“65” (2023) stands for 65 million years ago when an astronaut, Mills (Adam Driver), from the Planet Somaris, crashes on Earth. All his passengers died except one, a little girl, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt). They dodge dinosaurs to get to their escape pod to get home.

I am not into Driver and am on a one-woman campaign to bring awareness that he is not handsome, just tall. I have no issue with his acting except his characters have a predictable quality, but he does it well; however, on a prehistoric planet with no other men around and protecting a little girl, Driver may have stumbled on the circumstances that could lead to me believing that he is hot. The magic of the movies! Only in a darkened theater can people suspend disbelief and pretend that people will do anything to protect children.

I saw the preview for “65” and loved the premise: lasers versus dinosaurs. Can technologically advanced humanoids survive deconstructed “Jurassic Park”? Call me a child because anything with dinosaurs is a draw.

I fought falling asleep while watching “65.” Writers and directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods put a lot on the film’s shoulders. They got butts in the theater with the sci fi action premise, but the heart of the film is a thin, trite indie drama about grief and finding a reason to continue to live. Mills is a family man and even advanced health care sucks because he must take this job to save his ailing daughter, Nevine (Chloe Coleman, who also appears as the daughter in Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and apparently has a lock on protagonist’s biracial children). Yes, the job may save his daughter, but he will also lose precious time with his family.  The film nails the family chemistry with a brief appearance by Nika King as Mills’ wife, Alya. King and Driver had chemistry, and I am a sucker for positive representation of interracial relationships. Driver is exceptional at working with kids. It was one of the best parts of his prior movie, “White Noise” (2022). This indie emotional sensibility explains casting Driver who gets to show off his acting skills and reveal the outcome of Mills’ family’s predicament before the film provides explicit verbal confirmation. Think “Cast Away” (2000) except high tech and dinosaurs!

Unfortunately, the trailer gives away the best parts of “65.”.  Beck and Woods should not have revealed from the opening that Mills is not from Earth, that this film unfolds in the past and takes place on Earth. Then there would be some revelations as each of these points get revealed throughout the film. M. Night Shyamalan may be uneven, and his glory days maybe behind him, but other than “The Village” (2004), he knows how to spread out his twists. Beck and Woods could have made us believe that Earthlings from the future found a planet with dinosaurs then dropped some hints throughout the film to keep us invested and feel moments of wonder as we discovered that we were the aliens, contemplate the implications of humanoids from other planets and evoke the concept of first contact. Somewhere Ridley Scott is banging his head against a wall for the bravery of just starting where he wanted to in “Prometheus” (2012) but dropping the ball. It was a missed opportunity to create a whole mythology about the nature of human existence and our place in the universe. It could have been a franchise building foundation, but as it stands, these facts are an afterthought. So when obstacles start piling on to the mission, we can guess that Mills has more problems than dinosaurs and any child with minimal understanding of dinosaurs will be able to predict the real obstacle.

“65” is all about overcoming the mounting obstacles, which makes it an elemental but monotonous film. Chekhov’s poison berry, Chekhov’s geyser, Chekhov’s meteor shower, etc. All these obstacles do not have a lasting impact. As the film reaches the denouement, there is no sense of consequences to the high stakes. It also seems to pander to kids by leaning towards gross out humor with insect guts and stickiness. Towards the middle of the film, the movie shifts, and Koa begins to share the job of protecting them. I’m a big girl power proponent but I would have settled for her just not doing stupid things. The idea of a child needing to protect any adult, but especially any character that Driver would play, is ridiculous. The seventies called, and they want their quicksand back. You’re telling me that human beings exist on other planets, but they have never faced quicksand. GTFOH! Beck and Woods were probably aiming for Mills and Koa finding in each other what they needed to survive and overcome loss, but it did not work for me, and if I was a deceased family member, I may be side eyeing the entire proceedings. You found a replacement for me already! I think it is unnecessary for them to be proxies and just have the dynamic stand on its own, but nope.

One of the many obstacles: a language barrier between Mills and Koa. I have mixed feelings about this plot point. “65” reminded me of “Logan” (2017), but I did not think of it as a possible unnoticed trope until now. Why is it important for cobbled together parent-child figures to be unable to communicate and find a way to bond anyway?  And the onus is on the child to learn the adult’s language with no similar sense of reciprocal urgency from the adult to the child. Any insight is appreciated.

“65” is gorgeous except for the late scene by the geyser that screamed blue screen. The landscape shots are gorgeous. The dinosaur CGI was fine, but at times uneven. I also loved the tech and the costumes. Mills’ helmet shape reminded me of the xenomorph’s head shape in the “Alien” franchise. The texture of Mills’ uniform was perfect. Aesthetically it was very “The 100.” As a proponent of grey as the color of a dystopian world, I loved it. Driver’s hair was on point. The sound of the laser weapons was perfect. There is one genius scene where the lack of light means that we have to see a fight depicted on one of Mills’ tools.

Since the wink is that human beings are the alien invaders, and dinosaurs are the Earthlings fighting for their home, there was a missed opportunity to show the dinosaurs as being intelligent and trying to fight invaders instead of just sticking to the routine predator versus prey dynamic. Beck and Woods just end up rehashing a lot of scenes from “Jurassic Park” (1993), but with Sam Raimi as a producer, I cannot believe the missed camp in having the dinosaurs act as protagonists or at least as conscious fighters. We should be rooting for the dinosaurs, not the people. Speciesist! I did appreciate that one pissed dinosaur who feels as if Mills stole his food by protecting Koa. I was annoyed at the denouement chase scene. Mills has been on this planet for a few days, but he knows the neighborhood and its dangers better than a T-rex. I don’t think so.