THE END OF OAK STREET
****
Directed by David Robert Mitchell.
Starring Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery.
Science-Fiction, US, 94 Minutes, Certificate 12A.
Released in the UK on August 14th by Warner Bros.
Eight years can feel like a lifetime, and to put it mildly a lot has happened since we last heard from writer David Robert Mitchell. While IT FOLLOWS immediately cemented his place in genre history with his haunting and terrifying take on teen horror tropes, his follow-up, UNDER THE SILVER LAKE received nowhere near as warm a welcome. Time however has been kind to that shaggy detective story starring Andrew Garfield, with a small cult following forming around it, appreciating and attuned to its off kilter, freeform storytelling. Mitchell’s absence from filmmaking since then has only deepened the allure of these films, and also created a kind of mysterious aura around him like he was going to become some sort of genre friendly Terrence Malick. The news that he was actually coming back with a long rumoured 80’s set dinosaur movie seemed too good to be true, the kind of film that was destined to end up on several Best Films Never Made lists and articles. Sometimes good things can happen and we actually get to see what a summer blockbuster from the man who gave us STD ghosts actually looks like.
At first, Mitchell’s distinctive voice seems absent in the early stages of this comeback vehicle. Like every other 80’s set movie or series, the screen is packed with familiar tunes, period details and pop culture references that everything else is threatened to be drowned out. We quickly learn the family dynamics of husband and wife Greg (McGregor) and Denise (Hathaway) and how they are trying to hide the fact of their crumbling marriage from their teenage children Audrey (Stella) and Brian (Convery), who both have their own busy lives to get through each with their own specific adolescent angst. While strange lights through the night seem to herald strange objects and events appearing in the titular neighbourhood, no-one is prepared for the heavy storm that transports the whole neighbourhood back to the prehistoric age. Baseball bats, handguns, and sledgehammers offer next to no protection against the host of creatures big and small who now find themselves roaming around the backyards, driveways and rooftops of Oak Street. All the while Denise and Greg try to put on a brave face for their children while considering that there may be no way back to the twentieth century.
It is the main body of the film that Mitchell’s voice comes into full effect, to greatly entertaining effect. There are a number of setpieces here that display his skills as well as any of the great blockbuster directors of that much hallowed decade. It is also safe to say that this is the most thrilling dinosaur film since Spielberg’s first journey to JURASSIC PARK, making the variety of creatures on display here actually look and feel dangerous in a way that they rarely feel now. For a 12A/PG-13 movie there is some truly gnarly and haunting imagery of cast members we met earlier being chewed apart on neatly manicured lawns, while the narrative holds some excellently executed sucker-punches that carry more emotional heft than your usual summer effects driven flick.
The film moves like a rocket through this section, yet at the same time Mitchell shows his aptitude for looking into the interior lives of his teenage protagonists. Although Valerie by Steve Winwood is an absolute banger of a tune you would not expect it to soundtrack one of the most touching and refined scenes of the year, expertly painting the helplessness of Audrey’s situation at the prospect of her life and the course she wanted it to take being ripped away from her. Christian Convery, last seen playing twins to great effect in THE MONKEY, also impresses here in his own struggles with adapting to his new life. In comparison, McGregor slightly struggles but makes the most of his role as a likable but meek figure, especially against Hathaway, continuing her pretty successful summer blockbuster run, who refreshingly takes on the harder edges that are needed to survive and protect her family against all the flesh eating creatures that are trying to ram their way through the doors and windows.
Much more than an 80’s/Amblin throwback, the film impresses and thrills for the most part, making dinosaurs scary and otherworldly once more. One sequence set within the family house echoes IT FOLLOWS with a creature approaching its potential victims silently from behind to skin crawling effect before erupting into primal violence. It is this mixture of slickly executed spectacle and quiet, sometimes intense, character driven moments that make this one of the more entertaining blackbusters of the year, especially in comparison to Spielberg’s bloated and underwhelming DISCLOSURE DAY. The slack beginning and slightly sanitised ending however stop this from being the unqualified success that we wanted from Mitchell’s long awaited comeback. However there is a lot here to enjoy, including maybe the last thing you ever expected to see in a mostly family friendly blockbuster, that signals that his even longer in the offering sequel THEY FOLLOW is going to be worth the wait.
Iain MacLeod