Writers-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place, Haunt) helm this sci-fi story about an alien English-speaking astronaut who looks exactly like the human being Adam Driver, who 65 million years ago crash-lands on a mysterious planet called Earth at about the same time an extinction-level meteor is about to make impact. The astronaut, Mills (Adam Driver), must get the only surviving passenger, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), across the dinosaur-inhabited expanse to the escape pod that landed on a mountaintop miles away. (114 min.)

Glen: If you enjoy B-movie sensibilities with a biggish $45 million budget, get thee to the theater because 65 is shlocky, B-movie gold! Space travel, monsters, quicksand, thermal geysers, tar pits, giant insects—this film has it all. Mills agreed to take on this dangerous two-year journey because his adolescent daughter, Nevine (Chloe Coleman), is ill and needs expensive treatment, so with the blessing of Nevine’s mom (Nika King), he leaves his family. Naturally, the only survivor is also an adolescent girl, creating an outlet for Mills’ daddy instincts. He’ll keep her from harm at any cost, but oh shit! Is that a T. rex? Is that a herd of Velociraptors? Is that a flock of Pterosaurs? With a cast of just four actors, Beck and Woods got to take their $45 million budget and throw most of it at the screen. The computer-generated monsters are cool, and the dangerous prehistoric Earth is a wonder to behold. Is the entire enterprise preposterous? Of course! But at a spry 93 minutes, it keeps the action coming and the danger high, and there’s even a little emotional resonance to make you care.

Anna: The world they built is pretty cool looking, I’ll give it that. What I don’t love is seeing cute little baby dinosaurs being clubbed by Driver or torn apart by other beasts. It really brought down the mood for me. The plot didn’t resonate as much with me either. It’s a pretty simple ploy—make a dad missing his kid protect another kid. Driver’s good—pretty much the reason I agreed to watch the movie. Sci-fi isn’t my thing, and did I mention how mean they are to the dinosaurs? One of the problems the two must solve is their language barrier. Koa is curious and headstrong, probably a little too much of both. I think there’s way too much money here to call this a B-movie, but it did have some camp for sure. I didn’t hate it, but I definitely didn’t love it. I can get emotionally invested in films, and you’d think this father/daughter dynamic would do something for me, but it just didn’t.

Glen: So you care about more CGI dinosaurs constructed of ones and zeros—that are about to go extinct as soon as this massive meteor hits, I might add—but not about human-looking aliens struggling to get off the doomed planet? I love you, Dear One, but you’re a weirdo. Driver was good, but maybe a little miscast. I’m guessing the success of A Quiet Place, which Beck and Woods wrote with John Krasinski, made him think, “Shlocky sci-fi? Why not. I already did Star Wars.” This is the kind of film that critics despise, and it’s received a dismal 36 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. If you demand plausibility in your films, steer clear—65 is ridiculous—but if you like adrenaline-fueled, monster-strewn nonsense, you’ll love it!

Anna: What can I say? I’m here for the animals. It’s just a forgettable film, despite looking pretty slick. I like these small casts. It gives the actors a lot of work to do with each other. However, despite Driver and Greenblatt being good, I didn’t get the sense that either was perfect for their roles. It doesn’t seem to be having a heyday at the box office, and its Rotten Tomatoes scores seem to indicate that I’m not alone in finding this to be a totally missable film. But it does look cool, and it’s not overly long or annoyingly bad. While the scenery and effects are probably better viewed on the big screen, just watch it from home when it streams.

New Times Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Sun Screen. Glen compiles listings. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.

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