every passenger is dead except for him and a little girl called Koa. The Earth that they land on is 65 million years from today’s time where they encounter dangerous dinosaurs. This is the concept, the plot is as simple as Koa and Mills are to get to a mountain’s top where there is a rescue pod, while getting there they come across dinosaurs. Firstly, there are no thrilling sequences throughout the film. Like there were moments where I felt it could have been engaging but it was simply a drag.
Another thing is the story itself, I thought the story could’ve better what if Adam Driver was actually a traveller from our time who gets time travelled to Earth 65 million years ago while travelling through space. That could’ve made it more richer right? If they would’ve done this then another element that could’ve been inserted into the plot is Adam Driver’s character being the one who starts the human race with an “Eve” of his. This ending could’ve worked as they use the asteroid hitting Earth really well.
The climax is around that which I thought was great but was not used to its full potential. As the asteroid hits and extincts all the dinosaurs, Mills and another lady is stuck on Earth and that is how the human race begins. They opted for a much simpler and might I say dumber story. Also, for a film sold in the name of dinosaurs there are not enough dinosaurs in the film. They just show up at points where they’re ineffective as well. One positive about the film is the dinosaur VFX. It is pristine. This is some of the best dinosaur VFX I have seen.
This was better than the Jurassic World movies. Every frame that the dinosaurs are in I never felt they were fake. For a film only having a budget of $91 million is a great achievement. The screenplay of the film is weak, there is no character. Lazily sticking Mills with a girl and conveniently he has recently lost his daughter. It just seems so contrived. There was no emotional investment in the character or in his relationship with Koa. The film uses cliches and uses them badly. The writing of the film needed to live up to the concept but it failed it.
The entire film is full of dead scenes. There is one particular scene where they’re stuck in a cave and there is a huge dinosaur that attacks them. The trailer has some shots from it. The scene begins with we getting a sense that there is a dinosaur and then some weird bug gets into the mouth of Koa while she is asleep. This causes her to get poisoned. Mills first kills the bug in her mouth and then the dinosaur appears where they run from it. This scene could’ve been so much more interesting if the dinosaur would’ve surfaced at the start.
In the middle of it Mills realises that Koa is poisoned. This would make the scene so much interesting as there would be two conflicts at the same time. If I can think of this then the specialised writers who wrote the film could’ve thought of so much more. The tension would’ve been unimaginable and it would be interesting to see how he manages both.
Verdict
Rating – ★1/2
In conclusion, the film is simply boring and lacklustre on all fronts. It was a major disappointment. I think I have already gotten the first film of the year which will make it to the Worst Movies of 2023 list. If you’re planning to watch the film because you think it will be good, find something better to do. I don’t think so there is a need for you to watch this film. I’ll rate the film 1.5 out of 5 stars.
65 is currently playing in theatres near you.
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