Suspend disbelief, grab some popcorn and enjoy the chaos. The End of Oak Street becomes much more fun that way, shares Mayur Sanap.
Key Points
- David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) directs this dinosaur-filled adventure.
- Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor play a struggling couple trying to protect their children.
- The End of Oak Street has dodgy science but it works best when you stop questioning the logic.
The End of Oak Street opens with pleasant visuals of a suburb, with everyone in the neighbourhood enjoying a fun weekend. This scene unfolds with the feeling that something is waiting to go very, very wrong.
It plays out much like the opening sequence from The Quiet Place Part IIwhere a perfectly normal neighbourhood is going about its day before something sinister strikes.
In that film, the aliens bring menace. Here, strange creatures, including dinosaurs, resurface, as the entire neighbourhood turns into a prehistoric landscape.
There is no real logic to why it happens or why it happens precisely in this neighbourhood. And the film does not seem terribly bothered by that. There is something nicely old-school about The End of Oak Street and the way the story unfolds with a touch of fantasy adventure. The retro setting only adds to that warm, nostalgic feel.
Mix of Themes In The End of Oak Street
The story follows the Platt family.
As the chaos begins, Denise (Anne Hathaway) and her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor) are thrown into it before they can even understand what is happening. The neighbourhood slowly turns into a deadly playground for dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, and it is up to the couple to protect their children Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery) while surviving the danger.
Much like The Quiet Place films, there is a familiar family-bonding theme amid all the chaos. But instead of staying dark and gloomy, Director David Robert Mitchell gives this story an adventurous edge, which makes the whole enterprise far more enjoyable.
Mitchell, who has also scripted the film, uses small spaces in creative ways to create tension as demonstrated in his earlier indie horror It Follows. A suburban house, a backyard, a narrow passage, or even the initial tease of the creatures, Mitchell’s horror instincts are visible in the way he builds dread and stages certain attacks. It becomes this fun romp that entertains you, shocks you and, at times, genuinely scares you.
There’s also this surprising emotional layer to the story.
Instead of showing Platt as one happy family, we quickly learn that Greg and Denise are going through a rocky phase in their marriage, and the children are also aware their parents are struggling. When the neighbourhood suddenly turns into a danger zone, the family has to find its way back to each other while everything around them is falling apart. This gives the otherwise zany premise a surprisingly effective emotional hook.
The End of Oak Street Is Not Perfect
There is also something humorous about the way the chaos unfolds, and despite its people-in-danger theme, the film embraces the absurdity of it all. The Spielberg influence is obvious, but Mitchell adds enough of his own oddball horror touch to keep it from feeling like a straight Jurassic Park imitation.
But then there are the questions. The ones that leave you a little annoyed, much like those Chris Pratt-starrer Jurassic World films.
You wonder why do some of these characters make such dumb decisions when there are clearly better alternatives? The kids behave exactly like kids in these kinds of survival films always do, and the adults also make some equally questionable choices.
Then comes the wormhole science, which is thrown around without ever making much sense. The ending creates even more logical problems.
But perhaps that is the bargain The End of Oak Street wants you to make. Because for the most part, the film knows exactly what it wants to be and steers confidently within its brisk 90-min runtime.
Thankfully, the performances are enjoyable enough to suck you into this strange fantasy world, and that works well within its perfect adventure-fun framework. Just suspend disbelief, grab some popcorn and enjoy the chaos. The film becomes much more fun that way.
And with Anne Hathaway once again gracing our screens, what is there not to love?
The End of Oak Street Review Rediff Rating:
