65 [4K Ultra HD]

Directors: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Cast: Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt

Release Date: May 30, 2023

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Adam Driver) quickly discovers he’s actually stranded on Earth…65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive. From the writers of A Quiet Place comes 65, a sci-fi thriller produced by Sam Raimi, Deborah Liebling, Zainab Azizi, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.

Please Note: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘65’ joins a pilot from another planet who crash-lands on a world unknown to him and soon realizes that he and one young girl are the only survivors of the wreckage. Believing the crash to be the worst of their situation, things promptly escalate from bad to worse when they discover that they’ve landed on Earth 65 million years ago and must avoid and fight off the various dinosaurs that reign on the planet. Now this pilot must try to keep both of them alive by any means necessary long enough to find a manner of escape, but as they hunt for the remaining escape pods dislodged in the crash they come to realize that something terrible is headed for the planet and their window for escape is limited.

Written and directed by Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (Haunt, Nightlight) who do a solid job at the helm of ‘65’ guiding along the excitement with a fast-paced and visually pleasing style that never gets dull. The film’s limited cast includes Adam Driver (The Last Duel) and Ariana Greenblatt (Love and Monsters) with each offering fitting and capable enough performances in their respective roles to help keep the tale moving along at a smooth pace without becoming too goofy.

‘65’ is an enjoyable and fast-paced popcorn flick that features plenty of action-packed excitement, tension and even a bit of heart, all with a brisk ninety minute runtime that wastes little time prior to jumping into the excitement and continually moves along at a refreshingly prompt pace for the remainder of its duration. It never makes the mistake of trying to craft a complex or unnecessarily convoluted plot and instead fully embraces its almost b-movie nature in order to deliver a simple, enjoyable and thrilling tale of two strangers trying to survive on an unfamiliar planet with danger and surprises around nearly every turn.

The film approaches the dinosaurs within in a manner that never detracts from the survival tale at its core or downplays the human stars, instead making the wise choice to only feature them in briefer moments as the unknown threat that they are to these individuals, popping out and attacking in the most inopportune of situations to fittingly increase the tension as these two struggle to find a way off the planet. ‘65’ isn’t necessarily a great film, but it deserves plenty of credit for offering a simplistic and uncomplicated escape that delivers ninety minutes of fun and excitement without ever trying too hard to evolve beyond its simplicity which ends up becoming one of its biggest strengths.

Overall, ‘65’ serves up an action-packed good time loaded with thrills, tension and excitement around nearly every turn that’s all neatly packed into a refreshingly compact ninety minute runtime that never mistakenly tries to become anything other than a simple, entertaining and easy to follow adventure which shouldn’t have any trouble grabbing and holding your attention throughout. ‘65’ is recommended for anyone that’s a fan of filmmaking duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods or star Adam Driver, along with those who appreciate a fairly simple sci-fi action movie that maintains a fun popcorn flick tone from start to finish, with some nice effects and capable performances by its limited cast. If you’re already looking forward to this one but didn’t have the chance to catch it in theaters, it should at least be worth renting one relaxing evening at home.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘65’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks outstanding and delivers a clean, sharp and immaculately detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any unexpected issues or faults along the way. It holds up impressively every step of the way and offers beautiful clarity and detail in everything within from character faces and clothing to the grime on faces throughout, along with the expansive landscapes, dinosaurs and even the ship they crash on the planet in. The Dolby Vision addition only provides a boost to it all thanks to a gorgeous color palette that features more detailed, lifelike colors that are complemented by deep, seemingly endless black levels that never become a victim of crush or any other potential issues. Overall, this is a magnificent Ultra High Definition video presentation that impresses every step of the way and should easily thrill fans as well as first time viewers.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack makes a splendid complement to the onscreen tension and excitement and provides a crisp, clean and hard hitting audio presentation throughout. It constantly takes full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send action and nature effects throughout the various speakers on a regular basis including everything from guns, rain and thunder booming, the ship breaking apart and a great deal more zipping throughout at every logical opportunity, while never resulting in any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously becoming distorted or rendered problematic in the process. Overall, this is a wonderful Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that delivers on all ends and contributes plenty of extra fun and excitement to the viewing experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘65’ features some enjoyable extras which can all be found on the release’s included Blu-ray. Included on the Blu-ray disc are some ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 8 minutes in length altogether), along with a few Behind the Scenes Featurettes that explore the process of bringing the film to life and featuring interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Set in Stone: Filmmakers’ (running approximately 4 minutes), ‘Future of Yesterday: Creating the World of 65’ (approximately 5 minutes) and ‘The Showdown: Concepts to Screen’ (10 minutes). Also included is ‘Primordial Planet’ (approximately 2 minutes) which features scenes from the film with narration in a documentary-like manner.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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‘65’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from BRON Creative & Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

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