The Dog Stars Review: Jacob Elordi And Margaret Qualley Try To Survive Ridley Scott's Post-Apocalyptic Oddity

Ridley Scott's "The Dog Stars" is an odd film. I mean that in a mostly complimentary way — Scott could've done something far more straightforward and borderline crowd-pleasing with this material, but instead has made a movie that attempts to cram a variety of tones and influences into one strangely low-key package.

Adapted by screenwriter Mark L. Smith from Peter Heller's novel, "The Dog Stars" isn't treading any new ground; it recalls a plethora of post-apocalyptic films that came before it, and while the characters are adults, there's a touch of YA book saga influence on display. Just to round things out, "The Dog Stars" also dips into video game territory as characters hide in the shadows aiming weapons at nameless enemies. And oh yeah, there's a part of the movie where it seems like Scott is attempting to make an old-school Hollywood Western, complete with problematic, outdated Native American-coded characters who wear warpaint, make whooping noises, and shoot arrows at our heroes.

Things come to a truly bizarre head during a surreal third act twist that every piece of marketing for the film has worked extra hard to ignore. I've already seen several of my colleagues commenting that this section sinks things, but I'd argue it's when the movie truly comes alive, mostly because it fits in perfectly with Scott's pessimistic worldview in ways the rest of the film does not.

Set in post-apocalyptic Colorado in 2035, "The Dog Stars" tells us a deadly flu has wiped out a large chunk of the world's population. Hig (Jacob Elordi), a tall, handsome guy good with his hands and who looks like he raided every abandoned Duluth Trading Company store he could find, lives on an airfield with the rough, gruff Bangley (Josh Brolin). Other than Bangley, Hig's closest companion is his very good dog, Jasper.

Elordi brings a natural soulful charisma to the role, which is a good thing, since Hig is a rather thinly sketched character who seems to be whatever the movie needs him to be from one scene to the next. And as you might expect, he's a haunted man suffering from Dead Wife Syndrome, which means he has moments where the mostly silent specter of his deceased wife pops up to remind him of the life he lost.

While Bangley prefers to hang out on the airfield cleaning his guns and drinking whisky, Hig flies a Cessna plane out into the ruins of Denver where he scrounges for supplies and visits his old house, which is somehow perfectly preserved and dust-free. While we've seen these kinds of scenes before in an innumerable number of end-of-the-world flicks, there's a quiet grace to the moments where Elordi treks through high grass and rubble while empty McDonald's and Taco Bells restaurants dot the landscape. I suppose this is a bit of product placement, but it also gives the sense of a ruined America landscape, where the only thing we'll leave behind when we're gone are monuments to greasy, heart-clogging consumerism.

When tragedy strikes and wanderlust sets in, Hig decides to get the hell out of town and fly his plane towards Grand Junction, where a vague, mysterious radio transmission has been emanating. Bangley has no interest in tagging along, and warns Hig that some of the less-friendly survivors out there will likely murder him the first chance they get. Bangley's no-nonsense approach to survival is highlighted in multiple scenes where we watch him shoot and kill any outsiders who dare to wander onto his property. 

Are these outsiders actually dangerous? Or are they innocent travelers just looking for shelter? It doesn't matter to Bangley, and to be fair, we eventually learn he has a point, because a group of hooting and hollering killers known as the Reapers eventually show up to wreck havoc. Slathered in tattoos and acting like rabid feral animals, we never really learn what the hell their deal is: why, exactly, are they acting like this? Because the script requires them to, I suppose.

Hig's journey eventually leads him to a farm where he meets Cima (Margaret Qualley) and her suspicious father Pops (Guy Pearce). Pops, who cares only about survival, wants nothing to do with Hig, but Cima is more sympathetic and curious. And since Hig and Cima are the two hottest people to survive the apocalypse, logic dictates they must fall in love. Unfortunately, the romance never really sparks. Sure, Elordi and Qualley are extremely attractive people, but they don't have much chemistry, and it's pretty clear Scott isn't much interested in how it shakes out.

There's supposed to be a touch of hopefulness in the attraction between Hig and Cima, and one of the key themes of "The Dog Stars" is letting go of grief and sadness to move forward and find a way to live again, even if that seems impossible. This is odd material for a Ridley Scott movie, simply because Scott is not a sentimental filmmaker. While there's an exception or two ("The Martian" being probably the most prominent, and successful, example), hopefulness is not something Scott tends to embrace.

I think it can be safely said that his very best movies embrace a nihilistic, misanthropic approach to humanity. Many of Scott's films make the case that the world is a cold, violent place, and human beings frequently make stupid, selfish decisions. (Critics often lambast the fact that the human characters in Scott's "Alien" prequel "Prometheus" make incredibly dumb decisions that get them killed, but I've always argued that this fits in perfectly with Scott's cinematic philosophy.)

Which brings us to that third act twist I mentioned. I'm going to tread lightly here, because this sequence is best experienced mostly unspoiled, and because none of the trailers for the film have even hinted at what happens (although I'm guessing this is a case of the marketing team having no idea how the hell to sell it to the general public). Let's just say that Hig, Cima, and Pops eventually end up in Grand Junction. And let's just say that while there, they encounter a community overseen by a bizzaro character played to the hilt by Allison Janney. And let's just say things get extremely weird.

This sequence moves by incredibly quick, so much so that it's over before you really have a chance to register what the hell is going on. But it's this section of the film where you can really sense Scott firing on all cylinders, perking up at the fact that he gets to let things get a little weird, dark, and violent. I have a feeling this portion of "The Dog Stars" is going to turn a lot of viewers off, but I actually wish the film had even more scenes like this, because such an approach might've lead to an even better movie.

"The Dog Stars" is too scattershot for its own good, and it frequently seems like Scott can't pin down what type of movie this is. And yet, there's a laid-back, shaggy-dog quality to the proceedings that I found kind of charming. Do I wish the film was more consistent? Absolutely. But I also appreciated the sturdy craftsmanship Scott is still displaying even as he approaches 90. It helps that the bulk of the film was shot on location, in real places, that look real! (While set in Colorado, Scott shot most of the film in the Italian countryside, and those aerial shots of mountain ranges are frequently breathtaking.)

There's also something refreshing about how self-contained "The Dog Stars" ends up being. There's no attempt at grand worldbuilding, or franchise potential, or Easter eggs you need to consult a Wiki to understand. This is just an old-fashioned drama that wants to get the job done and call it a day. Such an approach feels almost subversive in this day and age, when every movie needs to be some kind of branded IP to get out the door.

Scott has built up enough good will in his long career that he can get this sort of thing financed, even if it's not wholly successful (and likely won't draw in a big audience). Ultimately, "The Dog Stars" is one of Ridley Scott's minor works, but I think he's earned the right to coast a bit at this point. I was never bored, I liked the attractive leads, and I was suitably distracted from the horrors of the real world for a compact 118 minutes. Is that enough? Sometimes it is.

/Film Rating: 6 out of 10

"The Dog Stars" opens in theaters on August 28, 2026.