If you’ve seen the marketing materials for “65,” Sony’s upcoming sci-fi action thriller, one thing is made abundantly clear: futuristic spaceman Adam Driver is in the muck, battling dinosaurs using a laser gun. And for most, that is all that you need to know about the movie, which is both written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, whose screenplay for “A Quiet Place” launched a hugely profitable franchise. Dinosaurs, space travel and a movie star fighting for his life make pretty good excuses to buy a ticket for “65.”
But if your mind is stuck on the big questions — Who does Adam Driver play? Why is a human being interacting with dinosaurs, a species that, as the title suggests, went extinct 65 million years? And is there time travel involved? — we have answers. Just be warned – heavy spoilers for “65” follow.
What is Adam Driver’s Deal?
As it turns out he’s an alien from another planet.
Wait, what?
Yeah, you briefly see him with his family on the beach of an alien world. It’s somewhat Pandora-ish except way less expressive (or expensive). He’s some kind of space trucker, who is driving a cargo of human colonists (or something) to a new world. That’s when disaster strikes.
He’s an Alien?
Yes. We just said that.
But He’s Not Blue or Anything?
No, he’s just Adam Driver.
Is Adam Driver a Human Being?
In real life, yes. Adam Driver is a human being. As far as we know.
How is This Conveyed to the Audience?
Through a series of weird title cards about 20 minutes into the movie (which is also pretty awkward). “65 million years ago a visitor crash-landed on Earth …” and some such. It’s extremely odd.
But What About Time Travel?
Here’s the other interesting thing about the plot of “65:” the whole thing takes place 65 million years ago.
But Adam Driver has a laser gun? You already said that he did.
Yes, that is true. He does have a laser gun. 65 million years ago, on a distant world populated with humans or at least human-like creatures, Adam Driver is a space trucker and he crash lands on ancient Earth, still populated by dinosaurs.
No time travel then?
None
Well then.
Yeah. Driver’s spaceship runs into what turns out to be the asteroid field that winds up wiping out the dinosaurs. Smaller asteroids destroy his ship and maroon him on the planet with a young girl. He realizes that a giant asteroid, the one we know as the one that slammed into the earth and killed all the dinosaurs, is actually on its way. Which gives the movie a nifty ticking clock story mechanic and also reminds us of Countdown to Extinction (aka Dinosaur), the ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom where you travel back in time for a million but wind up trying to outrun the asteroid. It seems like the attraction and the movie “65” are both going for a similar mixture of genuine thrills and more lighthearted escapism. And both feature plenty of dinosaurs.
Seems like it maybe would have been easier if Driver was just a space traveler in the future who went back in time a la “Planet of the Apes” and used his knowledge of both dinosaurs and the extinction-level event that wiped them out to his advantage.
Maybe!
Anything else we should know about “65”?
Not really. The little girl Driver pals around with on ancient earth doesn’t speak English (or whatever language he speaks on the planet where he comes from) so there’s a failure to communicate that is ringed for some comedy and drama and will remind you a bit of “A Quiet Place.” Other than that, it’s pretty straightforward… besides all that we’ve already covered.
“65” is in theaters now.