The End Of Oak Street Review

Introduction (Warning Contains Spoilers)

It is hard to think of a film concept that is more intriguing than The End of Oak Street. A sleepy suburban neighborhood vanishes from the world that we know today, and it emerges in an environment that is unknown to us, prehistoric times.

Dinosaur creatures now walk around the same spot where our neighbors used to live. David Robert Mitchell‘s movie has a great deal of potential in many areas.

It includes elements of sci-fi, horror, family story, and dinosaurs. And filmmaker J. J. Abrams is one of the producers.

The End of Oak Street attempts to convey a story of a family in turmoil; it attempts to create an intriguing mystery within the genre of science fiction; it even attempts to become a movie about the survival of dinosaurs.

There are some good moments when all those aspects come together perfectly. Regrettably, they do not always come together.

The movie features Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, and Christian Convery as the members of the family known as the Platts, who are already having a difficult time even before things change.

The troubles of the family get even more challenging as they get transported to an unknown universe along with their community.

On paper, this makes for an excellent start to any film. The issue here is the time devoted to setting up the family before anything extraordinary happens.

The beginning of the film seems slow and too reminiscent of a family soap opera.

When the dinosaurs finally appear on screen, the audience’s reaction should be one of awe and amazement.

However, what I felt was how much sooner the film should have gotten to this point. The slow build-up leaves less impact when the sci-fi element of the film comes into play.

This is disappointing since the main theme itself is quite fascinating. The directors have set up a scenario which has the potential to be a great survival story.

This suburb neighborhood has turned into a small island in another world. All elements of familiarity have been stripped away from their surroundings.

A Strong Visual Identity

In terms of visual appeal, The End of Oak Street is very effective indeed. It seems evident that director David Robert Mitchell knows well how to establish the appropriate atmosphere.

The film possesses an unmistakable style of 1980s films which permeates the entire production.

The setting gives the impression of something from those years right away. The houses, interior designs, clothes, cars, objects, and technology all help to make it seem realistic.

The film is not just a contemporary film posing as being set many years ago.

That makes all the difference. Mitchell is not just re-creating an age. He is re-creating the experience of the films from that era.

There is a sense of classic science fiction and adventure films in every frame of this production. It often seems like a new take on a classic genre film.

Here the connection to It Follows becomes particularly fascinating. Mitchell’s previous film utilized familiar American suburbs as well.

These locations seemed unremarkable, yet somehow there was always something off about them. The End of Oak Street builds on that experience.

Rather than just making one suburban street creepy, Mitchell makes the whole neighborhood creepy. Things that were once familiar quickly become unfamiliar.

One of the best concepts in the movie is the visual contrast. We associate safety with the idea of knowing what is surrounding the house.

Now add some prehistoric flora next to the house and things have changed. Next, add a dinosaur next to the house and you have turned something mundane into something extraordinary.

The result is that the movie has some effective images. It is not just the case of creatures being put against some generic backgrounds in digital form. They appear within a space that people can actually recognise.

Michael Gioulakis’ Cinematography

Cinematographer Michael Gioulakis makes a significant contribution to the realization of this visual approach.

Gioulakis has already collaborated with Mitchell on movies such as It Follows and Under the Silver Lake.

The partnership between Mitchell and Gioulakis ensures that there is visual consistency with the director’s previous films.

The cinematography allows breathing space for the environment. Wide compositions let us see the character within the environment. This works particularly well once the prehistoric setting becomes dominant.

One can get an impression that any area of the frame may become dangerous. The viewers do not know what threatens them and cannot be directed to it at once.

This allows enough room for people to have a look around themselves and experience some kind of tension because of that.

In addition, such style fits the overall theme of the movie as well. The characters are unfamiliar with their new surroundings, which the viewers should feel too.

The graininess of the film is yet another element to point out. The picture looks somewhat old and textured. This texture helps underline the link between the film and its genre predecessors.

In my opinion, this particular aspect is very useful for the film as it helps keep it from looking too perfect.

It would be easy to imagine a contemporary sci-fi action film with an incredibly clean digital look. This particular movie, however, looks rather tactile.

This texture is also useful as it makes the film more coherent in some ways. The suburban and prehistoric scenes have the same photographic identity.

The reason why this becomes so important is that the premise requires a huge visual leap. We go from realistic suburbs to prehistoric fantasies. The cinematography does its best to make this jump easier for us.

Another case when Mitchell uses such effects as split-diopter compositions, which help keep all elements in the frame clear. This makes viewers pay attention not only to one part of the picture.

This effect becomes very helpful for a film in which danger may appear at any moment. There can be something important happening behind the actors’ backs without attracting their immediate attention. The environment becomes alive instead of becoming mere decorations.

Thus, Gioulakis brings much more to the film than just beautiful pictures. His cinematography contributes to the creation of the visual language of the film.

The Visual Effects

The effects in the movie are just as ambitious. The process of creating the prehistoric environment on top of the existing suburban neighborhood is a huge challenge for the film. The film needs to make creatures, environment and humans cohabit in the same space.

The effects are very convincing at their best. In general, the dinosaurs seem to be the true inhabitants of the environment. The scale of their presence seems very convincing.

The environment seems even more impressive. The prehistoric plants and large landscapes serve to transform the neighborhood.

The characters really seem to be stuck somewhere where they shouldn’t be.

Nonetheless, the effects are not always consistent. There are moments when the digital environment becomes less convincing. The massive prehistoric snake is most definitely the clearest example.

This creature does not always seem to be scary; sometimes, it seems too artificial. The creature’s movements can reveal the digital effects of the film. There are times when the creature seems to be too much visual effect.

The look of the film helps to conceal some of the flaws. The use of grain, shadows, atmosphere, flora and motion can help in hiding some of the digital animals. The illusion becomes more difficult to maintain as the animals gain better perspectives.

In summary, I would say that the visual effects in the film are quite ambitious and impressive at times.

A Story That Takes Too Long to Arrive

However, the biggest flaw is still the story. The first part takes too much time for developing the problems that the Platt family encounters. It is a good idea, although the way it is done is quite repetitive.

There is a daughter who studies and loves astrology in the family. There is a son who experiences problems at home and in school. There are parents with problems in the marriage and other issues.

This background would be a perfect base for emotions. Unfortunately, several of these topics seem to appear in the film without being developed thoroughly. Some ideas are raised, but they do not receive the necessary conclusions.

Some of the story lines seem to be unnecessary. They look as if they are going to lead somewhere, but then their importance proves to be rather limited. Thus, the first part appears to be longer than it should be.

The problem is not that there is family drama in the movie. The family drama can make the survival story much stronger.

However, the movie puts too much effort on it before the survival story actually starts.

What I expected is the extraordinary events triggering the emotions of the family. The movie spends quite a lot of time on developing them before.

As a result, the appearance of dinosaurs does not change the rhythm of the movie significantly. It just changes the genre of it.

The movie appears to be stuck somewhere between being a family drama, horror film, and science fiction adventure film. The good thing is that there are times when each film type succeeds.

It becomes more obvious in the quiet scenes where everything becomes slow, even though the performances by the actors are perfect. It makes one wait until something happens.

This is really a pity because the premise of the movie is really solid enough to sustain the movie. The directors really did not have to spend so much time building up the family’s problems.

Performances

All the performances from the principal cast members are good. Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, and Christian Convery get the mood well. There isn’t any performance which makes the movie a failure.

This is an accomplishment that should not be downplayed. The characters find themselves in an intrinsically implausible scenario.

They must respond to dinosaurs and space-related events in ways that do not make the movie appear absurd.

The actors tend to accomplish this task quite well. When their characters are scared, it seems like a plausible reaction. When things start to become frantic, they rarely come across as overacting.

Arguably, Anne Hathaway gets the most character development. There is more scope for her character to grow throughout the film. This provides more material for Hathaway than some of her co-stars.

Ewan McGregor is also good, although I wanted more from his character. McGregor is a very capable dramatic actor. His role sometimes feels less developed than his performance deserves.

Maisy Stella is similarly effective. Her character has potential, but the screenplay does not always give her enough to explore. The same applies to Christian Convery.

Both of these younger actors do a good job establishing this family. Their acting makes the situation seem more realistic.

Also, their performances can convey the sense of fear of being stuck in an alien environment.

The problem, however, is not with the cast; the problem is with the screenplay that surrounds the cast. Great actors can only do so much when the characters have not been developed.

It is especially evident in the slow parts of the film. The actors give the necessary emotion but some scenes simply lack any momentum.

When the Film Finally Works

The best part about The End of Oak Street comes from the point that the movie actually starts working on its premise.

The survival scenes feel a lot more energized. The whole movie gains confidence once the characters are under actual threat.

It was in the final third where I could see clearly that this is the kind of film that it could be. There’s a connection between the family dynamics and the survival situation; their relationships matter because their lives depend on their collaboration.

This is the kind of film that I would have wanted to see from the start. The family drama works better when put into an intense situation; their arguments have weight beyond just family disputes.

The film becomes far more engaging as the prehistoric era comes into the spotlight. There is more urgency and more imagination. At last, the film seems like the wild adventure it set out to be.

That makes the earlier pacing issues even more annoying. The film manages to prove just how exciting it could have been. It just took far too long to get there.

What Works and What Does Not

The most successful aspect of the film is definitely the premise. The notion of merging the suburbs of America with the prehistoric era is rather daring.

It allows the film directors to create spectacle, build suspense, have fun, and create some great stories.

Another strong aspect of the film is the visual identity of the movie. The film has a very thoughtful eighties aesthetic rather than a cheap one.

And lastly, but certainly not least, the cast is deserving of credit as well. All four actors – Hathaway, McGregor, Stella, and Convery – all play a major part in making the unbelievable situation seem believable. Their acting skills are not the reason that this film fails for me.

However, the major drawback of this film is the fact that there is an imbalance between the family drama and the science fiction aspect of the story.

The family drama receives more attention throughout the film than the amazing premise of the film does.

This is a huge mistake because it is the science fiction aspect of the film that sets it apart from many other family dramas. It should be the main driving force for the emotional aspect of the film.

In this case, the science fiction events become more of a side note to the drama that takes place in the family. There is a much better story that lies beneath this movie.

These issues might have been discovered in the course of the survival experience. The prehistoric era could have brought the characters to realize what is really important.

This would have helped the emotional content appear more genuine. It would have also enabled the movie to reach its main idea much sooner.

Final Verdict

Overall, The End of Oak Street is more frustrating than bad. There is simply too much talented individuals involved with this movie to dismiss it entirely.

The idea behind this movie is fantastic, and the way in which it has been visualized has to be acknowledged.

David Robert Mitchell definitely knows how to direct. The film boasts great cinematography by Michael Gioulakis. Production design and costumes perfectly capture the period.

Visually effects are also good enough to create a believable prehistoric environment. While they fail to cope with more complex creatures, everything else seems to be very realistic.

As with the visual department, the acting is solid. Hathaway gets perhaps the best character development, but the whole cast tries their best to make this unique story believable.

Unfortunately, the screenplay fails to keep up with the premise. The slow start makes the movie seem more dramatic than it has to be. Several themes have been introduced but not developed.

The movie suffers from the issue of genre balance. It tries to be a family drama, a sci-fi thriller, a horror movie, and a dinosaur adventure. At certain points in the movie, some of these genres fight against each other.

While watching, I wondered what kind of a movie the filmmaker could have made. In the final act, you can see hints of this movie that could have been made.

You can see that the family drama part could have been done so effectively in connection with survival.

What I mean is that The End of Oak Street needed to believe in its own premise and create something truly unique. It often fails to do that and returns to the safe family drama ground.

It doesn’t mean that The End of Oak Street is a failure. There are many things to praise in the movie – from its visual style and performances to its interesting premise and concept.

However, my impression after watching the film is that its best parts were never combined properly. All the pieces are there, but not always in the right place.

The most disappointing thing about The End of Oak Street is the way dinosaurs and all the sci-fi elements serve second-rate material in the movie. It should have been its main core.

The End of Oak Street is an ambitious film that has a truly fantastic premise and many amazing scenes.

This film also has a very distinctive visual style and great performances. However, the slow melodrama prevents this film from being even more effective.

There are times when the movie turns into the kind of a movie I wanted to watch from the beginning. These moments are enough to prove that the idea was right.