Film Review: “65”

A cross between “Jurassic Park,” “Predator,” and every other science fiction flick where a human, with or without companions, somehow ends up stranded on an alien planet, “65” is a forgettable foray into subgenre that has become as lifeless as the void of space. Adam Driver, who has a wide spectrum of genres to his acting credits, delivers a solid performance, but it’s not nearly enough to overcome the shear boredom that comes with watching this film.

On the fictional planet of Somaris, a pilot named Mills (Driver) is reluctant to leave his family behind to go on a two-year space expedition. However, the payment he will receive for doing it will save his ill daughter’s life. While his passengers are asleep in cryostasis chambers, Mills’s ship encounters an unexpected asteroid field. Extensive damage causes the ship to crash land on an uncharted planet – Earth approximately 65 million years ago when dinosaurs were the top of the food chain.

All the ship’s passengers are killed except for one – a young girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt, who played a younger version of Gamora in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War”) who speaks a different language than Mills. With a giant asteroid on a collusion course with Earth, Mills must traverse hostile terrain with Koa to reach an escape pod that has the potential of getting them off the planet in time.

There is nothing that is all that thrilling or exciting about “65.” The story gives a good motivation for Mills to want to stay alive and the initial premise seems like it could have some promise. However, everything that’s done in “65” has been done a million other times. Thankfully it’s only 93 minutes long, but in reality, it feels like it’s twice that long, although not as long as “Avatar.” It does have plenty of scary looking dinosaurs but the mystique of seeing these extinct species on the silver screen evaporated a long time ago.

Overall, “65” is perhaps a good film to fall asleep to on a rainy, Sunday afternoon where there is absolutely nothing else to do and football isn’t on.