65 might sound like a good idea for a high-concept sci-fi thriller but the end result is laughable and gets so much of it wrong.
The film is now available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital. It’ll make its way to Netflix when the film’s Pay 1 window begins this year. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it–watch something else instead. No, seriously. Maybe if you have absolutely zero movies or TV series to watch. Lucky for us, they are plenty of movies and series available to watch.
Mills (Adam Driver) is piloting a two-year expedition trip from planet Somaris because his family needs the money as daugther Nevine (Chloe Coleman) is sick. The ship runs into an asteroid belt and soon crash lands on Earth. Mills assumes he is the only survivor of the crash but he soon finds Koa (Ariana Greenblatt). The language translator being broken does not help. Meanwhile, they’re dealing with dangerous conditions on prehistoric Earth. Mills discovers that the only working escape shuttle is several miles away. Their technology shows an asteroid heading on a collision impact with Earth. Will they be able to get there in time?
A few things–they see the asteroid as a streak across the sky at first. However, we know that it hit the planet so quickly that there was no streak. It was nothing but a bright light upon impact. That we see the impact while they are trying to get off the ground leads to more questions. If they’re that close to the Yucatán, there’s absolutely no way that they could have survived, let alone got off the ground. Oh yeah, they shot this film on location in Oregon because of the backdrop, especially at Golden Falls.
Going into 65, I thought it would be a film where Adam Driver ends up on prehistoric Earth through time travel. Instead, we get a film where humanity exists on a distant planet some 65 million years ago. Unlikely but not really enough to suspend that much disbelief. I have no issues with Scott Beck or Bryan Woods writing a dinosaur film. I’ve tried my own attempts but at the end of the day, it’s nothing close to the Jurassic Park standard. The same goes for this film, too.
Put it this way–watching 65 is what led me to seek out Last Day of the Dinosaurs (Discovery Channel, 2010) and more recently, Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough/Dinosaur Apocalypse (BBC/PBS, 2022). Those documentaries are more insightful and informative than this film is entertaining. I know I’m very late to watching Prehistoric Planet on Apple TV but trust me, I’ll get to it shortly after the Tribeca Festival.
The film is titled 65 but guess what, we now know that the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which formed the Chicxulub Crater in the Yucatán Peninsula, dates back to 66 million years ago. Paul Renne–who was a BGC director and UC Berkeley professor in residence of earth and planetary science back in 2013–and a team of scientists reported their findings in Science.
The revised dates clear up lingering confusion over whether the impact actually occurred before or after the extinction, which was characterized by the almost overnight disappearance from the fossil record of land-based dinosaurs and many ocean creatures. The new date for the impact – 66,038,000 years ago – is the same within error limits as the date of the extinction, said Renne, making the events simultaneous.
It’s one thing to write a science-fiction screenplay but if we’re to trust the advances in science, why is the film not known as 66? Did Scott Beck or Bryan Woods just assume it was 65 million years ago or did they not bother researching the numbers? For what it’s worth, I asked ChatGPT and it answered with 65.5 million years ago. This also shows that the 66 million number is not quite in the mainstream as of yet.
65 should only be recommended after one has run out of films to watch, which might not be for many years.
Bonus Features
- Deleted & Extended Scenes
- Set in Stone: Filmmakers
- Future of Yesterday: Creating The World of 65
- Primordial Planet
- Final Showdown: Concepts to screen
DIRECTORS/SCREENWRITERS: Scott Beck & Bryan Woods
CAST: Adam Driver, Ariana Goldblatt, Chloe Coleman
Sony released 65 in theaters on March 10, 2023. Grade: 1/5
Please subscribe to Solzy at the Movies on Substack.
