Ridley Scott remains astonishingly prolific, churning out scale-driven features with a relentless momentum that puts directors half his age to shame. His latest entry, The Dog Stars, marks another foray into the science-fiction genre which is now a sandbox that is certainly no stranger to him given his career-defining work on masterworks like Blade Runner, Alien, or even the compelling The Martian.
This time around, Scott delivers a post-apocalyptic narrative centered on a lone survivor paired with a faithful dog, a setup that instantly recollects I Am Legend. However, it must be said that the film doesn’t quite add any new flair to the post-apocalyptic subgenre beyond what we have already seen executed countless times before. Adapted from Peter Heller’s 2012 novel, the story centers on Hig (Jacob Elordi), a gentle civilian pilot grieving lost stability, and Bangley (Josh Brolin), a hyper-militant, trigger-happy former Marine who operates as his compound partner. The core dynamic between Brolin and Elordi creates a natural friction; Brolin plays his character with a hardened, cynical pragmatism, while Elordi leans into a soft-spoken, desperate optimism.
Visually, Scott relies on his trademark multi-camera setups to capture its sweeping scale, painting the post-apocalyptic terrain in cold, desaturated tones that emphasize isolation. The aerial frames of Hig’s Cessna gliding over sun-bleached valleys of Colorado offer a stark contrast between the natural grandeur of a reclaimed wilderness and the decaying remnants of human infrastructure in the city scenes that recollect imagery from I Am Legend. Even when the story falters, Scott’s flair for atmosphere remains intact, using dramatic natural lighting, lingering environmental textures, and razor-sharp framing to remind us of his peerless eye for visual world-building.
Courtesy 20th Century Studios
Where the film earns genuine praise is in its emotional core. The narrative gives its bleak material real weight through Hig’s deep bond with his dog, Jasper, and through haunting, tender flashback sequences detailing the loss of his late wife. Jasper is undeniably endearing, providing a warm, inviting presence that anchors the audience during the quiet moments of solitude. Conversely, a mid-film detour involving an isolated Mennonite community led by Aaron (Benedict Wong) feels structural, failing to tie in cleanly to the overarching narrative momentum.
Ultimately, the film suffers from a deeply uneven tone and choppy pacing. It routinely shifts gears without warning—operating as an intimate survivalist drama one minute, pivoting into straightforward studio action the next, and then venturing off into strange surrealism during a detour to a converted airport run by Darlene (Allison Janney).
That said, the movie delivers standout individual sequences. A riveting set-piece where Brolin’s character fends off aggressive looters from their perimeter using night-vision goggles injects a much-needed visceral energy into the picture. The entire airport sequence featuring Allison Janney also deserves praise; it plays out with a bizarre, dreamy intensity that feels as though it belongs in an episode of Twin Peaks: The Return, especially as the classic orchestral track “Charmaine” by Mantovani loops endlessly and effectively in the background. Yet, like many ideas here, that detour needed far more narrative buildup and purpose rather than existing purely as a pitstop destination.
Courtesy 20th Century Studios
By the time Hig crosses paths with Cima (Margaret Qualley) and her father Pops (Guy Pearce), the film hits its stride. Elordi, Qualley, and Pearce command some of the absolute best, most grounded dramatic scenes in the entire movie, but their introduction comes way too late into the runtime to fully save the momentum.
Everything in The Dog Stars ends up feeling disjointed and loosely connected. Even with themes clearly born out of a post-COVID-19 world on its mind, the final result feels slight, overly familiar, and unable to transcend the shadow of the superior sci-fi classics Scott has gifted us in the past.
THE DOG STARS is now playing in theaters everywhere
Scott’s lost the plot