It’s a bit odd that The Dog Stars, the newest film by legendary director Ridley Scott, is coming out in the dog days (pun intended) of summer. At least until you see the movie and discover that the big post-apocalyptic adventure by the Oscar-winning director of Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, and The Martian is a mess.
The Dog Stars features Jacob Elordi as Hig, an isolated mechanic and pilot who scavenges for supplies in the ruins of Colorado, following a pandemic that contributed to the collapse of civilization. He and his partner in survival Bangley (Josh Brolin) don’t have the closest relationship. Instead, Hig’s truest companions are his loyal dog Jasper and his memories of his deceased wife.
Desperate for a little hope in the bleakness of this world, Hig leaves Bangley behind in search of other survivors, encountering Cima (Margaret Qualley) and her father (Guy Pearce), who are also doing their best to live a pioneer life, essentially. But folks like Cima and Pops are rarities in this world, which is otherwise consumed by warring tribes of unhinged raiders. (One particularly fearsome group is either painted or tattooed with symbols that bear a striking resemblance to the art of Keith Haring. No explanation is provided.)
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While technically set in the future, The Dog Stars is perhaps the closest Scott has ever come to directing a Western — just another genre to add to his extremely eclectic filmography. What also makes his filmography so eclectic, though, is the range in quality: For every Alien or Thelma & Louise, there’s a Exodus: Gods and Kings, or a Hannibal, or a Prometheus… This was best exemplified in 2021, when both The Last Duel (arguably one of his better films) and House of Gucci (inarguably his campiest) were both released within months of each other.
The difference, this critic humbly feels, is the screenplays he works with. When Scott is paired with a great screenwriter, like Callie Khouri or Drew Goddard, the end result is triumphant. But his incredible gift for craftsmanship too often isn’t enough to overcome the weaknesses of a substandard script (like, say, the one for Gladiator II). Only once has a Ridley Scott movie been nominated for Best Picture or Best Director at the Oscars without the screenplay for the movie also being nominated (2001’s Black Hawk Down) — Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, and The Martian were all recognized for their writing.
Mark L. Smith, who adapted The Dog Stars for the screen, has some decent credits to his name, including The Revenant and The Boys in the Boat. But unfortunately, his approach to this story is a tonal mishmash that becomes equally mishmashy on the screen in Scott’s hands.
The Dog Stars (20th Century Studios)
This really stands out when the movie, otherwise a pretty straightforward survival story, takes a sharp detour into a whole different movie… or really, video game/TV franchise. Ever wonder what Fallout would be like if it starred Allison Janney? The Dog Stars is here to provide pretty much literally that.
It’s also the sort of movie where if you’re paying close attention, you might pick up on some pretty significant continuity errors. At one point in the movie, a herd of bison nearly trample Hig’s plane, and in the process manage to detach one of the flaps from a wing. Except after the stampede, the flap has miraculously returned to its normal status. There’s also one sequence where it’s difficult to judge the passing of time: Has Hig been hanging out repairing his plane and making some new friends over the course of days or weeks? There’s no clarity on that.
Elordi isn’t able to take an underwritten character (whose predominant personality trait is “sad his wife died”) and make it compelling enough to drive the whole movie, but in scenes with other people he shows some real energy, especially in his tentative flirtations with Qualley’s Cima, also an underwritten character but given some spark in the performance. The aforementioned Allison Janney, as mentioned, is parachuted in from a totally different franchise, her unhinged work at least proving to be memorable. That can’t necessarily be said about the rest of the film.
The best moments of The Dog Stars include an extreme focus on the details of life in the ruins, from Bangley manufacturing his own bullets to Hig strugging to clear some trees to create a makeshift runway — the sort of process-focused storytelling that made The Martian such brain candy. That, in combination with some stunning production design and quiet choices that reveal a lot visually, prove that Scott’s skills as a filmmaker are not in decline — they just need to be paired with a strong voice at the writing stage. That’s when Scott’s work truly sings.
The Dog Stars arrives in theaters on Friday, August 28th. Check out the trailer below.