Ridley Scott has long been admired for his science fiction work, having directed such iconic films as Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), and The Martian (2015). As such, his latest, The Dog Stars, should be an exciting return to form for the director, and yet becomes a medley of fleeting ideas in which Scott can’t seem to find his way back to what once made him such a titan of the genre. 

Based on Peter Heller’s novel of the same title, The Dog Stars is set in a future America where a deadly pandemic has wiped out most of the population. The protagonist is a pilot named Higs (Jacob Elordi) who decides to venture beyond the small camp he and fellow survivor Bangley (Josh Brolin) have built in order to chase a radio signal he has picked up. Along the way, he is joined by Cima (Margaret Qualley) and Jack (Guy Pearce), a father and daughter living out in the wilderness. 

This movie can almost ride entirely on how it looks and sounds. Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt achieves truly breathtaking visuals without being showy, focusing on sweeping landscape shots and vast stretches of untouched wilderness. Harry Gregson-Williams’ score completes the film’s entrancing atmosphere: lovely, melodic, and delightfully stripped down. The first act works very well because it relies largely on these two elements.

The other essential ingredient to the more successful parts of this movie is Elordi’s performance. If The Dog Stars confirms anything, it’s that Elordi is a movie star through and through. When given relatively simple material to work with, he elevates his character to someone very emotionally accessible to the audience, and what heart exists in this movie comes almost entirely from him. Again, this is why the beginning of the movie is so much more compelling than what follows. The first 45 minutes or so are simple, yet effective. Higs’ bond with his dog, as well as his complicated history with Brolin’s Bangley (whose performance is also very strong), are both engaging relationships that the audience can easily invest in. 

Where the film loses its footing, then, is when Higs leaves Bangley behind. The central dynamics then become his romantic connection with Cima and the tentative trust he must build with her father. It’s tough to care about either, as Pearce is given disappointingly little to do, and Qualley never manages to settle into her character. She and Elordi’s chemistry is weak to the point of being nonexistent, so it feels painfully forced to have the two become a couple. Where Brolin and Elordi play off of each other effortlessly, Qualley and Elordi can’t conjure up that same fluidity. It’s not helped by the fact that there’s a whole chunk where their characters are traveling and fighting together and yet barely even seem to acknowledge the other’s presence, a fact that might not be so much of a problem if their romance wasn’t the concluding note of the film. 

The most confusing aspects are the most science-fiction elements. It’s hardly surprising given that neither the tattooed gang of scavengers known as Reapers, nor the warped reconstruction of society at the Grand Junction airport, nor even the lingering medical effects of the pandemic itself are given more than five minutes of screentime. Scott repeatedly presents the audience with a mysterious new piece of the puzzle that is this post-apocalyptic landscape, but then throws it away the moment they become interested in it. What results is a jumbled second half that can’t seem to decide between being an emotional character drama, an action movie, or a work of science fiction. The film, much like its characters, ends up with nowhere to go.

Through it all, Scott remains a formidable force behind the camera. The scenes meant to be tense are tense, those meant to be scary truly are, but it’s all displayed in bits and pieces that will only leave you wanting more. It’s odd, too, that Scott wouldn’t seize all the opportunities in this film for more action, excitement, and even a dash of horror, but he doesn’t, and it is unclear what he hoped to achieve by restraining himself in these regards. It’s a film bound to leave its audience disappointed, as the potential of everything it could be is so apparent, and yet it can’t sustain that level of effectiveness. 

Review Courtesy of Claire May Lewis

Feature Image Credit to 20th Century Studios