In decades past, many of the most commercially successful films were totally original stories with a simple, attention-grabbing premise as a selling point: A killer shark terrorizes a town; a friendly alien visits some children in a quiet suburb; a teenager travels back in time to meet his parents when they were his age; a theme park brings dinosaurs back to life.
David Robert Mitchell’s “The End of Oak Street” is a deliberate and effective throwback to an era of high-concept films that dominated the box office from the 1970s to the 1990s, before sequels, remakes and superhero movies ruled the industry. Fittingly set in 1982, the story follows a family whose suburban town is mysteriously and instantly transported millions of years into the past, leaving them to fend for themselves against prehistoric predators.
The displacement forces Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg Platt (Ewan McGregor) to reckon with their already strained marriage. Denise quietly longs for an escape from suburbia and from her family, while Greg is content to bury their woes behind barbecues and booze. Upon leaving the house and finding bloodthirsty dinosaurs roving the streets, the couple must band together to protect their daughter, Audrey (Maisy Stella), and son, Brian (Christian Convery), from their horrifying new reality.
The bulk of the film plays out as a straightforward survival thriller with the best dinosaur action since Spielberg’s original “Jurassic Park” in 1993. As in that film, the numerous chases and narrow escapes serve to reflect and inform the characters’ relationships to one another. Amid all the CGI-rendered mayhem, Mitchell maintains a firm grasp on interpersonal dynamics, never allowing the spectacle to eclipse the subtler drama of a marital collapse or teenage angst.
While Greg urges the family to stay put and assures them that God will keep them safe, Denise rebukes his naivete and suggests going out to find supplies before other families do the same. The once-chummy, block-party-throwing neighborhood curdles into every-family-for-itself once the stakes turn real — a subtle but ever-present thread in Mitchell’s critique of the ugliness lurking beneath suburbia’s glossy exterior.
Mitchell’s penchant for deconstruction extends to the genre itself. While the Amblin homage is consistent and earnest, especially thanks to Michael Giacchino’s wonderfully hokey score, “The End of Oak Street” takes a much darker approach to the formula. The violence is bloodier and meaner than the picturesque opening would suggest, pushing the limits of the PG-13 rating. The warmth and familiarity of the opening lulls us into a sense of security that Mitchell gleefully rips away once the carnage ensues. Greg’s assurances are tested in ways the family never sees coming, and a shocking third-act turn upends the tone even further — a huge risk that ends up paying off enormously by the time the credits roll.
Tight pacing and strong visual direction serve the film extremely well. At 99 minutes, there’s never a boring moment or enough downtime to think too hard about the film’s sci-fi logic. Mitchell’s camerawork artfully evokes Spielberg and De Palma with some cleverly blocked long takes and an entire conversation scene shot with split diopters.
Performances are strong across the board, cultivating an earnest and tense atmosphere from an admittedly absurd premise. The film takes itself seriously enough for the horror and the stakes to feel viscerally real, especially during its cathartic conclusion. Hathaway is the clear standout, showcasing a compelling blend of warmth, resentment and badassery. Though never addressed directly, Denise is visibly more comfortable with a gun than Greg and spends most of the film wielding their only rifle.
There was a time when a tense, emotionally satisfying thriller built on one crazy premise — with a clean beginning, middle and end — was simply what a summer blockbuster was supposed to be. “The End of Oak Street” is a loving, at times gleeful throwback to that era, comfortable both aping its ancestors and quietly taking them apart. Fittingly, for a film about a neighborhood hurled back into prehistoric times, the movie seems just as happy dwelling in the past.
It’s easy to look at a trailer for a movie about a dinosaur-infested cul-de-sac and write the whole thing off as silly. But it’s really no sillier a premise than the next multiverse-hopping superhero crossover that audiences turn out for year after year. It’s the craftsmanship and execution that separate mindless studio fare from enduring classics. On that front, “The End of Oak Street” is a satisfying and at times daring descendant of a familiar tradition, sharpening its influences into something with real teeth.
