65

Adam Driver pursued by dinosaur

65 (2023). Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.

65 million years ago a spaceship from the Planet Somaris -- which seems exactly like Earth -- is hit by the first piece of a huge asteroid and crash lands in two pieces on our planet in the prehistoric era. The only survivors are the pilot, Mills (Adam Driver), and a little girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), whose parents are among the lost. Mills had a young daughter, Nevine (Chloe Coleman), who died while he was out in space. Half of the spaceship has landed on top of a mountain, and Mills and Koa have to make their way through a hostile landscape (somewhat) filled with dinosaurs in order to find their way home.

Adam Driver

65 engendered serious hatred in  a lot of viewers, probably because it is less of a dinosaur movie than it is a survival movie with a few dinosaurs thrown in. Admittedly these dinosaurs -- precious few of them considering this is the prehistoric era -- look great and the FX work in the film is excellent. But there isn't much of a story here, and the two characters can't even converse because only one of them speaks English (or an alien version of it?) It's actually rather odd that in spite of the close calls that our twosome have to endure throughout the movie -- cave-ins, quicksand, hungry raptors, the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs, and so on -- the film is so blah and even a bit dull. It doesn't help that there isn't enough back story and the whole premise is like something out of an old comic book. The acting is fine, however, although if star Adam Driver were hoping for a tremendous hit he must have been disappointed. The various attempts at pathos don't really work, either. 

Verdict: If you want dinosaurs there are better places to visit. **1/2.