Adam Driver fighting dinosaurs in space makes for a great movie premise. But with so few dinos and minimal action, 65 doesn't have much else to offer.
Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods are best known as the writers of the 2018 horror hit A Quiet Place, and they pull triple duty here also serving as writers and producers. While they once again set up a great idea for their film, this sci-fi thriller’s execution proves too sparse.
Adam Driver plays Mills, a human spacecraft captain 65 million years ago from another planet. When his ship crash lands on prehistoric Earth, he and a young girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt) are left as the only survivors.
They now have only a few days before a large asteroid is land and wipe out all life - so they now must hike to the escape pod before the elements best them.
One of the central conflicts is the language barrier between Mills and Koa. This momentum-killing choice takes away a myriad of story opportunities through their broken conversations. It also leaves the emptiness of the beautifully shot environment feeling even emptier with few scenes of the two main characters speaking.
But the conversations don’t need to be sparse to be tense - the bleak, empty setting of the jurassic wilderness gives us all the suspense we need. What the script needs is deeper humanity, and for that we need more dialogue.
For a premise that promises prehistoric action, there are surprisingly few dinosaurs. For every scene of Mills and Koa being hunted by dinosaurs, there are three more of them simply wandering aimlessly through the forest looking for their escape pod.
Even when the dinosaurs show up, half the time the creatures instead turn out to be mutant lizards of some kind. Showcasing different reptiles than promised set my opening day in a slightly sour and confused mood.
While it isn’t action-packed nor scary, there are several thrilling moments and short scenes. Like their famed A Quiet Place, Beck and Woods know how to effectively build suspense into a narrative. Thrilling moments like the T. Rex in the cave and the initial chase deliver on the story’s promise, but they are too few and far between.
This forgettable thriller will likely soon be extinct from memory.
65
5 out of 10
14A, 1hr 32mins. Sci-Fi Action Thriller.
Written and Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
Starring Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt and Chloe Coleman.
Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas, 5 Drive-In, Cineplex Winston Churchill and Cineplex Oakville & VIP.
