Is Sixty-five ridiculous? Absolutely. Is it a trope, and at times too serious for its own good? Also if. But he still had the time of my life? You’re right, I did.
Of course, it probably helps that I’m obsessed with the central premise: “Adam Driver fights dinosaurs.” Take an Oscar nominee known for his intensity, pit him against a group of prehistoric predators, and I’m 100 percent. in.
Sixty-five also incorporates the “lone wolf and cub” trope and a narrative about family grief, but works best when it’s a no-holds-barred thriller about — Say It With Me Now: Adam Driver Fighting Dinosaurs. While these Driver-dino clashes, tragically, occur less frequently than they should, much of the rest of the film plays nicely around these encounters, with some particularly great sequences overshadowing Sixty-fiveThe clumsiest narrative beats in .
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Why is Adam Driver even fighting these dinosaurs?
Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt in ’65’.
Credit: Song Pictures Entertainment
While the trailers for Sixty-five tell you that “65 million years ago, humans discovered Earth”, it is important to note that Sixty-five It is not a time travel story. Instead, the movie tells us in its opening crawl that “before the advent of humanity,” other civilizations are exploring space. Don’t overthink it, whatever gets us to the dinosaurs faster.
Sixty-five follows Mills (Driver), a pilot from one such civilization who goes on a longer exploratory mission to get more money to care for his ailing daughter Nevine (Chloe Coleman). An undocumented asteroid belt pulls his ship and most of its passengers into cryostasis, leaving only him and young Koa (Ariana Greenblatt) as survivors. His only hope of getting home is a faraway escape pod, but hordes of dinosaurs and natural hazards stand in his way.
The story that follows feels like what you would get if Jurassic Park, The last of usand After Earth (be patient with me) had a B-movie baby, alternating between scenes centered on dinosaurs and bonding sequences between a surviving gruff man and a precocious boy. Driver and Greenblatt share a sweet relationship, and even though their characters don’t speak the same language, you have no trouble believing their connection.
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Some of Mills and Koa’s bonding scenes can feel a bit too cheesy, while the many flashbacks to Mills’ daughter lead into cheesy territory. Every time Mills sees Koa doing something, there’s a chance that he remembers something similar with Nevine. For example, a time Koa takes to survey a river becomes a day Mills and Nevine spent at the beach. Writers-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who also co-wrote A peaceful placehammering us in the head with the new father-daughter relationship of Mills and Koa, when we can say that it comes from the moment the two meet.
Despite these flaws, Sixty-five it extracts some very interesting moments from the threats posed by prehistoric Earth. An erupting geyser creates a surprisingly effective jump scare, while a claustrophobic cave system treats us to a harrowing chase and fight sequence. Greenblatt and especially Driver walk, climb and run enough of these ancient landscapes for us to get a solid idea of the gigantic scope of this world, and how small they are within it.
Sixty-fiveThe dinosaur fights in are fun, and I wish there were more of them.
Adam Driver in “65,” along with a dinosaur he didn’t kill.
Credit: Patti Perret/Sony Pictures Entertainment
You can’t do “Adam Driver Fights Dinosaurs” without the dinosaurs, and Sixty-five it comes with some really bloodthirsty raptors and T-Rexes, as well as a higher than expected volume of really nasty bugs. The driver gets through most of them with his handy laser gun. Did I raise my fist when he headshot a particularly fearsome foe? Perhaps, who can say? (Of course I did.)
But how was my complaint with cocaine bear, Sixty-fivetwin of in crazy premises, we definitely would have liked more time with the main beasts of the film. The film pays homage to Jurassic Park at all times, even with a rainy T-Rex jumpscare, but we have little chance of wondering about these beings before they start gnashing their teeth.
Part of this may be due to Sixty-fiveThe running time of less than 90 minutes, which is an ideal length for a popcorn movie, but also results in some rushed sequences of dinosaur mayhem. However, the final sequence of the film, in which Driver and Greenblatt confront multiple tyrannosaurus rex and an asteroid shower is an absolute delight of sci-fi madness. Truly, nothing could have prepared me for the joy I felt when Sixty-five revealed that his secondary “antagonist” would be an asteroid on its way to hit Earth, perhaps even the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. These are the levels of genre ridiculousness I signed up for, people!
Although the premise of the film is out there, Driver approaches the role of Mills with his usual combination of intense commitment and physicality, which is perhaps why I ended up so invested in Mills and Koa’s journey. The way these two fight tooth and nail through every obstacle Earth throws at them is strangely inspiring, to the point where my most cynical Sixty-five Thoughts fell by the wayside. Sure, a space-tinged dinosaur thriller sounds like bananas, but I choose to accept it. In fact, Adam Driver fights dinosaurs, and while it’s flawed, it’s also pretty awesome.
Sixty-five hits theaters on March 10.
