65 Is Giving Viewers Total The Last Of Us Vibes
Some viewers think that Adam Driver's sci-fi dinosaur bonanza "65" is taking a page out of "The Last of Us”" playbook.
Recent years have been extremely kind to Naughty Dog's PlayStation exclusive "The Last of Us." After the first game was released to critical acclaim in 2013, a sequel was commissioned in 2020, which received even more rapturous applause. An HBO adaptation of the franchise was later green-lit, an effort that has since resulted in high viewership and overwhelmingly positive reviews. The post-apocalyptic franchise continues to be one of the most popular in the world, persisting across several mediums. Because of how inescapable it is, viewers are seeing shades of "The Last of Us" in other properties.
Take the Sam Raimi-produced "65" for instance, which sees Mills (Driver), a pilot, marooned on a prehistoric planet, where he protects a young girl (Ariana Greenblatt) from the nefarious, dinosaur-dominated environment. Does it sound similar to "The Last of Us," which focuses on Joel taking the young Ellie on a journey across post-apocalyptic America?
After seeing the sci-fi horror flick, one user on Twitter went ahead and dubbed "65" as "TLOU: Dino Edition." In a negative review of the film, user @liamdeb described the dino romp as being "like 'The Last Of Us' but with Adam Driver in dad mode, bad cgi dinosaurs and a sleep inducing plot." While viewers are definitely seeing similarities between the two properties, some are going even deeper, wondering just how deep the rabbit (or dinosaur) hole goes.
65 features the same tropes as The Last of Us
One fan is all but convinced that "65" is directly influenced by "The Last of Us." Taking to Twitter, @aurorejiud directly compared Adam Driver's Mills character to "TLOU'" Joel Miller, the lead in the first part of the franchise. "Yeah sorry but now I am SURE #65movie got inspired by 'The Last of Us' with protective girldad VS evil monsters," noting how similar both character/protector's names are. In a separate tweet, the user put forward their own unique theory which ties both sci-fi works together. "Already the story with protective girldad gave me a lot of 'Last of Us' vibes," they wrote. "But then I see that Chloe Coleman is in '65' too and she looks so much like Sarah Miller in 'Last of Us; HBO!"
Others, however, don't think "65" is inherently a rip-off of "The Last of Us." Rather, the film is just another sci-fi effort that plays around with the trope of an older father-like figure finding someone new to care for on a perilous journey. "#65Movie is a simple but fun sci-fi romp with good Dinosaur scares & Adam Driver following the 'Father involuntarily adopts a child' mold," wrote user @tyler_freshcorn.
"The Last of Us'" Joel isn't the first fictional character who has ever had to take care of a young child in a chaotic landscape and he certainly won't be the last. Viewers have seen this exact trope many times before in shows like "The Mandalorian," "Game of Thrones," and films like "Logan" and "Man on Fire." However, as the HBO adaptation continues to dominate, it's hard not to see the similarities between the PlayStation franchise and new projects like "65," which play up those exact parental tropes.