65: Worth the Price of Admission
I really like movies with dinosaurs. As a parent of a three year old currently wearing dinosaur pajamas, I’m aware of my childish admission. However, I’m also one of the few people that have an unapologetic and unironic love of Jurassic Park III, (I have loved it since my teenage years, so credibility is something I gave up on a long time ago). Self-depreciation aside, my interest comes from the unique dichotomy between humans and dinosaurs. These interactions are completely hypothetical and speculative because such interaction will never happen, which is precisely what makes them so interesting.
Dinosaurs are just cool. But when thinking about these interactions and the utter fear that comes from the idea, I’ve never made it past just that interaction. Whether it be because most films that present these interactions, like Jurassic Park III, place them in modern times, or simply, I can’t see past the entertainment. Either way I never really think about prehistoric Earth and how absolutely terrifying it would be to roam around. That is until Adam Driver’s latest film, 65.
For someone who doesn’t watch trailers, the title card reveal of “65 Million Years ago” was a clever little surprise. Having it follow an interesting and gripping long opening set a nice high bar. While the film couldn’t quite maintain that level throughout, it still works very well. 65 is a standard survivalist story. It follows all the beats and tropes of the genre. The main character has emotional trauma that we later learn is the death of his daughter. They have to go on a journey far away to find salvation. That journey is filled with many potential and unexpected (to them) disastrous outcomes, but they make it anyway. One last obstacle presents itself before salvation but still doesn’t prevent our characters from survival. 65 has all that with even the smaller tropes sprinkled in throughout.
As unsurprising as it is, it’s still far from bad. Adam Driver (as Mills) leads the film and minus a few awkward comedic beats, does a very good job. He’s one of the most talented actors working so he has the tools to drive a film like this. He’s subtle, interesting, charismatic and has the unique talent of making anything he’s doing feel believable. That is a particularly important talent with a film like 65. He expresses the fear that creates the tension. He clocks the danger of this planet almost immediately and his urgency is felt by the audience. Ultimately, Adam Driver and his performance go a long way in making this film so enjoyable and effective. However, it’s the part Adam Driver is unable to save that ends up being the fundamental flaw that caps the film’s potential.
With only two characters, 65 requires a lot from both. Not unlike many survival films, the film’s effectiveness hinges on the success of those two performers. Both Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who are co-writing and directing the film, make a couple of choices that cut the legs right out from under the film. Mills isn’t the only surviving character from the crash on earth. He finds a young girl, not far from the age of his daughter. A trope that fits into the film well and should work, but doesn’t because the chemistry is off between the two. This isn’t due to a poor performance from Ariana Greenblatt. She actually performs well under the circumstances.
However, for some reason, she doesn’t speak the same language as Mills. So throughout the film, she rarely says a word. This choice handicaps the film because they never find an effective way to communicate, thus destroying all possible avenues of connection for the audience. The weight and emotion of their relationship comes across far less than it should because of this choice, which hurts the film in its final third. In a two-hander it’s vital both performers have a chemistry that can bring across the needed emotion. Unfortunately, 65 is lacking that and the film suffers under it.
What prevents that from being a fatal flaw is some real clever filmmaking by Beck and Woods. They display a real understanding of what makes a movie like this work and how to create effective tension. Setting 65 in prehistoric earth opens up a whole new angle for this type of film. Everything these characters encounter is absolutely terrifying. To step back and allow the setting to generate the majority of the tension makes it feel more like a horror film than a drama, which works in the film's favor. So even though the dramatic tension doesn’t work, the film can because we’re still on the edge of our seats.
When you think prehistoric, dinosaurs are the first thing to come to mind. 65 delivers, but unlike other dinosaur movies (most notably Jurassic Park) the interaction here feels more genuine, more authentic. So what comes across is a different level of fear. We have crossed into their habitat and the unfamiliarity of that is quite scary. As is literally everything else. You don’t know what to eat, what the birds will do, what kind of insects and plants there are. Prehistoric earth is unlike ours in a terrifying way. Beck and Woods lean into that and ultimately derive all the tension and intrigue needed for this film to work. While dramatically you may desire a little more, it is unnecessary because it would just make a good thing better. The exploration of a prehistoric earth, with an incredible actor and full of genuine tension is worth the price of admission.
