The Dog Stars Review

Sir Ridley Scott may be approaching 90 years of age, but he is still one of the most prolific Hollywood directors. He enters the world of post-apocalyptic drama with an adaptation of Peter Heller’s novel The Dog Stars.

In the near future, humanity has been devastated by a pandemic. Hig (Jacob Elordi), an optimistic pilot and mechanic, and Bangley, a cynical survivalist, live on a compound near Denver. When Hig goes on a flight, he hears a message and believes it could be a sign of civilisation. After a raid by some Reapers, Hig leaves the compound in search of the source of the radio message.

The post-apocalyptic has been ever-present. There have been many ways writers and directors have envisioned how civilisation would end, and how people would survive. The novel was well received by critics, but the adaptation was unremarkable; it went over familiar territory for a post-apocalyptic drama. There were abandoned, damaged cities, bandits roaming around the wilderness, some people attempting to restart civilisation, and characters thinking about their lives before the apocalypse.

The Dog Stars opens with Hig going around Denver with his dog, making it feel like the Will Smith adaptation of I Am Legend, which was iconic because Scott did develop an I Am Legend film in the ‘90s. The message from survivors was similar to 28 Days Later and the fourth season of The Walking Dead. Hig heard a warning that the Reapers were roaming the area and killing everyone they came across. The Reapers were tattooed and topless like they were from Mad Max or Doomsday, but in a more grounded drama. The Dog Stars inciting incident involved a dog, which made it a little like another grounded Mad Max-like film, The Rover. Due to the location and people like Bangley and Pops (Guy Pearce) trying to protect their homesteads from the hordes, The Dog Stars had a modern Western feel.

People in The Dog Stars have suffered, but it was nowhere as bleak as other post-apocalyptic films. The only thing it had in common with The Road was the use of Coca-Cola. The film turned incredibly twee when Hig visited a Mennonite community because of how much the children idealise him. They even gave him a colourful drawing.

From a technical standpoint, there was nothing to complain about. Scott has proven time and again that he’s a great visualist, and the world of the film felt lived-in. The cinematography was excellent, especially in the Italian mountains, which stood in for the Rocky Mountains. It was an action-light film, but the few sequences were well done. The most notable was when Bangley had to fend off a band of Reapers at night. There were POV shots from Bangley’s night vision goggles, which made this sequence feel like a Call of Duty game.

Nor was there any issue with the cast. The Dog Stars had top-tier talent. Elordi is on the rise because of his roles in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. He was playing a handy everyman who was racked with guilt. The most notable members of the cast were Josh Brolin and Allison Janney. Brolin was playing a gruff mentor, a similar role to what he did in the Dune movies. Janney dominated in her small role as the leader of a community, although she felt like she came from another film.

Whilst The Dog Stars looked and acted the part, it was an empty film. It was less than two hours, and it felt underdeveloped. This was most notable when a trio of characters find Allison Janney’s community. The film was trying to turn into a Bong Joon Ho satire since the residents lived in opulence. It was the only time that the film felt like it was trying to point, but it was too fleeting and underdeveloped. This part of The Dog Stars was devoid from the rest of the film. The Dog Stars ended up being in purgatory because it wasn’t thrilling enough to be a blockbuster but lacking in substances to be an awards contender.

Scott has been considered a pioneer of the director’s cut; many of his films have received a director’s cut, and it wouldn’t be surprising if The Dog Stars gets a director’s cut when the home release happens. Whilst I haven’t read the novel, I expect it was more thorough and detailed.

The Dog Stars was a lightweight offering in the post-apocalyptic genre. It had few original ideas to make it stand out, leading it to disappear in the myriad that this genre has to offer.