65 – A Derivative Slog That Overexplains and Underdelivers

When it comes to 65, its problems begin with its overly-simplistic title. For the most part, any film cannot coast on its premise and this is what this film attempts to do but fails miserably. A man from the future crashing on earth 65 million years ago has promise on paper, however, that promise nor its characters were never fully realized on screen. In order to fulfill that premise, instead of any sense of originality, the film turns to derivative story beats and tropes to create tension and suspense, resulting in an incredibly dull watch. While it’s a short one, clocking in at around the 90-minute mark, that fact is barely a saving grace as the film has no plot whatsoever and the thinnest of characters. Seemingly going nowhere throughout that running time, it adds up very quickly as it gives audiences little reason to remain engaged or even care. One can’t help but think of all that wasted potential as the film could have been so much better than it was. Ultimately, those looking for some crazy dinosaur action will also likely be disappointed. The film is a sci-fi romp that happened to have dinosaurs in it. Though Adam Driver does give it some credibility, he really didn’t have much to do here anyway.

As mentioned, 65 follows a man from a distant planet named Mills (Driver) whose ship has crashed on a mysterious planet that the film goes out of its way to let audiences now is earth 65 million years ago. Leading a 2-year exploratory mission, all the other circumstances essentially don’t matter. Audiences know what to expect from the planet therefore the only thing it arguably had going for it is the future vs past contrast. Built on the thinnest of foundations, even that didn’t work. Rushing through any semblance of character development it may have had, the film provides no reason to care. Ultimately, the story was about survival but those only work if there were actual stakes at play. That being said, Mills was not alone as would stumble upon a young girl named Koa (Greenblatt), the only other survivor from the crash. An issue quickly arose as the two were faced with a language barrier. Creating some moments of levity, it eventually got old fast. Though the film banks on that relationship to guide audiences through the film, they are both incredibly thin therefore hard to connect to on an emotional level.

The goal was finding a way back home and to do so, Mills and Koa had to navigate the treacherous and unpredictable landscape while facing plenty of dinosaurs and other creatures along the way. Unfortunately, the predictability of it all removes any element of tension or suspense despite the generic orchestral score trying to convince audiences otherwise. The score simply did not match what was happening on screen. To its credit, the intensity somewhat ratchets up by the climax but at that point, it was too little, too late. Beyond the derivative story beats and tropes, the dialog was just so bland which was arguably the final nail in its coffin. Meanwhile, for those looking at its dinosaurs themselves to be the film’s saving grace, they are sure to be disappointed by them as well, they are as bland and generic as the rest of the film. They felt like an afterthought, assuming they were ever thought of at all. It is clear that there is a better film somewhere in here but it feels like a lot of material was left on the cutting room floor. In the end, it appears to merely be a shell of what it could have been.

Ultimately, the best part of 65 was Driver’s okay performance as Mills in spite of having very little to work with. Nevertheless, he makes the best out of that limited wiggle room he had to work with using his charisma alone but that can only go so far. Easily the main draw of the film, he will put audiences in seats. However, he’s done a lot better in countless other better films. He and Greenblatt had decent chemistry though the latter only served to advance the plot as she didn’t bring much else to the table with a character even thinner than Driver’s Mills.

Overall, for those looking to watch Adam Driver take on dinosaurs, 65 will scratch that itch. Otherwise, it is nowhere near the best of what genre films have to offer.

still courtesy of Sony Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.