Dino-Might Not
Why so serious? Too much trauma and not nearly enough quips waste a great high concept in ‘65’.
65
Directors: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods • Writers: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Starring: Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, Chloe Coleman, Nika King
USA • 1hr 33mins
Opens Hong Kong March 9 • IIB
Grade: C+
65 is about a space dude armed with laser guns who crashes on an Earth-like planet populated with dinosaurs. As a nerd, personally, this particular genre mash-up is magic. As a film student and analytical surveyor of the cinema landscape, 65 is also an experiment destined to one of two fates: Instant classic or dumpster fire. This is one of those movies that looks like a can’t miss on paper but could fuck up spectacularly in execution.
Well, the fuck-up isn’t spectacular…
More than anything else, 65 is a missed opportunity. A missed opportunity to create a compact, fun genre B movie. A missed opportunity to remind us dinosaurs are cool in the wake of the boneheaded Jurassic World: Dominion. A missed opportunity to prove ultra-serious Actor Adam Driver has a sense of humour. When your premise pivots on a strapping space pilot from a technologically advanced planet crash landing on Cretaceous era Earth (the one after the Jurassic) on the eve of the asteroid hit that wiped out the dinosaurs dodging said dinosaurs as he races 15 kilometres to his ship’s escape pod, how exactly do you make it boring?
Where are the damn dinosaurs?
I dare say one way to make it “not boring” is to delete every scene involving the Precious Child That Must Be Saved – but who contributes precious little to the story – and go the lone survivor route. It’s easy to see why the dudes who wrote A Quiet Place, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (who also co-direct), didn’t want to go dialogue-free in 65; who wants to be accused of being derivative or ripping themselves off? But considering pilot Mills (Driver) lands on bloody Dagobah and then goes on a Ripley-esque mission to save Newt the child, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), along the way finding the will to live even in the face of great personal tragedy, à la Gravity, I’d argue the non-derivative train left the station a long time ago. Without Beck and Woods.
We start with Mills and his partner (Nika King, Zendaya’s mom on Euphoria) on Somaris, a long long long long way from here, just before he embarks on a two-year transport mission. Cool, it triples his salary, which will help pay for his (again!!) sickly child’s (Chloe Coleman, My Spy) medical care. On the way home his ship is hit by an uncharted asteroid field (uh oh) and crashes on Cretaceous Earth, all souls lost. But, lo! A signal from a surviving cryopod reveals little Koa and off the two head for the only way off this rock (no one said that, but they should have). It’s tricky going at first because Koa doesn’t speak English, except “Run!” She understands that just fine. Along they way Mills gets to blast ornery dinosaurs with his laser rifle. But not nearly enough.
Considering 65’s essential DNA (sorry) and its pedigree – gleeful B king Sam Raimi is a producer – this should be a prime, popcorn-ready creature feature; a goofy romp. Too often it’s an almost sombre examination of grief and trauma instead, with Mills rediscovering his paternal instincts and Koa connecting with a surrogate family. There’s plenty of room for movies about parental grief – just not in 65. Koa is unnecessary and drags down the action. There’s an innate physicality to Driver as an actor; maybe his time in the Marines brings veracity to him hoisting a rifle. Who knows? Whatever it is he makes this nonsense believable (except the dislocated shoulder move), crucial in these kinds of films, but that’s it. Beck and Woods, while using negative space relatively well and blessed with some completely respectable CGI dinosaurs (still unlikely to give Steven Spielberg night sweats), render Koa’s action-halting presence irrelevant narratively to boot, and drop the ball on humour. If ever a movie demanded quips muttered to oneself, it’s 65. Imagine Bruce Campbell in this. Right? And hey, we love Driver (you have to, to watch this) but let’s face it. If the badass you’re hiring to ferry a youngling to safety is not Pedro Pascal, you’re already at a disadvantage. — DEK