A fact that may make me immediately lose credibility with you is that I’ve always been a bit disappointed by 1993’s “Jurassic Park.” Let me explain! Steven Spielberg’s film is an excellent sci-fi family adventure with some gripping sequences…but having read Michael Crichton’s book first (and always being more of a horrorhound than anything else), I wanted much more eviscerations and dismemberments while also heightening the terror of the situation. It would take 33 years, but that sense of gruesome brutality would be better fulfilled in 2026’s “The End of Oak Street” from David Robert Mitchell. No, it’s not a terrifying movie but there’s a lot more wanton destruction and death, with some mesmerizing set pieces that definitely play closer to horror than much of what’s in “Jurassic Park.” The film looks amazing, powered by a strong script and performances, but it ultimately felt like it was lacking something. Still, “The End of Oak Street” has so many effective moments and cool visuals that it’s worth checking out—especially for us genre kids that like things that skew a bit mean.
It’s a lovely summer day on Oak Street in 1982 Michigan. Families are out on the street with each other, playing games and enjoying food and more. Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway) is annoyed that her husband, Greg (Ewan McGregor), leaves the festivities to go deliver pizzas. Their daughter, Audrey (Maisy Stella), and son, Brian (Christian Convery), notice the mounting tension between them. All of that takes a backseat when, a few mornings later, the entire neighborhood finds itself seemingly transported back to prehistoric times. Surrounded by strange plants and massive creatures (who appear quite hungry), Platts must navigate this new terrain while dealing with their own issues and plotting some way to escape this impossible scenario.
I invoked Spielberg in the first paragraph not just because of the dinosaurs prevalent, but also because a lot of “The End of Oak Street” feels like something he would’ve produced through Amblin in the ‘80s or ‘90s. Something akin to “Poltergeist” or “Gremlins” where another filmmaker gets to be darker and crueler than the director usually is while also investigating the suburban family and Americana through a dark genre lens. The issues within the Platt family are almost boiling over, so this extraordinary event does more than enough to push them into the foreground. Mitchell has always been interested in this world—from “The Myth of the American Sleepover” to “It Follows” and even in “Under the Silver Lake.” Distinctly American tropes and traits are then funneled through genres to see how they bend and break and reveal what lies inside. The plight of the Platts is a great example of the American Dream in the suburbs curdling into a nightmare, first figuratively and then literally once the giant thunder lizards arrive and looking for a snack.
It’s a ridiculous premise that “The End of Oak Street” perfectly sells through the intensity of the cast, the savagery of events, and the incredible cinematography by Mike Gioulakis. Much will be made (fairly) of the dozens of split-diopter shots employed throughout the film, forcing two subjects to be given equal focus (literally) by the audience and thus creating an onscreen sense of tension and relationship. But there are a bunch more sequences that are impeccably staged with creatures just in the background or some horrific action happening in the peripheral that makes this feel like a genuinely dangerous situation where the humans are hopelessly outnumbered, outsized, and out of luck. Hathaway shines brightest in the cast, though all get moments to excel, and helps ground the preposterous events in a real sense of terror, helplessness, confusion, and anger. This helps make “The End of Oak Street” a propulsive watch that moves quickly, constantly engaging as it races to the end.
And yet, despite all the ways Mitchell’s film shines, something is amiss. I’ve wrestled with what it is and still can’t quite define it. Is it because of the ending which, while clever, feels like a bit of a deflation? Is it because the constant bickering of the parents, while palpably real, feels more like surface level tropes than earned grievances? Is it because the kids feel less like characters, due to their (entitled) youth and confusion, and more like plot contrivances in certain moments? Is it because there’s no real reason for it to take place in 1982 except for nostalgic purposes? None of these things really amount to much or truly derail “The End of Oak Street” (well, maybe that ending gripe…), and yet, for some reason, it never fully amazed or gripped me as much as it should have. It’s like a puzzling math equation where you know all the components and know the outcome, and yet it still doesn’t make sense because something is off.
Still, even with that mysterious lack of…something, “The End of Oak Street” is a thoroughly entertaining slice of genre throwback. Writer/director David Robert Mitchell continues to find bizarrely unique new ways to explore the American mythos while also creating something interesting and engaging. All departments do excellent work to coalesce into a dynamic movie that is emotionally true while also surprising in its narrative cruelty. It may be a film that’s not greater than the sum of its parts, but those parts remain magnificent and worthy of praise and attention.
3.5 / 5 Stars
Directed by: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis
