65

Starring: Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, Chloe Coleman, Nika King
Directed by: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
2023

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An astronaut (Adam Driver) crash lands on a primitive planet and must fight against the creatures there to reach his escape pod.

Review:

Tim: 65 is most known as a major box office bomb for Sony. No one was interested in seeing this film in theaters and it cratered out quickly. That's unfortunate. I actually think 65 is a good film. Oh sure, it's entirely forgettable and it has some scream-inducing flaws. But, it's still Adam Driver verses dinosaurs and that's a premise I'm definitely there to see. The movie just just enough right for me to consider it good, although I understand why people didn't go to the theaters to see it. This might be a box office bomb, but it's still a fairly decent piece of entertainment.

I thought the premise of the film was interesting. MINOR SPOILER, if you didn't see any of the marketing. The title refers to Adam Driver's character crash landing on Earth, 65 million years ago. That's a cool twist on these kind of science fiction films. It doesn't really matter in the grand context of the film, but kind of cool. I'm sure that hurt the film a bit, not leading with this being a full on dinosaur movie.

That's really what attracted me to this film in the first place. Outside of the Jurassic Park franchise, when's the last time we got a dinosaur movie? I'm struggling to think of an example.This film takes a more realistic view of these creatures- there's no awe or sweeping music here. The dinosaurs (and insects, plants, everything) are deadly. Life on Earth 65 million years ago would have been hellacious for humans. I really like that this film fully embraced that. It's a big reason why I liked this movie- it's an onslaught on one bad thing after another for our characters. It's relentlessly bad news as they stumble forward towards their goal. It's been a while since I've seen a movie like this- one challenge after another for our heroes to overcome. It ends up being really entertaining. I laughed a few times at the bad luck and unfortunate situations these characters find themselves in. It gets to the point where you're so interested in seeing what bad thing will happen next and wonder how the characters will survive. You get pulled into these characters' plight because it's so relentlessly awful. That was fun to watch. We get to see a wide variety of dinosaurs and insects, all of which potentially spell doom for these survivors. The movie just rushes forward from one calamity to the next. The film wisely doesn't overstay its welcome. It's a brisk 1 hour, 33 minutes.

While that aspect of the film is good, the script has some major weaknesses. There's a number of things that happen throughout the movie that are just so poorly written, ridiculously convenient or illogical that I wanted to to yell. The script is especially weak in a few places where it just does not make sense. This really hurts the film. I'll give just one example- there's a scene where our protagonists are trying to get a ship piece into the right orientation. A dinosaurs slams into it and pushes it exactly where they need it to go. I mean, come on. The film just doesn't sell these moments well. These are occasionally so bad that it nearly ruined the movie for me. I seriously considered dropping this film to a "6.5" rating (which would have had such nice symmetry) because these bad moments nearly ruined the film for me.

Adam Driver does a nice job in the lead role. I don't think he is a bona fide movie star, but he's an exceedingly talented actor. This film felt like he was slumming it just a bit, but I also understand the attraction- the cast is small and Driver carries the entire film. Plus, he gets to battle against dinosaurs. That's really cool. I'd have signed up for this film, so I can't blame him. Driver's talent helps elevate the movie. With a less talented actor in this role, the film would have floundered. I also liked seeing Ariana Greenblatt here. Greenblatt has been everywhere as of late- it's quite impressive to see a young actresses nabbing so many roles. She's always in smaller supporting ones, so it was great to see her get some more screen time here. She gives a good performance for a young actress and worked well with Driver. I suspect if she continues to focus, Greenblatt could emerge as a special actress. I thought Chloe Coleman was decent here. I don't think I've made my mind up about her yet. Sometimes I think she's okay, sometimes not. Her performance was decent, but I didn't love it. We'll have to continue to see how she progresses.

65 is certainly a flawed movie. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods wrote and directed this film. Their writing on A Quiet Place was impressive, but too uneven here. I haven't seen the other films they've directed, but it seems like they could be budding talents. While the film suffers from some bad moments, there's also a popcorn entertainment-quality to the film that holds your attention. I can see why viewers would have stayed away from this film and why critics didn't like it. However, I think the movie does enough right to be a forgettable but good film. It's too bad this movie was such a box office dud. I mostly enjoyed it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Jurassic Park, A Quiet Place