My initial response to “65” when I saw its trailer was that we had a straightforward man versus dinosaur action film with a bit of science fiction thrown into the mix to spice it up.
I’m happy to report that it’s better than that and has more heart than I expected.
I grew up as a fan of the “Jurassic Park” franchise as a kid since its debut in 1993 and have done my best to see every dinosaur movie available since then.
The graphics are pretty awesome and that includes the lizard overlords trying to kill our main characters.
After all, there’s nothing scarier than a Tyrannosaurus Rex trying to make you its breakfast!
65 is a science fiction action thriller film written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and stars Adam Driver, Nika King, Chloe Coleman, and Ariana Greenblatt.
It is a co-production between Columbia Pictures, Bron Creative, Raimi Productions, TSG Entertainment, and Beck/Woods.
The film is 93 minutes long and rated PG-13 for intense sci-fi action and peril, and brief bloody images.
65 million years ago on the planet Somaris, pilot Mills (Driver) convinces his wife Alya that he should take on a two-year space expedition in order to gain money to help their sick daughter Nevine (Coleman).
However, on the journey back to Somaris, the ship runs afoul of an uncharted series of asteroids and crashes into Earth during the Cretaceous period.
With his ship damaged and split in half, Mills finds that his cryogenic passengers have been killed and contemplates suicide until he finds a lone survivor - a young girl named Koa (Greenblatt).
Mills decides to take care of Koa, however, the two have difficulty communicating due to differing languages.
Mills later discovers that the other half of the ship contains a functioning escape shuttle and sends a distress message for rescue.
Mills tells Koa that they are going to go to the mountain where the emergency escape shuttle is, although he lies about her parents being alive to encourage her to go with him.
As they traverse the planet, they end up bonding in their own way while Mills protects Koa from dinosaurs that attack them.
As they spend the night near a cave opening, Koa watches several video messages sent by Nevine.
Unfortunately, seeing the clips of his daughter are too upsetting for Mills.
The two are attacked by a giant theropod – a dinosaur similar to a velociraptor - which Mills manages to blind in one eye before hiding in the cave.
After a rock fall separates them, the two fend for themselves against other dinosaurs before reuniting.
Mills also discovers that an asteroid, whose debris caused their ship to crash, will strike Earth in less than 12 hours, triggering a catastrophic extinction event.
The two reach the ship, but Koa is angry when she discovers that Mills lied to her.
Mills opens up to Koa about losing Nevine and promises to protect her.
Upon learning rescue is on the way, the two board the escape shuttle, but the asteroid’s debris rain down on the planet and causes it to fall down the mountain.
Once it lands again, the shuttle is orientated the wrong way for the launch sequence to begin.
From then on it’s a race against time to get the ship right side up and evacuate before the asteroid hits.
There’s definitely enough action, science fiction, and thrilling moments coupled together to make this film worth watching on the big screen.
