Dinosaur thriller 65 gets tepid reviews – but everyone agrees Adam Driver is great

The first reviews for Adam Driver’s new blockbuster thriller 65 are finally in. The movie begins after pilot Mills (Driver) crash lands on an unknown planet but soon finds out that he’s not alone. He and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must battle prehistoric dinosaurs in their epic attempt to survive. 

The movie is out now in theaters, and the first reviews have landed. Critics have been pretty lukewarm about the new movie so far, but lots have praised Driver’s performance, as well as that of his young co-star. Read on for what they have to say about the new movie.

And for more exclusive insight into 65, check out what the directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods had to say about it.

The Guardian – 2 / 5 – Benjamin Lee

"It’s a pretty unremarkable survival movie from then on, but efficiently so in the shortest of bursts, thanks to a physically committed Driver taking it all rather seriously and some moments of decent enough jeopardy. We’re teased something gnarlier, something that might have distanced it even further from the family-friendly Jurassic Park franchise other than quality and budget, but it’s all a little too restrained to be the extreme and extremely silly B-movie it could and should have been."

Variety – Todd Gilchrist

"Beck and Woods make dinosaurs frightening for the first time in decades, thanks to some classic misdirection and staging that involves a lot of shadows to make the audience say 'nope' when the characters decide to plumb further into them. If their filmmaking isn’t particularly inventive, the duo approach it with the same kind of sturdy proficiency they use when borrowing scenes or genre boilerplate to tell their stories." 

The Hollywood Reporter – Frank Scheck

"Making an atypical foray into commercial film territory (the Star Wars films being a notable exception), Driver proves a formidable action movie hero, his imposing physicality (and, perhaps, his former experience as a Marine) serving him well here. And Coleman, who has some experience playing opposite big tough guys thanks to her co-starring with Dave Bautista in My Spy, handles the physically and emotionally demanding aspects of her role like a pro." 

Digital Spy – 2 / 5 – Ian Sandwell

"Adam Driver is as committed as ever, but he's in the wrong movie. Beck and Woods certainly want to hit on deeper themes of grief and death, yet their own concept is inherently ridiculous so it's a tonal misfire. A climactic moment, which we won't spoil here, involving a hologram is unintentionally hilarious rather than heartbreaking. We're not saying that 65 should have leaned into the silliness, but it doesn't help that Cocaine Bear recently showed how you can take an OTT concept and give it heart." 

Los Angeles Times – Robert Abele

"If you asked the AI program ChatGPT to write a dinosaur/space movie as if Steven Spielberg and James Cameron were trying to make fun of each other, you’d probably still get something more entertaining than the thudding hack job 65, a movie about as thrilling as watching footage of someone – in this case, Adam Driver and his young co-star, Ariana Greenblatt – on the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios." 

Bloody Disgusting – 2.5 / 5 – Meagan Navarro 

"It’s the seriousness that unmoors a lot of what works about 65. Pale echoes of retro films like Planet of Dinosaurs get teased throughout but never fully embraced. The resurgence of quicksand as a lethal trap, early dinosaur encounters, and a gruesome nighttime parasite ensure it’s entertaining enough. Driver makes for a formidable action lead worth watching, too. But the potential for what could’ve been had 65 fully embraced the absurdities of its plot is what lingers once it’s over." 

For more upcoming movies, check out our breakdown of 2023 movie release dates.