# I watched a dumb movie called ‘65’ in the theater, so you don’t have to **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 20, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406 "2023-03-20T13:36:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/1 "2023-03-20T13:36:33Z")
Saturday was a grimly cold, blustery, snowy, last gasp of Winter kind of a day, so Mrs. solost suggested seeing a matinee. She wanted to see ‘65’ so off we went with sonlost the younger. I mean, it wasn’t a _ **terrible** _ movie; it was an okayish soft sci-fi actioner. **Basic plot:** very human-like alien space travelers 65 million years ago (a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?) are being transported to somewhere else in cryostasis when the auto-piloted ship runs into an asteroid belt. The ship’s AI wakes up Captain Adam Driver, who attempts to pilot through the space rocks, but has to crash-land on a primitive uncharted planet we will later know as Earth, but 65 million years ago may as well have been called “Planet of Monsters”. All the cryostasis passengers have been killed except for one young girl, who doesn’t speak his language but will become an emotional stand-in for his dead daughter, who was killed by an exposition stick that is repeatedly beaten over the audience’s collective head. Driver and pseudo-daughter then have to hike several kilometers to the other half of their damaged spaceraft to access an escape pod, battling dinosaurs all the while. Oh, and the asteroid belt they crashed into? It contains the Big Asteroid that will hit Earth in the next couple days, presumably the one that kills off the dinos, so clock’s a-tickin’. So what was wrong with the movie? Well, [this AVClub review](https://www.avclub.com/65-review-adam-driver-fights-off-dinosaurs-1850209872) spells it out pretty well: the emotional beats are glaringly obvious-- since there’s only Driver and the girl, there’s no real emotional weight to the danger, since we know it’s extremely unlikely that either character will be killed. The movie should have kept a few live unfrozen passengers around at first, to serve as dino food. The arc is pretty clear: Driver resents having the burden of the girl at first, but they eventually develop a strong bond through shared adversity. Watching the trailer, I had assumed that future humans travel back in time, but no, and it’s no spoiler, the movie makes very clear at the very start that Adam Driver and girl are ‘ancient aliens’ who crash-land on Earth by accident. Fairly minor quibble, but I’ve always had a hard time buying extremely human-like aliens, like Star Trek aliens who are basically human but have pointy ears or bumps on the bridge of their nose. Or, of course, the Star Wars humanoids. So the random planet they accidentally land on just coincidentally evolves beings who will look exactly like them? OK. And I’m no expert Paleontologist, but the dinos were weird and wrong. There were 3 basic types of ‘bad guy’ dinos-- large packs of small dog-sized dinos which were very vicious but could be individually killed fairly easily. Those were maybe velociraptors, and I didn’t have a problem with them. But then there were packs of larger dinos, maybe the size of jungle cats, that had relatively small heads for their body size, and walked on all fours, but they crept on their front legs very low to the ground while their hindquaters were raised up. Sinister-looking, but weird, and no dino depiction I’ve ever seen. Then of course the big baddie eventually shows up-- the king of dinos, the Terrible Tyrannosaurus Rex. But waitaminite-- the head looks T Rex-like, but it has long, well developed front legs, and walks on all fours as often as it rears up on its hind legs. What the frick? _ **Everybody** _ over the age of 5 knows T Rex, as awesome as it was, had silly-looking baby arms in relation to its size. Did Steven Spielberg trademark all the cool dinos? More likely, the dino designer decided to ‘improve’ on T Rex. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/2 "2023-03-20T13:47:37Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Then of course the big baddie eventually shows up-- the king of dinos, the Terrible Tyrannosaurus Rex. But waitaminite-- the head looks T Rex-like, but it has long, well developed front legs, and walks on all fours as often as it rears up on its hind legs. What the frick? _ **Everybody** _ over the age of 5 knows T Rex, as awesome as it was, had silly-looking baby arms in relation to its size. Did Steven Spielberg trademark all the cool dinos? More likely, the dino designer decided to ‘improve’ on T Rex. They wanted a movie full of Indominus rexes, because that worked _so well_ for the Jurassic World franchise. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/3 "2023-03-20T13:48:35Z")
Should have been called _66_. > **[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event)** > > The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event,\[a\] also known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction,\[b\] was a sudden mass extinction of three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth, approximately 66 million years ago. The event caused the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs. Most other tetrapods weighing more than 25 kilograms (55 pounds) also became extinct, with the exception of some ectothermic species such as sea turtles and crocodilians. It marked the end of the In the... ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/4 "2023-03-20T13:53:43Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Should have been called _66_. Ha, _ **so** _ close. Just a million years off. My guess is that the moviemakers didn’t want people thinking it was two thirds of a movie about the Antichrist, or something… ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/5 "2023-03-20T14:02:05Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Oh, and the asteroid belt they crashed into? It contains the Big Asteroid that will hit Earth in the next couple days, presumably the one that kills off the dinos, so clock’s a-tickin’. Oooh, that’s a bit of bad luck. To accidentally fly past a solar system on your way somewhere else, to hit something despite outer space being 99.99999999% nothing and then to be forced to crash land on a planet that is days away from a major extinction event. On the plus side, they DID crash land on a planet with a breathable atmosphere and appropriate temperature. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/6 "2023-03-20T14:10:29Z")
It’s an interesting premise. They got the cause of dinosaur extinction all wrong, though. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5c/94/0a/5c940a87c7c69ce13fd191cf1bde683c.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5c/94/0a/5c940a87c7c69ce13fd191cf1bde683c.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/7 "2023-03-20T14:11:15Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Oooh, that’s a bit of bad luck. … to be forced to crash land on a planet that is days away from a major extinction event. I know, right? The reign of the dinosaurs lasted around 165 million years, and they have the awful luck to land at the end of year 164,999,999. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/8 "2023-03-20T14:22:08Z")
When I first saw the trailer, my prediction was that whatever they did to escape the planet ended up causing the extinction of the dinosaurs. Disappointing to learn that there isn’t really any twist in the story at all. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/9 "2023-03-20T14:25:29Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > When I first saw the trailer, my prediction was that whatever they did to escape the planet ended up causing the extinction of the dinosaurs I like your twist and do you one better. New movie pitch: **3.7** Aliens from another star system fly by 3.7 billion years ago. They hit an asteroid and are forced to crash land on Earth during the Late Heavy Bombardment. Lots of volcano and asteroid scenes before they escape. As they do, they drop a bag of waste from the shuttle, which falls into a puddle of hot steaming water. Microbes from their waste begin to grow and develop, eventually evolving into life as we know it. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/10 "2023-03-20T14:28:31Z")
Wasn’t that Prometheus? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/11 "2023-03-20T14:29:09Z")
> [@solost](#): > > The movie should have kept a few live unfrozen passengers around at first, to serve as dino food. One word: space marines! ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/12 "2023-03-20T14:44:24Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > When I first saw the trailer, my prediction was that whatever they did to escape the planet ended up causing the extinction of the dinosaurs. Disappointing to learn that there isn’t really any twist in the story at all. Similar to @Babale 's movie pitch, I thought the twist would be, but wasn’t (since we’re getting into spoiler territory I will spoiler-blur): Since the “ancient aliens” were so human, both in appearance and manner, I thought they would end up being permanently stranded on Earth and somehow cause modern humans to later exist. I wasn’t sure exactly how they would pull that off plot-wise, since it would be pretty icky for Adam Driver to eventually mate with a girl who was around 9 at the start of the movie. But they had advanced tech-- maybe they could have cloned themselves or something. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/13 "2023-03-20T14:44:53Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Ha, _ **so** _ close. Just a million years off. My guess is that the moviemakers didn’t want people thinking it was two thirds of a movie about the Antichrist, or something… It _used_ to be very famously described as 65 million years ago, but of course the number was actually in a “plus or minus” range. More recent refinements in testing narrowed that range down, slightly on the earlier side. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/14 "2023-03-20T14:53:59Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It _used_ to be very famously described as 65 million years ago, but of course the number was actually in a “plus or minus” range. More recent refinements in testing narrowed that range down, slightly on the earlier side Another way the movie was behind the times-- not that it really matters in a movie where they give T Rex big ol’ swole front arms, but I believe the most modern thinking is that many dinos, including T Rex, were very likely covered in rudimentary feathers, and these dinos were your standard scaly lizard-skinned sorts. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/15 "2023-03-20T14:56:12Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Microbes from their waste begin to grow and develop, eventually evolving into life as we know it. As long as the waste is just an egg-and-cress sandwich, I’m on board. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/16 "2023-03-20T14:56:56Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It _used_ to be very famously described as 65 million years ago, but of course the number was actually in a “plus or minus” range. More recent refinements in testing narrowed that range down, slightly on the earlier side. A couple is taking a tour through the Natural History Museum. They ask the tour guide: "How old is this dinosaur skeleton? He replies: “It is sixty five million and fourteen years and three months old.” “Wow! It’s amazing that you can tell this precise. How do you do that? Is it with carbon dating?” “I don’t know” says the guide. “But when I first came here they told me it was sixty five million years old. And I started here fourteen years and three months ago.” ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/17 "2023-03-20T19:21:44Z")
That only works with telephone sanitizers. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/18 "2023-03-21T03:52:37Z")
this movie has been trashed all over the internet … ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/19 "2023-03-21T09:44:22Z")
> [@solost](#): > > But then there were packs of larger dinos, maybe the size of jungle cats, that had relatively small heads for their body size, and walked on all fours, but they crept on their front legs very low to the ground while their hindquaters were raised up. Sounds more like a crocodyliform than a dinosaur. Something like _[Baurasuchus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baurusuchus)_, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406/20 "2023-03-21T10:28:48Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > As they do, they drop a bag of waste from the shuttle, which falls into a puddle of hot steaming water. Microbes from their waste begin to grow and develop, eventually evolving into life as we know it. Been done: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/h4vcJU6YVwk/maxresdefault.jpg "Allegro Non Troppo (1976) Maurice Ravel's Boléro M.81") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4vcJU6YVwk&t=69s) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-a-dumb-movie-called-65-in-the-theater-so-you-don-t-have-to/981406.md?page=2)