The End of Oak Street review

 

In the Eighties, when this movie is set, there was a phrase that said: “don’t bore us, get to the chorus” referring to those songs with short verses and memorable choruses and it is this sort of philosophy that The End of Oak Street follows. With as little a preamble as you need- though one that contains quite a lot of material - David Robert Mitchell’s film soon cuts to the chases and offers exciting set pieces and plenty of nerve-jangling action. Yes, it does share some dino DNA with the likes of successive Jurassic World films and also the tv show Primeval but has enough ingredients of its own to provide memorable moments and rekindle that feeling you would get watching a film as a kid. Come on, its dinosaurs running wild in Eighties America! How can you not enjoy that?

Raaarrrrghh. Spoilers lurk in this review...

 

It is 1982 and beneath the barbecue bonhomie on Oak Street the Platt’s marriage is tottering and their kids can see the signs. So it’s’ an edgy home though not without laughter as well as they keep up a front for their kids- who of course have noticed something is up. The marital differences do not seem unsurmountable despite Denise’s secretly in progress novel about a wife wanting to leave her family. A couple of odd happenings- a prehistoric plant springing up in someone’s garden and a pile of prehistoric poop appearing on the well manicure lawn of their neighbour Mel are overlooked in the business of life. He blames the latter on the Platt’s dog Starbuck. There are also strange bright lights and noises at night in the film’s most Spielbergian moments.

Then one morning the family awake to humid conditions and no power. Their entire neighbourhood has seemingly been lifted and plonked in a prehistoric jungle whose scaly inhabitants soon meander into town. It is a great premise built up without too much fanfare yet painted with authentic feeling period details and tones plus some cool niche needle drops to support.  After this we spend the time trying to avoid or fight off the varied dinosaurs and the film doesn’t hold back on serving a smorgasbord of the creatures, each with their own particular danger.

In this sort of scenario, casting is important and the film hits a bullseye with its choices. Ewan McGregor and Ann Hathaway play the parents (this makes me feel old) Greg and Denise Platt bringing their considerable experience to bear. He works part time as a pizza delivery driver but has kept from his wife that fact he’s been sacked from his regular job and there are allusions to a drink problem he had and may be relapsing back towards.  Denise also has her secret book which seems somewhat autobiographic despite her denials. Nonetheless a novel whose protagonist is considering leaving her family seems like a fiction symptomatic of her real feelings of frustration with her husband. What I like is the understated way this is treated, eschewing the sort of stand up rows fictional characters often have in such scenarios preferring to always underscore that they do still love each other underneath. 

Instead of just using their kids, Audrey and Brian, as victims to be rescued the narrative gives them plenty of proactive action playing on the fact they are already aware of their parents difficulties. Maisy Stella and Christian Convery are both excellent especially their ability to look genuinely scared yet also intuitive about what to do.  Without overplaying the family dynamic, the film successfully makes each of them three dimensional and interesting yet with economy, so you are rooting for them not to become dinosaur food!

Writer and director David Robert Mitchell cuts any potential fat from the story making the running time a sharp, lean ninety-nine minutes. Arguably it could be longer- strands involving a local bully and an eccentric neighbour suggest cut material- but Roberts uses the confined scenario really well. He always finds interesting ways to shoot the mismatched elements. So often the dinosaurs are scurrying in the background, or we might catch a glimpse of a tail or a spine. Sometimes when the main story is foregrounded, we might see someone being attacked in the background. The tone is often drawing on optimism that the family will survive this. Sure, the Spielberg influence is there (a chase on bikes, even!) but given the territory how could it not be yet there’s aspects that go in different directions. The nostalgia is present too but in a good way and perhaps that’s why dinosaurs playing havoc with that beloved decade is what gets us worried even more. Plus there is no time to admire these beasts from afar; they crash into the family’s everyday life too quickly for anyone to admire their presence. The priority is how they are going to stop being eaten.

Because we know what the antagonists are going to be, everything counts in the way they are introduced and the film does it superbly. Convincing photo realistic dinosaurs are familiar enough so what matters nowadays is what you do with them and Roberts captures their random ferocity and tenacious nature. The film ramps up tension in spades using the suburban locale effectively for numerous chases and a lot of jeopardy. We see more or less everything from the point of view of all or some of the Platt family, the narrative very rarely leaves them for a moment. Maybe this does make the estate seem somewhat underpopulated but glimpses of bodies lying about suggests less resourceful neighbours lack the survival instincts of this brood.

There are a lot of stand out moments, as the films relies on more than perilous chases and brings the hungry animals into houses as familiar interior decoration is ripped apart other times while outside characters struggle to find somewhere to escape. The absolute peak scene occurs near the end when the incidental music stops as something very large and slimy slithers into the house. Everyone is in imminent danger, but they are not even aware of their deadly invader until the very, very, very last moment. It’s a masterclass that surely would impress even Spielberg.

Though it’s a12A certificate, the film does have some brutal moments; as mentioned other inhabitants of Oak Street meet grisly deaths and one scene delivers a real, unexpected shock. I would say this is not a film to take very sensitive children to see. Yet often the camera cuts away from the goriest spectacle, preferring to show us the reactions of the main characters to sell it which they do really well. Michael Glacchino’s incidental music seems to be harking back to an even earlier time than the Eighties evoking those melodramatic scores used by fantasy films of the Fifties and Sixties, accentuating the scares and dangers. It’s probably the only score that can match the power of the rampaging dinosaurs!

Eventually the film needs to explain how this all came to happen or at least offer a potential way back and this too is handled deftly. Some may complain about the lack of detailed exposition but for the family a lot of scientific waffle is not going to interest them (or indeed us) they just want to find a way back. This does make them seem somewhat selfish and despite the apparent neighbourly atmosphere early on, hardly anybody goes to the rescue of anyone else and the Platts focus solely on their personal escape. Yet this means the tenson is always amped up to maximum. Their means of escape- a spherical portal of some kind- suggests that perhaps someone was thinking of a sequel but I quite like the fact that we don’t find out who created such an object or why.

The End of Oak Street is an exciting adventure thriller with scares and shocks but also a warmth and some humour too, all carried by a strong cast and exemplary special effects. Its real popcorn cinema to enjoy- and if there’s any spare portals I’m sure Eighties audiences would like it too!