It’s a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. The words of the prologue slowly fade into a shot of open space. Adam Driver is piloting a spaceship. He’s not in a great mood.

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Except this isn’t Star Wars. We’re in a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. No- it’s not Jurassic Park either.

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From the moment I saw the trailer for 65, with its melodramatic announcement of “65…million years ago,” I knew it was the one for me. Dinosaurs, Adam Driver, action, and a found family. Did the writer of this film see the inside of my brain?

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If you’ve seen the trailer, then you’ve seen exactly how this plays out. If you don’t want to see Adam Driver’s Mills run around, grunt, yell and become a reluctant father to nine-year-old Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), then maybe this film isn’t for you.

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But coming in at only 1 hour and 33 minutes, it was a short and sweet film. Not everything has to be a 2.5 hour ordeal. The simplicity of the story - a 15 km hike to an escape pod - lends itself to the shorter runtime, and keeps your attention held throughout.

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Surprisingly it packs in a bit of an emotional story somewhere under the layers of gloom, mud and quicksand. If anything, they could have taken it further - but with the slimmed down runtime, it left the right amount of wanting more.

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The film is carried by its performances. I’m glad Adam Driver is at the stage of his career where he can take on roles that will be widely praised - such as his Oscar-nominated turn in Marriage Story - as well as these more rogue choices. In every role he shows every emotion through the slightest movement of his face. Mills’ protection and care for Koa would not have sold as so genuine without the performances of Driver and Greenblatt, who are the only characters for the vast majority of the film.

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For a movie that might have been easy to discount, it’s good to see him sell it here too. Will we see him take on a romcom before the twenties are through? Let’s hope!

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Perhaps it’s just a shame that this film was released in the wake of HBOs The Last of Us - similarly featuring a begrudging father figure to a spirited young girl. Or maybe it will work in the film’s favour when people look out for similar tropes. Online ranking systems like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb are known to be questionable for rating films accurately. At its most insidious, review bombing occurs when minorities take a leading role. At its most benign, rating systems lead to otherwise average, enjoyable films being scored extremely low simply because it’s not highly reviewed among critics. If prospective viewers take it too seriously, it risks them never seeing hidden gems. For 65 at least, I’m certain this won’t go down as a mistake in Driver’s filmography, and will be reevaluated in a few years. If anything it signifies his film stardom: he’s overcome genre boundaries. This is a pretty generic storyline, but that’s ok.

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There are multiple plot twists in this film - if you can call them that. One reveal in the trailer -and the title itself- should make it entirely clear what will happen, but the film itself is so earnest and exciting, and the reveal made me lose it with its sheer obviousness. Watching the film, you are caught in the action of it, to the point that the development we learn mid-way through caught me off-guard (which perhaps is my own lack of foresight). This is carried by the soundtrack by Chris Bacon, who sells the moment (and the rest of the film) with the perfect dose of drama. If you take more than 5 seconds to imagine what this plot point could be, you’ll get there.

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But it’s fun!

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Isn’t that what we want in a simple action film? Going to the cinema just to have a good time - no franchise connection, just old school action, watching the actor of the day do something a bit different. Take your friend, siblings, partner, parents - 65 doesn’t discriminate.

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In summary; 65 is exactly what you expected it to be - and that’s a good thing.