The Reel Review
Adam Driver stars in this sci-fi/action-adventure set 65 million years ago, when an intergalactic space traveler crash lands on a hostile planet crawling with deadly dinosaurs… a prehistoric Earth. He and another young crash survivor must race against time to avoid the creatures, reach an escape pod and evacuate as a catastrophic, extinction-level meteor approaches that will wipe out all life.
With a promising premise, a budget of more than 45 million dollars and a screenplay from the writers of 2018’s A Quiet Place (who this time also direct), you’d think this sci-fi thriller would have the makings of a winner. Think again, amigo! Driver, alongside Ariana Greenblatt as the only survivors from their ill-fated expedition, stumble their way through a humorless, dull as dishwater story and some dinosaur CGI that ranges from decent leftovers from the Jurassic World franchise to ridiculously fake looking garbage.
Chloe Coleman (My Spy) makes a few brief appearances as our astronaut’s chronically ill daughter (apparently health care also sucked 65 million years ago), but even that effort is a feeble attempt to tug at our heartstrings. By the big finalé, you may just find yourself rooting for the approaching meteor if you haven’t already fallen asleep from boredom.
REEL FACTS
• Adam Driver says he agreed to do 65 after spending several months in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ariana Greenblatt’s screen credits include 2020’s Love and Monsters and playing a young Gamora in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War.
• Filming of 65 started in December 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, in New Orleans, the Kisatchie National Forest in central Louisiana, Oregon and Ireland.
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