“65” (2023)
Superlative familial tale. With added dinosaurs.
Superlative familial tale. With added dinosaurs.
With only 4 credited roles and only half of that number from the opening credits onward, 65 is truly a cinematic two-hander in every possible sense and a muse on life and death, extinction and re-birth, love, friendship, protection and kinship in adversity as well as the Biblical tale of Babel and the splintering of communication on a planet called “Earth” populated by dinosaurs but in a catastrophic collision course with an asteroid. Produced (amongst many others) by Sam Raimi and co-directed by the co-writers of 2018’s brilliant A Quiet Place, this is the fourth collaboration between directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods since their first in 2006 with The Bride Wore Blood. A technologically advanced race of beings from another planet crash land on earth after they encounter the beginnings of a much larger asteroid shower to follow and, according to the film fans over at www.rottentomatoes.com 65 becomes a
“Sodden sci-fi that somehow finds a way to bungle Adam Driver fighting dinosaurs, 65 is closer to zero.”
Which is incredibly harsh on a film with real heart if, indeed, Adam Driver does fight a lot of dinosaurs!
Here are your principal players:
Double Oscar nominated Adam Driver seems to have been around forever and yet this is still only his 30th credited all time role in a feature length film and just over a decade since he made his debut in the Clint Eastwood directed J. Edgar in 2011. In a very short time indeed, Driver would work with Steven Spielberg on Lincoln before in 2013 he would excel for the first time, and in only his seventh all time film, for the Coen Brothers in their melancholic masterpiece Inside Llewyn Davis. Three years later he would become a centrepiece of the newly imagined Star Wars universe before in 2016 he excelled once more with incredible star turns for director Jim Jarmusch in Paterson and Martin Scorsese in Silence. A baker’s dozen of truly headline roles have followed as Driver has continued to be a Star Wars bad guy as well as working with directors Noah Baumbach, Steven Soderbergh, Terry Gilliam and Ridley Scott, and on films such as House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Marriage Story, Logan Lucky and The Meyerowitz Stories, all of which I heartily recommend.
Just steer clear of last year’s White Noise. Dreadful film with a capital D!
Starring and greatly impressing opposite Adam Driver you’ll find Ariana Greenblatt in only her lucky seventh outing on the big screen (less short and voice-over animated films) and she truly does excel in a particularly difficult role that I’ve already hinted at and I’ll reserve any further comment for fear of spoilers. As previously described, this is a true two-hander of a film.
Far more than the snotty review from Rotten Tomatoes and the headline reviews I’ve peeked at. I saw this with my two favourite people in all the world on 13th March at our local cinema and for once, I made zero notes. The consensus view afterwards from two fellow fans of all things dinosaurs and horror was that there “wasn’t enough dinosaurs” and I saw early echoes of the crash landing scene and aftermath from the original Star Wars trilogy of films as well as a very heavily Aliens influenced battle with the inhabitants of a yet to be opened Jurassic Park!
Make of that what you will! Go see it!
Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film articles are linked below or there’s well over 250 blog articles (with 500+ individual film reviews) within my film library from which to choose:
“Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre” (2023)
Spy thriller. Without the thrills.medium.com
“Mother!” (2017)
Darren Aronofsky and a descent into hell.medium.com
“Women Talking” (2022)
“In that gaping silence was the real horror”.medium.com