Dinosaurs are the least terrifying thing in 65
65, the sci-fi action film starring Adam Driver as an astronaut stranded on a prehistoric Earth, finally arrived on Netflix, and it quickly became the most-streamed movie on the service. A lot’s been written about 65 since its theatrical release this past March, from the influence Ridley Scott’s Alien had on the film to how much writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods wanted to break the Jurassic Park franchise’s monopoly on scary action dinosaurs.
While the fear of fending off a host of gigantic carnivorous creatures while trying to escape an impending extinction-level meteor strike is the driving force of 65’s story, something else about the film has stuck with me ever since I first caught it in theaters — something even more terrifying than man-eating dinosaurs. Apparently, according to this movie, capitalism and medical debt are inevitable, no matter where in the universe you’re born, or when.
[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for 65.]
Like most folks, I sat down to watch 65 with only one expectation in mind: I thought Adam Driver would travel back in time and fight dinosaurs on Earth. At the very least, that’s what I expected going off the trailer. Little did I know that the film throws a curveball at the audience right at the start: Yes, Adam Driver’s character Mills is stranded on a prehistoric Earth, and yes, he does fight dinosaurs. However, he doesn’t time travel, and he isn’t even human. He’s an alien from a proto-human planet, Somaris, who took a shipping job to earn enough money to get treatment for his daughter, who has a life-threatening ailment.
On the surface, this detail is obviously intended to introduce Mills to the audience as a relatable protagonist with a grounded personal stake in escaping Earth,
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