65 (2023) User Reviews

How could this possibly be boring and forgettable?

[FeastMode · 5/10 · 15 March 2023]

I'm the exact target audience for this movie. I'm a sci-fi junkie, I love thrillers, Adam Driver is awesome, and I'll watch basically anything with large scary creatures. This should have been a layup for me to like. Yet I found myself unengaged and somewhat bored. I started feeling sleepy even after a Red Bull.

I don't really know how or why it happened, but this is just a forgettable movie. Some dumb things happen but I am able to turn my brain off. Although after watching the Angry Joes review, I didn't realize how many dumb things I ignored. I guess I just didn't care enough to notice them.

I hope a movie like this doesn't discourage studios from going for more of these mid-budget movies. I like the idea of an isolated story somewhere random in space/time. I just hope they do a better job next time. (1 viewing, opening Sunday 3/12/2023)

A committed Driver lifts this slightly above the pack

[cardsrock · 6/10 · 20 March 2023]

I really think this film would be doing much better at the box office with a better title and clearer marketing. This is a more than serviceable action thriller starring a legitimate star that is mostly entertaining for its 90 minute runtime.

The CGI is surprisingly good given the small budget and it's cool seeing dinos in a non-Jurassic Park film. The story is probably the weakest element given its cliched beats and real Last of Us vibe. Some wooden dialogue and lack of exposition round out my critiques. I liked the futuristic tech in the film and Driver delivers an expected solid showing. 65 won't light the genre on fire, but it's better than it's getting credit for.

Decent movie, plot is lacking

[used_to_like_movies · 6/10 · 11 March 2023]

The Good:

Awesome recreation of a wild dangerous world full of dinosaurs and threads of death and struggle for survival. The suspense and fear is better than Jurassic Park.

Really cool Sci-fi tech featured, really awesome play on someone (Driver) struggling to survive a primitive world while also having highly advanced technology, but still facing challenges Top-notch cinematography, lighting, and CGI makes you feel very immersed into the world and situations

The Bad:

The plot is extremely basic and predictable. Man faces a few obstacles that he overcomes, most of them the same situation, that's about it. There's only two characters basically, and the dialog between them is limited. This works for a bit, but there's not enough development of the characters, and it's easy to just not care about what happens to them one way or another.

It could have been much better if there was more objectives in the plot, more characters or build up, more on what happened before and after the situation on the planet.

Swing and a miss.

[Dodge-Zombie · 3/10 · 7 April 2023]

I like dinosaurs and I like sci-fi movies so was looking forward to this. I also like it when a movie can be made with a minimal cast.

Unfortunately this just doesn't work for me. Limited cast yes but they speak different languages so there's little actual conversation which means the movie has to make up for that in other ways and it just doesn't.

A spaceship that's able to put passengers into cryosleep but has effectively no long range sensors to detect an asteroid belt. Yet the character has a handheld device that can detect something in space while he's on the ground. There's a lot of that kind of nonesense.

I spent so much of this movie just rolling my eyes I'm surprised I'm not looking out the back of my own head.

The CGI is good. That's about the only real positive about it.

Not a good movie so.... Dismissed.

Adam Driver shines in this interesting sci fi movie.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 9 October 2023]

Pilot Mills crash lands on a hostile planet whilst his ship is damaged in a heavy meteor storm, when he completes a reconnaissance on the inhospitable world, he discovers dinosaurs, and a young survivor.

I didn't really have high expectations going in, but on the whole I rather enjoyed it. I would say it's a fairly effective monster film, I wouldn't go in hoping and looking for a sweeping sci fi saga, it is pretty much a man Vs monsters movie.

Production values are actually pretty good, and the dinosaurs look very effective. The destruction of the planet scene was awesome, and I guess that was a novel take on what happened on the planet.

I enjoyed the relationship between Mills and Koa, the language barrier made it interesting, credit to both actors for ensuring there was a good deal of chemistry between the pair.

I never expect to see the likes of Adam Driver in a film like this, but the versatile actor that he is, delivers once again, I thought he was excellent.

Unusual, interesting, engaging.

7/10.

Better suited for extinction.

[ramfat · 3/10 · 8 April 2023]

The main character is supposed to be a trained Hyper-Space pilot with multiple missions under his belt, but he leaves the girl alone immediately after finding her so she can wonder off by herself when she wakes up.

He runs around like Yosemite Sam blasting his guns in the air, constantly dropping his rifle and then scurrying away unarmed, only to realize for the 10th time in a row that he may in fact need that rifle.

He trips over every rock in his path, and thinks a dried twig can support his entire body weight.

He has to constantly be saved from his own stupidity by a 7 year old.

And now they fly off into space to do what? Run out of fuel and then slowly starve to death?

It would have been more fitting if they both had died with the Dinosaurs, and then have some archeologists dig up their ship and fossilized corpses 65 million years later.

Where Do Review Snobs Come From? ¯\_(~)_/¯

[Foutainoflife · 7/10 · 26 April 2023]

I DUNNO!

This is a decent film in my opinion. I give it a 6.5 stars.

A transportation pilot carrying passengers suspended in a cryogenic sleep finds himself stranded on an unknown planet after colliding with debris from an uncharted asteroid belt. Only he and a child survive the crash but they are miles from their only escape pod and they aren't alone.

Adam Driver gave a good performance, the story was interesting and the special effects were good. I'm not much of a sci-fi buff but the tech and weaponry created for the film were good too.

Admittedly, the film could have had a faster pace and more action. I think if it fails anywhere that would be my complaint but it was a decent film regardless.

I don't really understand all the hate but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It may not be for everyone I suppose but I know that I'll likely watch this again at some point.

I Cried at the End...

[Xstal · 3/10 · 7 April 2023]

... a cry of joy that the titles had started to roll, that the end had finally arrived, although with such poor editing throughout you can't be fully confident that the end is the end, but checking the elapsed time, and knowing that these days the credits can often run for at least ten minutes (or more) I knew that the torture was over, that I could refrain from saying and thinking wtf more times than any recent film I can remember, while musing on why such a talented 2-dimesnional actor like Adam Driver would undertake a role like this in a film that is so poorly scripted, so dismally directed, containing two cardboard characters so full of chore. This is not a good piece of filmmaking but, as many observers often suggest, it could have been so much more.

Easily had more potential

[hillman_mcfc · 6/10 · 11 March 2023]

Easily had more potential than what was served up. I was really looking forward to this when I seen the trailer but this had next to 0 marketing..one thing that did attract me was Sam Raimi was producing so instantly it got my attention. The CGI is so mixed one minute at the beginning it's like watching the BBC walking with Dinosaurs program that was released around 20 years ago but the CGI middle to end is good? It's like they kept the budget for the big finale but there isn't a lot of Dinosaurs in this, so if you're going with tye expectations of seeing a lot of Dinosaurs you won't get it. There's a period in the middle of the film were it just sort of trudges on with not much happening. I personally would watch it again but I won't be in a rush to and I'm highly disappointed they didn't do better in every department..story action and CGI.

More plot holes than the roads in Pennsylvania

[jeseitz · 3/10 · 16 July 2023]

First, I'm a big Adam Driver fan. Hard to imagine what he thought when he read the screenplay. So many plot holes! First, the premise: People on another planet, 65 million years ago, look just like Americans, on a planet identical to earth! And the same atmosphere. Same gravity. What are the chances?! And they speak English!! Here's another doozy - a T-Rex has me trapped in a cave. I know! Let's chip our way out the other side instead of waiting for the giant hungry reptile to go and eat any of the other bazillion big lizards running around the planet, apparently in that particular area! Uh oh, cave in. I guess I WILL go out the front door. And T-Rex conveniently flips the crashed rocket ship pointy side up, flamey side down, after it falls off a cliff. Thank God the rocket still works perfectly! And all 5 seconds before the meteorite that destroys the atmosphere! You get the picture . . .

5.7/10? Am I the only one who enjoyed this?

[poseyfan · 8/10 · 11 March 2023]

Is this a perfect movie? Not in the slightest. Does it deserve a 5.7/10? Absolutely not. It does enough to entertain, and has enough of an emotional backbone to strike some feelings.

I really loved the dynamic between Adam Driver's character and the little girl. He sees her as his daughter from home, and that is his drive to get home. No pun intended. But honestly, it was really well done.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the CGI was better than most recent Marvel projects; that might not be the hardest to achieve, but there's that. The dinosaurs were very well realized, and gave the movie a sort of Jurassic Park feel. Some parts are very intense.

There were still some minor problems as a whole though. There were some cliche parts that made me kind of scratch my head, and some other annoying plot conveniences.

Overall, a solid movie worth a watch

8.5/10.

This is a worthwhile addition to the science-fiction, action genre in a Pitch Black kind of way

[kevin_robbins · 7/10 · 10 March 2023]

65 (2023) is a movie that my wife and I saw in theaters this evening. The storyline follows a pilot on a research voyage whose ship runs into an unforeseen asteroid belt and crashes on Earth 65 million years ago. Most of the crew doesn't survive the crash except one little girl who doesn't speak English. The pilot and the little girl try to make it across the planet to a rescue pod that can hopefully get them home.

This movie is cowritten and codirected by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who also worked together in Haunt, and stars Adam Driver (House of Gucci), Ariana Greenblatt (Love and Monsters), Chloe Coleman (My Spy) and Nika King (Euphoria).

There's a lot to like about this movie but there's also something missing. The storyline had a ton of potential but needed more details of the backstory on a macro scale rather than just the characters sub plots (which were good). I think we needed more details on the reason for the voyage and who the pilot worked for. I will say the storyline does keep you interested from beginning to end, it just could have been better. The acting and chemistry of Driver and Greenblatt was perfect. The special effects are outstanding and as good as any Jurassic Park movies. The dinosaurs and insects were a 10/10, though they could have worked in a few passive dinosaurs, a herbivore or two. Every creature in this movie is a blood thirsty killer. The action scenes are intense and there's some great jump scares throughout the film. The settings and cinematography was very good, the CGI was outstanding and the wounds are gory and intense. The ending is predictable but still entertaining.

Overall, this is a worthwhile addition to the science-fiction, action genre in a Pitch Black kind of way. I would score this a 6.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

We thought "how bad can it be?"

[benprichardsdotcom · 4/10 · 9 April 2023]

The answer is, pretty bloody awful. We've watched this on the day Leeds United got beaten 5-1 at home by fellow no-hopers Crystal Palace and I'd rather watch a repeat of that than a replay of '65'!

Dull, cliche-ridden flat storytelling. 0<1 dimensional characters and development. Tediously slow set pieces with trite dinosaur protagonists. God, such dull scenes: one after the other of averagely generated CGI monsters.

And, the pseudo-daughter can't communicate meaningfully with the main character? You have to extract a very, very good performance to make that scenario work. Adam Driver is very bland in this too.

Meh. Just... meh.

[NavyOrion · 5/10 · 10 March 2023]

I honestly didn't come into this one with very big expectations. Unfortunately, it didn't even reach that low bar.

The premise seemed OK, although the marketing implied that this was a human (they even refer to him as an astronaut) meaning there would be a time-travel element, but no, he's just an alien from 65 million years ago, albeit one who is as absolutely human as lazy writing would make him.

Adam Driver plays Mills (this is an alien name?) who is the pilot taking an exploration team to... aw, who rally cares? They're all in suspended animation for the two-year journey, although they must have been taking the scenic route, since a rescue ship is able to reach the planet in just a few days.

Only Mills and an eight-year-old girl (why does an exploration team have an 8-year-old along?) manage to survive the crash on prehistoric Earth after the ship is hit by an asteroid (note to writer: they're not "meteors" until the hit the atmosphere) and spend the rest of the film walking through a not-very-Cretaceous looking forest dodging dinosaurs. Although this situation should lead to at least a modicum of suspense, every encounter is so telegraphed by the direction that you see it coming a mile away.

Of course, 65 million years ago is a very rounded-off time frame, but gee whiz, wouldn't you know it? An extinction-level asteroid JUST happens to be only hours away from hitting the Yucatan and wiping out the dinosaurs, and any aliens who have crashed there in the past day or two. (Great timing! Why couldn't we have crashed last week?)

I'll give credit to the CGI genies, who did a reasonably good job with the diosaurs and the meteor effects, though both were a bit underutilized and often done in dark areas (or even off camera with only holographic puppets filling in) so they wouldn't HAVE to be perfect. In the same vein, congrats also to whoever decided that the alien little girl wouldn't be able to speak English like the alien Mills: as with the dark CGI, a kid can't deliver her lines poorly if she doesn't really have any.

This one really should have gone straight to DVD (not even bluray.) I wondered why it wasn't being shown in the IMAX at my local theater. Now I know. If you ever want to see this on a screen bigger than your TV, I'd suggest you hurry.

Not Jurassic Park, but at least it's not After Earth

[markxddotmp4 · 6/10 · 10 March 2023]

I was very curious about this film since it seemed very simple in concept to those of some of the best movies in the past decades. Not to mention having phenomenal actor Adam Driver fighting dinosaurs, who wouldn't watch it? After finishing the movie, I can at least say the movie was a competent and engaging watch, but wasn't as exciting as the trailers made it out to be.

First of all, Adam Driver is fantastic in this movie. Despite the simplistic and somewhat predictable narrative, he's still engaging to watch as a desperate man trying to survive and rescue the only other survivor, a young foreign girl. And Props to Ariana Greenblatt for pulling off a helpless girl with a language opposite of the lead and still having good chemistry.

Other than that, the movie doesn't really utilize it's concept that well with the battle of scientific technology and prehistoric creatures. There are only a few instances where we can see him use strategy and the use of various gadgets to take them down. While those scenes are fun, it's very little throughout the movie.

I was worried that this movie could have been awful since it gave me very similar vibes to After Earth, and I'm sure you don't need me to explain why. But I can at least say that writer and directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods didn't drop the ball that badly. I can also respect that they want to bring Hollywood back to basics with concepts that are simple, yet effective. While slow paced, and at times underwhelming, I can at least say I enjoyed myself while watching.

Hollywood are you OK?

[brendenengelbrecht · 1/10 · 7 April 2023]

A valiant attempt by the director to see just how many cliches can be stuffed into 90min.

The opening sequence was quite beautiful, yet the moment the storytelling started, o boy, did I suspect we're in for something special. The writing and dialogue is like my 10 year old self got a few million dollars and sent off to make a movie. I cannot fathom how professional writers, people who do this for a living, crafted this debacle.

I love sci-fi. I love big monsters. I love movies.

And somehow, I was borderline asleep while watching the amalgamation of all three. To all those reading, I implore you, send help. Hollywood is in a state of disaster.

Straightforward

[neil-476 · 7/10 · 23 March 2023]

An opening title card tells us that this is 65 million years ago. Spaceship pilot Mills is piloting a colonisation ship when it is hit by an asteriod, causing it to crashland killing all aboard except Mills and a girl called Koa. Mills establishes that there is an escape pod in another part of the ship 15 kilometres away, so he send a distress message and they set off to reach the escape pod. There are 3 small snags: 1) they speak different languages, whuch makes communivation difficult, 2) they have to make their way through shedloads of dinosaurs and other assorted nasties, and 3) the clock is ticking away before a scuffing great asteroid smacks into the exact point where the escape pod is. Yes, folks, it's Earth 65 million years ago. Given the film's title, this hardly a spoiler.

This is one of them there high concept films. Translation: an incredibly simple idea, albeit one which is slickly executed. There are wafer-thin slivers of backstory inserted to give a bit of weight to Mills' character, though none at all for poor Koa (her parents die in the crash, Mills tells her they didn't, and that's it). It's a wonder that Ariana Greenblatt does as well as she does in making Koa so sympathetic, gien how little dialogue she has, most of which in unintelligible. Adam Driver is OK, but doesn't do as well as Greenblatt. Perhaps this is because his character is written as unlikeable despite some opening backstory to show him as sympathetic.

The action is excellent and the special effects are mostly first class. The story is simple but perfectly adequate. I do think the script would have benefiited from more work, though.

This is a 2/10 at best.

[Xavier_Stone · 2/10 · 14 March 2023]

A few opening minutes of back story and then off to the races without giving the audience any idea why or where he is going, ok fine. Then the paltry asteroid shower disabled the space ship without any collision avoidance systems? Hmmm, starting to lose me already within the first few minutes.

Then the crash, on Earth millions of years ago and the only other survivor is a 8yo girl who doesn't speak your language? Umm what ?? There are loads upon loads of fancy gadgets, battery guns, spaceships and not one person thought to bring a iphone with a translator? Come on writers ! What is she doing on this mission anyways with her parents? How was she supposed to communicate with everyone once she arrived?

Perhaps some other survivors would have brought this movie more life, and dialogue. I'm guessing the writers didn't want to get too intricate and just wanted to show off the poor $45M cgi movie.

The story is crap. There is just grunting and pointing with repetition for all the talking and it gets annoying fast. The action is ok but boring and I just ended up quitting about half way through.

The actual screenplay is probably 20 pages long, No need for a sit down read through as it's just so simple. Overall, this shouldn't have been produced, and to no surprise it is by the same writer/director team who did a Quiet Place. You know, the movie where nobody is allowed to talk.

I see a common theme.

It was alright

[talharaza4 · 6/10 · 6 March 2023]

The movie was alright. Graphics were good and acting was fine as well, but somehow I felt it didn't make the connection it supposed to. Too bland. The thrilling moment didn't make me sit in anticipation that what will happen. I usually like these kinds if movie, but this was just okay. It wasn't bad and most will enjoy it. Good movie for theatre. Whole family can go, but I felt something missing.

Acting was good by all.

Story was simple and simply told Action was good Not that gripping.

Duration was fine of the movie.

I do recommended watching in the cinema. It is better enjoyed there. I guess I had more expectation from Sam Raimi film.

a nothing burger

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 8 April 2023]

It's a time before mankind. Humanoids have been exploring the universe. Mills (Adam Driver) leaves behind his family to pilot a spaceship. He encounters an asteroid field and crash-lands on a planet with dinosaurs. He finds the other survivor, a girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt).

This is Adam Driver fighting dinosaurs and it's boring. The movie has a big final reveal which is never a revelation in the first place. These are not supposed to be humans and yet they look exactly like humans. They could at least make the ears pointy or maybe lose the opening text. Maybe they're trying for a Planet of the Apes reveal which most people didn't get and the studio added the opening text to clarify the story.

Early release

[urnessandrew · 8/10 · 6 March 2023]

First off, I love Jurassic Park. I grew up with it at my grandma's house. For that reason I love dinosaur movies in general because we don't get a lot of them. I saw "65" at an early release and I thought it was great. It wasn't everything I hope it would be but the acting was fantastic, special effects were top tier, and the story was good for a predictable sci-fi. Adam Driver does an incredible job and helps immensely with the sci-fi suspense. All in all, it'll be a movie that will be forgotten over the years but definitely deserves the appreciation and recognition now. Great pre-summer movie.

Maybe not the best sci-fi movie ever made but pretty entertaining

[mr_bickle_the_pickle · 7/10 · 11 March 2023]

I don't get a lot of the bad reviews for this film. Sure, some of the daddy-daughter elements can be a little hokey. I also think the last act of the movie was fairly predictable. But I still was happily entertained the whole movie. I still found it to be quite thrilling and intense. Adam Driver is fantastic in the film. He really sells it as a man who is on the verge of breaking and doing everything to try and keep it together. The CGI is pretty good, although I wished they made the dinosaurs look more real (in the sense of like feathers). There's only part in the movie (towards the end when Mills is running away) where it looked very green-sceney. But overall, I think it worked. It's a pretty simple story, but I think it's effective. This movie may not be remembered as a sci fi classic, but it's wholly entertaining. Loved the survival element. I'd still would recommend a watch. Plus, it's an original movie and we should support those more often.

65 mishaps & stupid decisions ?

[rossmcdee1 · 2/10 · 9 April 2023]

The story is the well worn tale of castaways reaching a destination against time and various challenges & adversaries.

It is so cliched that it may well have been written by a computer A. I. The story is so incompatible with logic, realism or probability , yet so full of the same old unconvincing ideas we've seen thousands of times , that is actually a painful experience for me to endure. Thank goodness for the fast forward button.. if I was in the cinema I would have left after 30 minutes.

This film is in the Jurassic Park mould of sciFi horror- basically a simple horror story made in the action genre. The sci fi trappings just allow lazy writing in dealing with the dilemmas faced.

Like many horror films the protagonist(s) in this just can't help doing the wrong thing, or doing the right thing the wrong way.

I lost count of the ceaseless daft actions and occurrences- whatever could go wrong does go wrong.

Here are just some glaring ones- Adam Driver's spacecraft has no warning or defence systems to detect or mitigate meteorites, asteroids and other space debris- it only notices a field of them minutes before impact. It doesn't alert the sleeping Adam, It then does an analysis of potential danger- ignores any danger; and 30 seconds later continues right into the middle of the meteorite field .... and says - 'warning UNEXPECTED meteor activity' after the first impacts.

Why has his craft only got one pilot and no other personnel ?

Why did the ship and meteorite make peculiar 'creaky door dinosaur sounds' during the impacts ...

When the cryogenics fail why doesn't the craft implement a retrieval process ?

Everything in the ships personnel apartments was colourless, and the many ships computer screens only had red & blue graphics.

When the meteorites teat a hole in the craft why doesn't it decompress / suck all the contents out into space? Why are the cryogenics units on the outside walls of the craft?

Adams character doesn't originally send a distress signal,deleting it instead... Then he goes off to kill himself.

He shows no humour or empathy with the girl- in fact his character is very peculiar. The story tries to mawkishly tell you why via his daughters video messages.

When you fall from a tree on your back you are winded and temporarily immobilised... the way he fixed his dislocation was unbelievable - as was the state of his wound and lack of attention to healing it.

He tells the girl to run when confronted with fast running 'dinosaurs'.

He takes no sleeping bags , tent, food & drink...toilet roll , insect net or replant ?

Nor his daughters video diaries, spare flash light (also never used to strobe & dazzle the creatures) or his suite & helmet.

The 12 kilometer journey (7 & a half miles) would take 4-8 hours depending on the terrain. If it was 12 miles as the crow flies then Adams computer should have estimated a more realistic distance.

When in the cave there's a tunnel they don't seem to have noticed when they set up camp. When attacked they retreat into the tunnel and a big deal is made of finding another exit- why ? Why not just wait until the threat outside moved on.

By this point I gave up counting and fast forwarded with subtitles.

It didn't matter what happened anymore- DEJAVU took over.

Starts off weak, and believe it or not gets weaker right up until the ending...

[bheadher · 5/10 · 3 July 2023]

Frankly with all the hype I thought I would at least like it...it did not happen...

The visuals leading to the story were amateurish to say the least, like something out of the 70's or 80's, and went downhill from there. CGI dinosaurs have been done and overdone for years now, so I figured this outing might have some good ones...unfortunately no one opened a single book to find out what dinos are supposed to look like, and act like too...the T-Rex was passable but that was the only one that came close to impressing me.

I had been hoping for a while that 65 would follow an old ancient aliens theory that us Earthlings were actually descendants of a past civilization, but noooo...the writers went with we were just visited, crashed or whatever, and the protagonist manages to escape back to his own home planet...in other words this movie was a waste of money for me...

Starts out rough, but sticks the landing.

[benjaminskylerhill · 7/10 · 10 March 2023]

Like Beck/Woods' earlier writing effort A Quiet Place, 65 is a surprisingly small-scale thriller that boasts simple ideas and familial themes. Although I think the former was crafted with considerably more skill and had a more polished, tight script, the latter is still pretty effective at what it sets out to do.

We're granted some clumsy exposition and an overly long set-up at the film's start, but once the journey actually begins, it's rather exciting till it's end.

I loved that Mills and Koa spoke different languages and thus had to communicate mostly non-verbally. It added a great deal of weight to their interactions and emphasised just how much trust and emotion can be built and shared without words.

Many small character moments are shown throughout the film and they do end up building to a sweet, heartfelt conclusion, but Beck/Woods' script didn't really tie these individual moments together very well.

The screenplay needed some more work to clean up the often wooden dialogue and to build a thread that the movie's individual scenes could follow. Because with how simple this film's plot is, it really shouldn't feel like it's meandering as much as it is.

But what I mostly came for is the dinosaur action. Like I said earlier, it takes too long to get to these parts, but when they do come they're worth the wait.

Each dinosaur encounter is unique in how it's dangerous and how it can be handled, which kept the action fresh. And each of these sequences is also appropriately directed, with the characters' positions made clear and their peril understood.

I had a good time with this film. It's got its moments when it really shines, though I wish it had been rewritten so it could have been truly memorable.