Ostensibly a family dino sci-fi adventure, 65 is really about loss. Both Mills and Koa are trying to avoid their grief, Mills by distancing himself from this young girl after letting down his dead daughter, and Koa by holding on to the idea that her parents are alive and waiting for her at the top of the mountain. Eventually they both realise that they have to accept the past to save themselves and each other. (My review is here)
PLOT RE-CAP
The crash
Crash landing on Earth after a being caught in a meteor storm part-way into a two year trip, Mills believe himself to be the only survivor, his human cargo having been sucked out of the space craft in their coffins as his spaceship broke apart.
After sending emergency messages back home from the capsule of his craft he is alerted to one coffin whose is occupant, a young girl, is still alive. Wading back into the swamp outside he finds her and carries her back inside. Even that journey gives glimpses of what he’s up against: a vast swamp, a huge footprint, roaring in the distance.
Next morning her can finally see where he is, and more danger: a bubbling geyser field nearby with the skeleton of a long dead creature which must have tumbled across it. But there, in the distance perched on a cliff, is the escape vessel from his craft. He’s attacked by a small dinosaur which he manages to kill.
He finds out the child’s name — Koa — from his floppy book but she can’t understand much English. Drawing a mountain in red powder, he explains they have to go to the top to escape. When she draws her parents he “tells” her they are waiting for her there.
She finds video messages from his daughter Nevine. Mills takes them and explains they must move and be quiet. He gathers what they need, including a weapon and a set of metal spheres, which later turn out to be mini bombs.
The walk
His portable computer tells him they have 12 km to go and they set off through an open forest. Koa is soon tiring of the journey and of him. She throws berries at the back of his head; he tests them in one of his tech gizmos and they are poisonous. They spy a small dinosaur stuck in quicksand or mud. Against Mills’ better judgement he pulls it out of the pit for her. The baby trots off but a few metres on is pound on by a group of small agile dinosaurs and is killed. Mills and Koa have to hide until they have gone.
They rest by water and she finds a flower which she puts in his hair. Continuing their trek, his computer loses signal, so he climbs a massive tree to get it back. Down below Koa stuffs poisoned berries into her bag. From up the tree Mills sees the escape pod on the far mountain top, but is distracted by a giant bug and falls, dislocating his shoulder. As the two desperately try to get it back in its socket, Lizard-like toothy dinosaurs creep towards them, and scuttle down from the trees. Just as they come for Mills and Koa, the two manage to get Mills’s shoulder back in its socket and he fires at their attackers. More come so he tells Koa to run, while he blows them up using his little sphere bombs.
Koa is hiding behind a large tree trunk. She turns around to discover she’s on a beach, a breeding ground for pterosaurs. Two of the lizard dinosaurs creep towards Koa. As they are about to pounce Mills appears and shoots one dead. The other drags her off, though he frees her. She is too upset to move and he agrees they can rest. As the sky darkens he whistles thought his hands as he did at the start of the film for his daughter; Koa turns around and whistles with her fingers in her mouth. He gives her a piggyback, and with night falling they stop in a cave.
The cave
Mills puts sensor lights around the entrance so they can sleep. He shows Koa the night sky on his computer, and sees on it the giant asteroid hurtling towards Earth. He tells her to sleep and watches a 3D video message from his daughter. Koa is secretly watching, too. Mills thinks about the message from his wife explaining Nevine’s quiet, peaceful death.
During the night the pulsating sensors wake Mills. He tries to rouse Koa but her mouth is foaming and he has to extract a giant bug from her throat. The sensors alarms are red and beeping. He thinks whatever it is is at the back of the cave and they back away towards the waterfall-covered entrance. A lighting flash illuminating what looks like a T Rex’s head outside. Mills shoots at it and they dive to the back of the cave, falling down a small shaft.
His computer tells them there is a draft so they go further into the cave, but after trying to dismantle a rock wall Mills admits defeat. Koa draws her parents on the cave wall, and keeps repeating words (Mountain. Move. Koa). Impressed by her persistence he remembers his sphere bombs and blows a hole in the rock, giving her a little pouch of them in case she needs them. She crawls through the hole, but as he tries to follow her a rockfall stops him. Devastated, he then hears her whistling, as she makes it outside into the open air.
Hearing animal noises, Koa checks out the surrounding area. She arms herself with a massive dinosaur tooth and rubs its sharp root with the poisonous berries she saved earlier.
Mills goes back into the cave system but there is a dinosaur behind him. He shoots at the beaked creature and it tries to drag him off before he manages to kill it, and scrambles out of the cave system. He sees the asteroid bright in the sky, his computer telling him a collision is imminent. Rushing through the trees calling for Koa, he falls into a large quicksand pond.
Koa, chased by a dinosaur, scrambles into a rotten tree trunk, and as the dino follows her in she climbs out and blocks off each end, before pouring her mini bombs in and waiting for the explosion. After the bang she hears Mills screaming for her. Sinking under the surface, he looks up and sees the asteroid far off in the sky. Suddenly Koa appears, hanging onto a sapling so the branches bend low enough under the surface for Mills to grab them and pull himself out. He hugs and thanks her, then shows her the asteroid on his computer, explaining it is coming to hit Earth.
The mountain
In darkness, they reach the bottom of the mountain and start to climb, dinosaurs roaring in the background. Koa asks to clamber up a rock face with Mills’ rope. He lets her go, but she takes a while. Climbing up, he is impressed by the spider web of rope she has created to anchor it.
Reaching the escape pod
Having made it to the escape pod, Mills is so preoccupied with checking if the systems are working (they are) that he doesn’t realise Koa is, of course, searching for her parents. Going outside again, she finds life support coffins amid the crash debris. She draws her stick parents and tells Mills “Family”. She cries, grief-stricken, as the asteroid approaches.
Mills shows Koa the picture of his daughter and tries to explain that she has died and he wasn’t there. He tells Koa he needs to get her home and they hug. Flaming rocks from the meteor shower are crashing into nearby hills. They are about to launch when a meteor hits them; the explosion pushes the pod down the cliff and they land upside down. The on-board computer announces they are the wrong way up to launch.
Outside what looks like a T-Rex appears, bashing at the pod to get to them as they hang upside down. Its giant eye looks at them through the window.
The final fight
Mills spies one of his weapons outside on the ground, frees himself and heads out to grab it. There are now two massive dinosaurs. He aims but it won’t fire until her charges it. The dinosaurs come for him, so Koa projects Nevine’s 3D video message to distract the creatures. As the dinosaurs try to eat the hologram Mills shoots at one until it is dead. One of the dinosaurs tips over the escape pod — the on-board computer states they are now the right way up and starts a repair reboot.
Another dinosaur goes for Mills, still outside. He screams at Koa to launch the ship, while he runs off, leading the dinosaur away to a geyser field. He leaps over a hot spring, followed by the dinosaur. Mills reaches the other side, but while the dinosaur flails it keeps on coming. Suddenly Koa appears running and shouting. She leaps up and stabs the dinosaur in the eye with her poisoned dinosaur tooth. It raises up, but then falls into the exploding geyser and is boiled to death.
Escape from Planet Earth!
The asteroid is nearly at impact. Mills and Koa stagger back to the escape pod, which is now the right way up for take-off. Mills starts it up and they launch, flying directly upwards as the asteroid heads down to the surface. As it hits they are too far up to be harmed. The computer states they are on course to meet their rescue vessel. Mills thinks back to that day at the beach with his daughter from the beginning of the film — Koa takes his hand and they smile at each other.
Down on Earth we see the planet burning, then charred remains, followed by nuclear winter. This turns to grasslands and then to fields with a gleaming city nearby.