The End of Oak Street Review
David Robert Mitchell conjures 1980s Amblin with The End of Oak Street, a family-in-trouble thriller where a suburban neighborhood suddenly finds itself among dinosaurs.
The End of Oak Street. Credit: Bad Robot / Warner Bros. Pictures
David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street isn’t what I would have expected from the writer-director who brought us the existential supernatural horror of It Follows and shaggy neo-noir Under the Silver Lake. His latest film is a summer popcorn blast and the best dinosaur flick since the original Jurassic Park.
Denise and Greg Platt (Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor) live an average though not uncomplicated, 1980s suburban life with their kids Brian (Christian Convery) and Audrey (Maisy Stella). Troublesome family dog, block parties, teenage bullies, squabbles with neighbors. A relationship on the brink. One night, in a flash of blinding light, their entire neighborhood is mysteriously transported through time. Normal worries suddenly pale next to having to survive hungry dinosaurs with no certain way back home.
Mitchell delivers a sci-fi thriller in the family-in-trouble mold of Poltergeist. It moves at a fast clip, with just the right combination of family drama, thrills, and comedy, propelled by killer visual effects and Michael Giacchino’s pitch-perfect score. The movie feels like something Steven Spielberg’s Amblin would have produced in the mid-1980s, complete with some excellent visual gags that would make Spielberg proud. Few movies capture that feeling; most end up as derivative, nostalgic imitations that miss the heart. I think this is something J.J. Abrams has been chasing his entire career, and he finally pulled it off as producer here.
The End of Oak Street. Credit: Bad Robot / Warner Bros. Pictures
Hathaway and McGregor’s performances elevate the movie beyond its action. Their characters are focused on survival, but the friction in their relationship remains palpable. The kids deal with their own emotional struggles while also feeling the friction between their parents. One of the film’s best qualities is that it doesn’t relegate the family drama or individual character development to the background. That makes the action feel more consequential; awaiting their fates becomes much more suspenseful because we care about them and aren’t sure whether any of the principals have plot armor going for them.
The action is staged dynamically without losing sight of character. Mitchell makes frequent use of split diopter shots—keeping foreground and background subjects sharp in the same frame—to heighten drama and suspense, even in quiet moments. It all makes for a visually striking, exciting movie without sacrificing the emotional stakes.
The End of Oak Street came as a complete surprise to me. I like David Robert Mitchell’s work, but the trailers for this movie left me unimpressed. I’m so glad I was wrong. This is one to see on the big screen, one of the best movies so far this year.
The End of Oak Street
The End of Oak Street feels like a lost Amblin film and is the best dino adventure since Jurassic Park.
David Robert Mitchell conjures 1980s Amblin with The End of Oak Street, a family-in-trouble thriller where a suburban neighborhood suddenly finds itself among dinosaurs.