REVIEW: 65

3/5

Jurassic Planet. 

93 Mins. Starring: Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, Chloe Coleman & Nika King. Directed By: Scott Beck & Bryan Woods. In: Theatres. 

He has a T-Rex. Adam Driver vs. dinosaurs. It sounds like a fangirl's dream in this science-fiction, cult favourite of the future. '65', from the directing team of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods ('Nightlight', 'Haunt') who co-wrote the new horror classic 'A Quiet Place', has the clever concept of a spacecraft crash landing on our blue planet, billions of years ago, when dinosaurs ruled the earth. We need to see Kylo Ren with lasers against a 'Jurassic Park' of our childhood's favourite creatures now the fallen kingdom of 'Jurassic World' has come to an end. Yet with life finding a way in all this chaos walking with dinosaurs, something is missing as the sticker slapped on the side of a lunchbox starts to peel off. 

Beck and Woods bring us a forest of predators looking for prey in this hunger games. All as the last surviving 'Passengers' in cryosleep are taken off ice like Captain America to form a 'Logan' like 'The Last Of Us' father-figure and foundling bond. Yeah, this movie borrows off many a blockbuster. It even Easter Egg has many references to the classics, like the red siren of paying homage to the original 'Star Trek'. But what science-fiction movie doesn't? Besides at least it's an original dinosaur movie as two Tyrannosauruses terrorize a ship in twin tandem tyranny like it was a trailer in 'The Lost World'. But trust me, it still makes this similar scene it's outstanding own. 

Before critics say, "hold on, this is going to be bad" like Jeff Goldbum, judge this movie for yourself. Far from M. Night Shyamalan's Smith family 'After Earth' (that itself was better than critically advertised), this story still has sense even if the plot is made of glass. Driver drives home a real and ready performance. He may look like Keanu, but killing it like Wick, this is all Brad Pitt in 'World War Z' as "movement is life". 'Stuck In The Middle' star Ariana Greenblatt is also great lost in this world and stuck to the side of a pilot she's not sure if she can trust when she wakes up put the freezer to a world that belongs in the ice age. This Sam Rami produced picture catches more than a spider however, with gooey bugs that go splat with enough sap to recreate any race of creatures you'll fear. 

This isn't for children, despite the minor in Driver's care. The amazing action and haunting special effects may be too much for some. Sitting in Tokyo's TOHO cinema in Shinjuku, under the famous Godzilla head, bigger beasts roared. Then, I heard the scary tip-tapping of what I thought were raptor claws in scary surround sound, until I realized it was a child and her parent creeping out of the cinema, begging they'd make it out before the dinosaur roared. And this is Japan, we're fans don't leave the film until the final credit gives way to the curtain...and not just for Marvel movies. This isn't the family friendly 'Jurassic Park'. Instead, it's a darker design that looks at the sobering alien nature of science-fiction drama born from darkness, until it finds the light. 

You can see that on the shores of a beautifully acted and orchestrated backstory through the clasped hands of time and memory. One which may just be the best thing about this picture in all its special effects. Just like the flashbacks of digital memory that haunt and break your heart like a Tom Cruise 'Minority Report', reducing you to 'Interstellar' McConaughey tears. 'Marriage Story' actor Adam Driver acts up a storm against the tide, alongside his wife (a brief, but brilliant Nika King) and his reason for all this, his daughter. 'Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves' early summer blockbuster star Chole Coleman steals the show and your hearts with this performance, looking like the perfect child of Driver and King. And the brutality of what they're truly facing will belt you more than the asteroid to come. There will be a lot of big bang theories about '65', but what you should take from it is an enjoyable middling blockbuster with a real message of family that isn't tyre tread worn down like a 'Fast and Furious' cliché. Science-fiction can still mesmerize, even though we've been lost in space more times than a robotic Netflix remake. '65' is far from one in a billion, but it still has enough bite to roar. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'The Last Of Us', 'Prey', 'Jurassic World'.