The End of Oak Street - An Amazing and Intense Sci-fi Survival Thriller Movie

As I said in my earlier post, my wife and I decided at the last minute to buy tickets for Wednesday's show despite having advance ticket sale last week. It was due to the schedule in the same cinema we were going for another movie was only available on that day. The timing was just nice as it played half hour after the first film finished. OK then, I'll just get right on with this movie.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 1982, the Platt family that consisted of Denise (Anne Hathaway - The Odyssey,  The Hustle etc), her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor - Birds of Prey, Moulin Rouge! etc) who was working part time delivering pizzas and their two children the teenager Audrey (Maisy Stella - My Old Ass, Nashville TV series etc) and her younger brother Brian (Christian Convery - Sweet Tooth TV series, Playing With Fire etc) were just one of the regular families living in Oak Street.

Their normal life though was disrupted when strange phenomenon started to occur in the neighborhood and culminated in a sudden change overnight where prehistoric creatures began to appear. With large danger looming, the family had to survive while trying to figure out how to save their lives.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

To be honest, I did not have any knowledge what this movie was all about. I only saw it was produced by J. J. Abrams the person behind many wonderful sci-fi movies like 2009 Star Trek, Star Wars episode 7-8, Super 8 and series such as Felicity, Lost and others. That was sufficient to make me intrigued to watch, plus of course the well known lead stars. Anyway while waiting for the studio doors to open, my wife only spotted the poster which showed a dinosaur head that got me pretty excited. Before the film started, the Indonesian censorship body brief message showed it was for all ages which made us think it would be some fun adventure movie. Once we reached certain moment in the movie though we were quite shocked and thought it was definitely not for kids. Both of us were convinced the categorization was wrong especially when we found out it was for PG-13 in the US.

Anyway the movie was very intense and there was a lot of suspenseful moments. Though there were few dramatic scenes that funnily enough reminded us about another survival movie we saw just last week on Netflix (also consisted of family of four trapped in their own house), it had plenty of scenes that make us strapped to our seat due to the suspense. The chasing scenes were amazingly done and the special effects were awesome. Only thing that would make me more satisfied was the brightness which could have been enhanced. Not sure if it was only at the studio that we saw this (which I think was unlikely) or it was because the movie makers purposely did that. However the sound system was very good even though it was not Dolby Atmos and added to the element of enjoyment. My wife got surprised few times because of the great sound effects in the cinema.

Now the story was not very complicated and pretty easy to comprehend. But the greatest thing was the shocking scene before the climax that we really did not see coming and the great ending. Both of us really loved it and thought it showed how intelligent the story was told. I really admired the writer & director David Robert Mitchell whose prior works were not that many but included the highly rated It Follows and the more mixed received Under the Silver Lake. And since it was not adapted from anything, it made me more in awe of his creativity. I am sure that after this movie which I think would be pretty successful in term of Box Office (plus critics were impressed too), it would make him in a better spotlight & probably would be trusted to make more in near future. 

The cast I thought were pretty decent in their performance. Anne Hathaway has had a very productive year as this became her fourth movie released this year (another one scheduled in October). Other than the four names above, there were also support cast such as P. J. Byrne (Countdown, The Rainmaker mini series etc) as Platt's neighbor Mel, Emily Kuroda (The Power TV series etc) as librarian Mrs. Valcourt, Jordan Alexa Davis (Defending Jacob mini series etc) as Jeanette and few others in minor roles. Btw the movie had a duration of 99 minutes which included the closing credits but without any mid or post end credit scene. Although it might not seem like long but the consistent intensity made this movie did not feel too short. I also liked the early 1980s setting which was convincingly created by the crews.

Overall my wife and I were delighted to have seen this movie. It was exactly the kind of movie that we really enjoyed with its constant suspense, the curiosity of how it would end, the shocking twist and an awesome satisfying ending. The wonderful special effects and the good performance of its cast certainly helped in making this one entertaining. So if you are looking for an exciting, intense sci-fi survival movie then I am sure you would enjoy this one just like we did. Just remember not to trust the Indonesian censorship body as I do not believe young kids are suitable to see this. Obviously if you do not care, then the choice is certainly yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars