Much like Jacob Elordi’s protagonist Hig, flying around in his Cessna in search of belonging in this forsaken world, The Dog Stars can feel quite aimless.
Though its concept is not unlike that of more popular fare such as The Last of Us, I Am Legend, or 28 Days Later, Ridley Scott’s newest adaptation project never feels like it finds itself amongst its odd pacing and repetitive plotting. The Dog Stars still manages to combine post-apocalyptic tension with loss, romance, manipulation, and bravery, but never manages to get any of these ideas off the ground to feel like anything is truly soaring.
After the world has been desolated by a plague, The Dog Stars follows Hig (Jacob Elordi) as he searches for the source of a mysterious radio transmission he hears while flying in his plane one day. In between his expeditions, Hig helps out on a Mennonite farm run by Aaron (Benedict Wong) along with an outpost held by Bangley (Josh Brolin), a man who seems to thrive in the survivalist state of the world.
By Hig’s side is Jasper, his beloved pup companion with whom Elordi has an unmatched chemistry. I will warn sensitive viewers, however, that Jasper is not long for this movie. If dog death in film affects you deeply, I may recommend a different movie. Still, the loss that affects Hig carries through the rest of his journey and is very present on Elordi’s perfectly sculpted sad face. With certainly less to live for, Hig sets out to the skies.
The real meat of the story kicks in once Hig’s plane crashes near the home of Cima (Margaret Qualley) and her father Pops (Guy Pearce). As Hig begins to pick up the pieces, he finds a kindred spirit in this family dynamic and a romantic connection to Cima. It’s a bit obvious, with the two most attractive people in this apocalyptic world getting together, though never quite gets to a point of longing to where the audience feels it too. It instead feels expected and traditional, so we just roll with it as opposed to it feeling like any genuine connection.
What usually helps to drive the intensity of post-apocalyptic stories like this is the presence of an enemy faction or entity working to thwart our heroes. While The Dog Stars certainly has this in the form of a chaotic and ravenous gang called The Reapers, the conflict of outside forces is never quite the focus of this devastation. Scott gives these few action sequences a lot of care and entertainment value, but it always feels very external to the story as opposed to a clear driver. At first, I was impressed with this decision as an attempt to let us simmer with these characters in this bleak world, but by its end had me wishing for something more exciting and as something to heighten the stakes.
Where The Dog Stars does find success is as this strange mix of an apocalyptic western. The emphasis of on-location shooting turning the rural mountain of Italy into the mountain west of the United States settles us into this mountainous setting fraught with both beauty and unseen peril. This story of a rough, able, yet dangerous man traveling from settlement to settlement as a drifter is quite akin to those sand-blasted classics of John Ford and Sergio Leone. Though, once it makes its third act departure, this idea is sort of left behind. While I can’t speak for how the book this is based off is tailored, I was wishing Scott had the gumption to twist these genres into something surprisingly unique and effective. Unfortunately, that’s not what this ends up being.
While not landing as a total failure, I have a feeling this won’t be lauded as the grand return of Ridley Scott. This regrettably feels much more like a studio creation than anything with true directorial authority, which is why it lands as so forgettable.
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