FILM REVIEW - 65
By The Masked Medic
Sometimes, it’s nice to just be able to sit down and watch a film without having to think of the wider consequences of that piece of cinema. It doesn’t happen very often for me, but I thought I’d at least try. For the past year, there have been a number of films sitting on my computer waiting to be watched, and I decided that out of all of them, the one I’d start with was a sci-fi called ’65’!
’65’ tells the story of Mills, a pilot from the planet of Somaris. Mills has been offered a new job, one that would take him away from his wife and daughter for a period of two years, but that would pay enough for them to pay for treatment for his daughter Nevine, who has been unwell. The film then cuts forward and the ship that Mills is piloting ends up going through an unidentified asteroid field. Mills is unable to steer his way through it and the ship takes heavy damage and ends up crashing on a nearby planet. It turns out that this planet is Earth, 65 million years ago. The ship, which was carrying several passengers in stasis, ends up so damaged that all the pods are lost, bar one. In it, is a young girl named Koa. Koa doesn’t speak any English and it’s hard for Mills to explain to her what has happened. However, Mills discovers that there is a part of the ship that separated from the wreckage he finds himself in. That part of the ship contains an escape pod and his only way off the planet. He convinces Koa that in order for her to find her family, she needs to come with him. The two set off on a hostile planet, where humanity has not yet arrived and dinosaurs still roam the planet. As they make their way across the harsh land, they come into contact with a number of nightmarish dinosaurs, from small raptors to of course, a couple of T-rexes. To add to their worry it appears that the asteroid shower they got intercepted by is making its way to Earth. Yes, you guessed it, it’s extinction day. Can Mills and young Koa survive on a hostile planet and make it to the escape pod? And just how will both of them deal with the loss each has already experienced?
There were only 4 actors in the entire film and one of them was only present for one scene. So let’s start with the one supporting actress; Chloe Coleman. She played Mills’ daughter Nevine and appeared in only a handful of scenes. Coleman is one of those young actresses who is garnering roles quickly, and I’ve seen her face in some recent movies. Like Coleman, but I think showing a little more promise is Ariana Greenblatt, who plays Koa. Ariana has now starred in the Avengers series as a young Gamora, in the Barbie film and was young Ahsoka Tano in the Ahsoka TV series. That is a staggering number of big projects to be involved in at that age and I do wonder if going forward she is going to become a household name. Her performance as Koa was very good, especially because for the most part she doesn’t speak English in the film, and so her performance is completely reliant on non-vocal cues. Finally, in the lead role, Mills was the ever-intriguing Adam Driver. Driver’s performance in ’65’ is clearly not his best performance, but does lend to the fact that the man will take on a wide range of projects and is almost refusing to be typecast. That being said, I find him an enigma. I’ve seen performances of his, such as this one and maybe his role in the Star Wars series where I’ve found his acting mediocre, to other projects such as Black KKKlansman where I thought he was phenomenal. Clearly, he can act, perhaps these projects are just a chance for him to take it easy occasionally!
Like I said before, occasionally it’s nice to watch a film where there are no stakes, it’s not part of a massive cinematic universe and it’s not a film that’s going to win a whole bunch of awards. You’re just watching for the sake of watching. That being said, I largely found ’65’ to be highly average. Although the initial plot did draw me in and there was a gasp from me when I realised where the characters were when they crashed, everything that followed after that, was not particularly interesting. The film attempts to create a level of tension which is maintained through the film, but the problem is that the strand that connects the high-energy parts of the film is extremely cliché. There are, however, a handful of scenes through the film that I did find myself enjoying, but these are few and far between. Sometimes, it feels like there are films made for the sake of it, and although I’m not against this, I felt like this film could have had far more potential!
Given that there were only 4 actors in the film, I assumed that the majority of the budget went into the special effects. Although they weren’t bad, they also weren’t anything to write home about. One of the things that I was especially intrigued by was the design of some of the dinosaurs. I’m sure there were a multitude of dinosaurs they could have chosen from, to me, it appeared that most of them seemed to be hybrids of different dinosaurs. Maybe the creators of the film chose to do this to make the film a little different, I found it to be an odd choice. From the CGI perspective, I thought some of the scenes especially in space were good. The music was variable. There were some parts where it was completely apt for the scenes, but other parts left me feeling unsatisfied. Overall, ’65’ is a film that aims for a cross between ‘Alien’ and ‘Jurassic Park’, but like the ship in the film, ends up largely crashing and burning.
Rating:
Story: ★★½
Acting: ★★½
Cinematography: ★★★½
Music: ★★½
Enjoyability: ★★