A Quiet Place's Scott Breck and Bryan Woods' 65 (co-produced by Sam Raimi) is a dinosaur-attacks flick that occurs sixty-five million years ago (thus the numeration), pitting Adam Driver's spaceship-crashed alien (but otherwise Earthy) astronaut, Commander Mills, against giant behemoths, in the desperate name of survival and ironic, Planet of the Apes, time juxtaposing.
Like the Apes saga, as well as Outlander '08 and Star Knight, 65 perpetuates a fascinating formula, which is (at its core) akin to Mark Twain's amusing A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and its kooky counterpart, Army of Darkness, though Driver's Mills is never light in tone, nor is 65.
Writer/directors Breck and Woods know how to handle such monsterized stuff, and their attempt at a timeline flip works right from the melodramatic start: that is, it holds a seat-edging Apes/King Kong build-up, and once it gets rolling, doesn't hold back. That creates solid entertainment, with a plot that never gets too complicated.
Breck and Woods' story rides on straight-forward action and perhaps more so, quality characterization, making Mills easy to champion: a man who took on a mission to succor funds for his wife (Nika King) and dying daughter (Chloe Coleman). Ultimately he finds and befriends a fellow crash casualty, Ariana Greenblatt's young Koa (a surrogate daughter), who never spoils a scenario by being whiney. (In fact, she's quite resourceful, regardless of what's thrown at her).
The dinosaurs are as significant as our brave duo in this ordeal, doing what audiences would expect. The creatures' relentless voraciousness allows Mills and Koa to become indirect Scott Careys (from The Incredible Shrinking Man), but instead of a basement spider, they combat maddening reptiles. With this acknowledged, 65 also smacks of The Last Dinosaur: that rambunctious romp in which Richard Boone battles a T-Rex.
It should be noted that unlike the Jurassic Park/World movies, 65 isn't tiered with marginal interludes. It plays rather like the recent Predator prequel, Prey: lean, but no less mean for it. I give the filmmakers a respectful pat on the back for that. Thanks for delivering the goods, guys, and doing so within a non-voguish ninety minutes.
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