65

Underneath poor pacing and a half-baked plot, there is a good film that, unfortunately, 65 never fully realizes. From the start of the film, the pacing was dreadful. The introduction of our character, Mills, and the set-up to his story were rushed and for no reason, as the movie was under an hour and thirty minutes long. This time that should have been used for character development and motivation setup was fast-forwarded in order to get to the action on Earth. This section is critical to the audience's ability to relate to Mills, and unfortunately we never get to see it come to fruition. Once we get to Earth, things start to even out as the story progresses. The world they built was breathtaking, and the visuals were stellar. The action set pieces were nothing too impressive, but they did the job and had me thoroughly entertained. But, similarly to the introduction, this section lacks heart. 65 tries to be more than just a dinosaur action flick, and attempts to develop an intimate relationship between Mills and Koa just don’t work. I think the decision to make them speak different languages really took away from their development. It always felt awkward, which is a missed opportunity for what they could have been. Despite my story complaints, this movie was just entertaining. There were some pretty decent action scenes, Adam Driver was fantastic as always, and the overall concept was pretty unique. I loved the idea of this not being a time travel film, especially with that mixed with the extinction event of the dinosaurs. In the end, this film is not good, but it isn’t as bad as many would have you believe. Score: 56% Verdict: Decent

This film starts out with an odd premise. Putting a twist on the Planet of the Apes plot, instead of earth astronauts ending up in the past or future of this planet, the Earth is visited by space travelers from a different planet in the distant prehistoric past. (The title is not a suggested rating for reviewers, but rather how many million years ago the story takes place.) So it is odd to contemplate that the Adam Driver character speaks Engish just so we can understand him, while his co-star speaks some other language. How different the story would have been if we understood her (Koa) and not him! But I digress. So this turns into another Jurassic Park without the huge body count or those magic sighing moments of viewing a herd of docile grazing Brontosauruses or triceratops. Instead the dinosaurs start out as killing threats and remain so throughout. I suppose this is also a good reason to show the movie on a streaming service rather than on a large theater screen. That sort of access might have tilted the movie away from sci-if thriller and towards mere horror. I had this weird and unrealized vision of them showing some sign of these alien visitors millions of years later along with other fossil remains, but perhaps fortunately perhaps, nothing like that developed.

This review does contain spoilers Such a disappointing movie. Adam Driver is a great actor but this movie is so incredible boring. 90% of the movie are encounters to another and then another and then another dangerous blood seeking Dino. Just when you think the story might get anywhere there is another Dino to shoot. Slowly you are realizing there is no more extra story. it is just a short journey to a top of a hill fighting Dino's. And Adam is a father of a 9 year old but then on this journey he has to do the journey with another 9 year old (which looks too old) and suddenly becomes like the dumbest not able to communicate person in the world. Such a waist of actor talent and special effects money. My guess is that the makers have cgi or vision art backgrounds because the only thing well done in this movie are the special effects.