‘Prior to the advent of mankind, in the infinity of space, other civilizations explored the heavens...’
Cinema needn’t be complicated. Sometimes, all you need is Adam Driver + dinosaurs = success. Or so it should be. That slam dunk of a concept had audiences intrigued from the moment the film was announced and in that respect it is similar to another home run concept from 2023 in the shape of Cocaine Bear. Of the two, the latter is more successful, mainly because there is a nagging feeling throughout 65 that this whole thing should be a little more fun…
The opening crawl informs us that millions of years ago, alien races (who for all intents and purposes are just humans) would travel the universe. This process leads to Mills (Driver) crash landing on Earth during the Jurassic era. All the other passengers are killed instantly except Koa (Ariana Greenblatt) who survives but doesn’t speak English. Together, Mills and Koa must traverse 15 kilometres of treacherous, dino-infested terrain in order to reach their escape pod.
Now, the key element of the Adam Driver + dinosaurs equation is that there must be dinosaurs. Lots of dinosaurs all of the time. Despite clocking it at just over 90 minutes, 65 is sparing in its use of dinosaurs until the third act. When they do arrive, they are often pretty underwhelming. Joint writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods struggle to bring the more visually inventive moments to life. Driver and Greenblatt are certainly game, but they aren’t given enough to do to carry the movie alone and the visual effects don’t help them out much either.
We’ve managed to reach four paragraphs without mentioning Jurassic Park but Spielberg’s classic looms so large over the dinosaur movie that it’s impossible not to use it as a point of comparison. The fact that the dinosaurs from that thirty-year-old movie are much more impressive than what we are given here perhaps sums up 65 better than any other aspect of the film.
This is not a bad film by any means. It’s a perfectly serviceable way to fill an hour and a half of your time. The frustrating thing is that it could have been so much more. A missed opportunity.