65

Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Starring: Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, Chloe Coleman
Distributor: Roadshow
Runtime: 93 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2023
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc

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Rating notes: Science fiction violence and injury detail

An astronaut crash lands on a mysterious planet only to discover he’s not alone.

Back in the day audiences enjoyed movies with titles like The Land that Time Forgot, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth… In the 1960s, Raquel Welch was famous in One Million Years BC. But, in the 21st century, we can go back 65 million years to when dinosaurs are very dominant.

What makes this action film different, and the explanation is given at the beginning, is that the focus is on sophisticated civilisations in other parts of the universe, especially with space travel, developments in technology, developments in weapons. So, when a pilot crash lands during an asteroid storm, he finds a planet in its “prehistoric” stages of evolution.

The film opens on the future planet, the pilot with his wife and daughter who is very sick, teaching her to whistle, but having to leave her on a mission, taking video footage of her as he travels. The asteroids are quite vivid, hurtling through space, myriads of them, causing the crash landing.

While the bulk of the vehicle lands at the bottom of a mountain, the rescue/survival unit is at the top of the mountain. The pilot, Mills (and congratulations to Adam Driver for a gruelling experience of survival) discovers a young girl who has survived while her parents, amongst the cryogenic passengers, have not. She does not speak the same language as the pilot and they have to learn to overcome her fears, her grief, finding ways to communicate.

In a sense, this story of survival is a walk through the woods (which look remarkably contemporary, filmed in Oregon and Ireland). But, of course, it is the creatures who live in the woods that are to be feared.

So, a range of dinosaurs, pterodactyls, spiders, scorpions… And Mills, confronting the creatures, fighting them off, but experiencing all kinds of climaxes, including some literal cliffhangers. And flaming asteroids continually hurtling towards Earth.

So, one might say not a huge big-budget spectacular, but an attempt to have a prehistoric setting and a futuristic technology clashing in just over 90 minutes. And, in view of no forthcoming addition to the Jurassic Park franchise, 65 will have to do.