65 (2023)

65 (2023)

There are only four actors in this film: Adam Driver, Chloe Coleman, Ariana Greenblatt and Nika King.

Sixty-five million years ago on the planet Somaris, space pilot Mills is persuaded by his wife to embark on a two-year space expedition to earn money to treat their sick daughter, Nevine. His spaceship, the Zoic, is damaged in an asteroid storm and crashes on an alien planet: Earth.

Even whilst watching the film, I got the beginning all wrong! I thought they’d travelled back in time. I hadn’t realised they were people from a futuristic world of the past… who arrived on our planet when there were still dinosaurs around! Why not!!!

Another commenter had understood it the same way as me: ‘If I’ve understood the film correctly, it wasn’t a journey back in time, as the synopsis describes. The spaceship had taken off from Somaris, its home planet located light-years away, for a two-year expedition. After a collision in the asteroid belt, it had to make an emergency landing on Earth, during the Cretaceous period.” So it was the synopsis that led to the confusion.

The actual story goes like this: following a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Adam Driver) quickly realises that he has in fact found himself stranded on Earth… 65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance of being rescued, Mills and the sole other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must traverse uncharted territory, teeming with dangerous prehistoric creatures, in an epic struggle for survival. From the screenwriters of A Quiet Place comes 65, a sci-fi thriller produced once again by Sam Raimi (him again!), as well as by Deborah Liebling, Zainab Azizi, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.

I’m a bit surprised by the average ratings across all sites. It might not be the film of the century, but it’s an enjoyable watch. There’s action, suspense, and the special effects aren’t half bad, in my opinion.

So yes, the plot isn’t exactly mind-blowing, but the actors are brilliant. Adam Driver is very convincing, Ariana is excellent, and carrying an entire film with just four actors is quite remarkable, really. I’m going to give it a 4 to make up for the grumpy reviewers’ scores 😉

Stranded in the Cretaceous

A lovely idea brought to life brilliantly. I really enjoyed watching it. But based on what we currently know about flora and fauna, it isn’t entirely true to life, and as far as the animals are concerned, it’s more in the realm of fantasy. We don’t see the usual dinosaurs we’re used to in other films. Apart from the T-Rexes, of course! But no brontosaurs, triceratops or velociraptors. Yes, we do see the pterosaurs at one point. I’d love to see dimetrodons in a film, as it seems to me we never see them.

A nice musical nod at the start, taken from The War of the Worlds.

To conclude:

A fairly gripping and rather low-key film. I say that because it’s more of an adventure drama than a proper action film. Entertaining and captivating right to the end – and, really, that’s all we asked of it!

The following review will round off mine:

‘A brilliant idea!

A well-made sci-fi action film, with surprising depth and subplots. At first, I thought it would be mostly action and shoot-outs, but that wasn’t the case. A truly brilliant film concept with good actors. I really enjoyed watching it.”
Incidentally, the two directors, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, also directed the excellent Heretic (2024) the following year