Fourth Estate / Billy Ferguson
65
BY EMMA MICHELS, STAFF WRITER
Starring Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt, and directed by Schott Beck and Brian Woods, science fiction action thriller film 65 takes watchers through a journey that will leave them with more questions than answers.
Mills (Adam Driver), the protagonist of the film, embarks on a two year space expedition mission to pay for his ill daughter’s (Chloe Coleman) medical expenses. However, on his mission, Mills finds himself in a fatal asteroid field leading to the death of all his crew members, except for one. A young girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), who resembles Mills’s daughter, survives which Mills takes responsibility over throughout the film despite the language barrier between the two.
Appearing to be stranded on an unknown planet, the two soon discover to be stuck on earth 65 million years in the past, infested with both dangerous prehistoric, alien-like beings. Mills and Koa drudge through treacherous swampy and forested landscapes while fighting alien-tyrannosaurus hybrids lurking behind dark corners, until finding an escape pod to return back to safety.
Although the plot of the film sounded promising, the rushed, confusing and slightly bland storyline of family drama mixed with a sci-fi-infused Jurassic Park plot, led to mixed emotions and overall disappointment
Driver brings a compelling performance to the table as Mills despite a skeletal storyline and language barrier between him and Greenblatt’s character. However, there is a lot left to the imagination concerning his relationship with his daughter and background which makes the movie lack substance.
The cinematography of the film does bring a clever usage of CGI and artistic views through their filming locations in Ireland, Louisiana and Oregon that adds to the atmosphere along with thrilling music scores from Chris Bacon and Danny Elfman that also wrote for the recent hit Netflix TV show, Wednesday.
As a potential viewer, it is important to note that there are no revelations, twist endings or many action-packed sequences. While there was major potential for the film, it had unfortunately fallen short. The idea of surviving dinosaurs did raise expectations but ended up becoming repetitive and not enough. There were at most two jumpscares but were anticipated by the music scores.
It is arguable that the premise of the film was supposed to be a little on the short, quick and predictable side, but the trailer, budget and the film histories of both directors does not necessarily support that argument.
Although there are mixed reviews on the film, if dinosaurs and simple plots are film factors that pique your interest, this film is worth watching at least once and can give you an idea of what you can expect from future prehistoric productions in the future.
