65 : La Terre d'avant

This is nowhere near a perfect movie. That being said, it's nowhere near trash either. Amazing cinematography, cgi and acting take this film a long way. In the days where mediocre 200 million marvel movies have swallowed cinema, this is honestly a breath of fresh air. I have missed watching lower budget standalone action films that don't require any external knowledge of the audience in order to understand the plot and are just a fun 90 minute watch.

So I suppose that even though this is not a perfect movie it's a new original idea and that's all I want to see from cinema nowadays. It is the direction that will bring the industry to light and maybe let it evolve (which will not happen if all the studios release reboot after reboot for the next decade)

I was very curious about this film since it seemed very simple in concept to those of some of the best movies in the past decades. Not to mention having phenomenal actor Adam Driver fighting dinosaurs, who wouldn't watch it? After finishing the movie, I can at least say the movie was a competent and engaging watch, but wasn't as exciting as the trailers made it out to be.

First of all, Adam Driver is fantastic in this movie. Despite the simplistic and somewhat predictable narrative, he's still engaging to watch as a desperate man trying to survive and rescue the only other survivor, a young foreign girl. And Props to Ariana Greenblatt for pulling off a helpless girl with a language opposite of the lead and still having good chemistry.

Other than that, the movie doesn't really utilize it's concept that well with the battle of scientific technology and prehistoric creatures. There are only a few instances where we can see him use strategy and the use of various gadgets to take them down. While those scenes are fun, it's very little throughout the movie.

I was worried that this movie could have been awful since it gave me very similar vibes to After Earth, and I'm sure you don't need me to explain why. But I can at least say that writer and directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods didn't drop the ball that badly. I can also respect that they want to bring Hollywood back to basics with concepts that are simple, yet effective. While slow paced, and at times underwhelming, I can at least say I enjoyed myself while watching.

The Good:

Awesome recreation of a wild dangerous world full of dinosaurs and threads of death and struggle for survival. The suspense and fear is better than Jurassic Park.

Really cool Sci-fi tech featured, really awesome play on someone (Driver) struggling to survive a primitive world while also having highly advanced technology, but still facing challenges Top-notch cinematography, lighting, and CGI makes you feel very immersed into the world and situations

The Bad:

The plot is extremely basic and predictable. Man faces a few obstacles that he overcomes, most of them the same situation, that's about it. There's only two characters basically, and the dialog between them is limited. This works for a bit, but there's not enough development of the characters, and it's easy to just not care about what happens to them one way or another.

It could have been much better if there was more objectives in the plot, more characters or build up, more on what happened before and after the situation on the planet.

I'm the exact target audience for this movie. I'm a sci-fi junkie, I love thrillers, Adam Driver is awesome, and I'll watch basically anything with large scary creatures. This should have been a layup for me to like. Yet I found myself unengaged and somewhat bored. I started feeling sleepy even after a Red Bull.

I don't really know how or why it happened, but this is just a forgettable movie. Some dumb things happen but I am able to turn my brain off. Although after watching the Angry Joes review, I didn't realize how many dumb things I ignored. I guess I just didn't care enough to notice them.

I hope a movie like this doesn't discourage studios from going for more of these mid-budget movies. I like the idea of an isolated story somewhere random in space/time. I just hope they do a better job next time. (1 viewing, opening Sunday 3/12/2023)

The plot is updated and integrated themes from various older ones, but it works. The CGI is well done and feels right. The interaction between the two primary characters is well done and they connect .

Adam Driver plays the role very well as the clinical , angry pilot. Yet warm and caring as time goes on.

Ariana Greenblatt plays the role of a scared child , who is confused about what is going on. She also brings some humor to the movie. Her acting is superb . One minute she is a scared little girl , the next she is making fun of Adam .

I enjoyed it, then I love survival movies. So this is a perfect movie for me.