65? Yeah, that's about right. I wanted to like this more. We simply don’t get enough dinosaur movies. At least not big releases with respectable budgets like this, that is. It’s usually Z-grade, Syfy original level crap. So naturally upon hearing about this my interest was piqued. Not enough to see it in theaters due to the sheer outlandishness of its premise raising some alarms, which proved to be the right choice, but to the degree that as soon as I heard Redbox had it I was very eager to make it my first rental of the year (man, 2023 been kind of dry…). Honestly? Wasn’t bad. A serviceable watch that just sort of narrowly manages to scrape by on the strengths of its The Last of Us/Logan-style surrogate father-daughter dynamic and the always entertaining to watch Adam Driver. Unlike those hits however, this isn’t able to get the viewer truly emotionally invested in its leads’ relationship as, while the headlining star can certainly act and has one heck of a backstory to motivate him, their interactions are really more awkward than endearing.  If anything, this might have benefited from leaning more into the zany potential its ridiculous concept of “space voyager gets stranded on prehistoric earth” possesses. There’s not enough dino action here to fully satisfy. Don’t get me wrong, watching the duo bond while trekking across the unique, untamed landscape and contending with the troubles doing so brings is decently entertaining, but some more T-Rex’s or velociraptors getting shot with laser guns would have gone a long way. It’s practically begging for it. It’s also worth noting that the entire setup is inherently flawed, which I believe is the whole reason this basically flopped at the box-office. Why they went with the far harder to sell synopsis of “member of some weird non-human, yet strangely human-looking civilization visits the planet long before mankind ever walked it” over the more natural “future man crashes on a planet with dinosaur-esque creatures” or something along those lines I have no idea. It comes off as needlessly complicated and forces the need for them to explain it. Which they do completely through opening text that leaks onto the title card in a manner that’s kind of corny. Plus, it would have made greater sense given the film’s alien dinosaur designs, what with their unusual spinal structures and such. Despite all of my complaints and criticisms up to this point in the review, I had a solid time with 65. It’s ultimately a disposable, lazy evening flick that I’ll likely never watch again, but if you’re curious I’m sure you’ll find it to be a moderately enjoyable experience that doesn’t overstay its welcome the same as I did. The thing I appreciated the most about it though, is what it represents. Between stuff like this and Cocaine Bear, I’m beginning to see signs of Hollywood having original, amusing (if deeply absurd) ideas again in this age of otherwise constant superhero mumbo-jumbo and *insert popular long-running or resurrected franchise name here* installment no. 257. Essentially, giving me a glimmer of hope that cinema might start being fun again in the near future.