The Dog Stars

Starring: Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney, Benedict Wong

Director: Ridley Scott

Based on the novel "The Dog Stars" by Peter Heller

After humanity is nearly wiped out by a pandemic, Hig (Elordi) lives a quiet life with his dog Jasper making supply runs in his plane to neighboring communities of survivors. These runs annoy his survivalist neighbor Bangley (Brolin) who thinks Hig is being too casual about the dangers of the world around him. After their encampment is found by a dangerous group of roaming scavengers, Hig heads out in search of the source of a radio call that could signal potential survivors and a new safe haven. This search is cut short after he is forced to crash land his plane in a field near the house of Cima (Qualley) and Pops (Pearce). While they are hesitant to welcome the mysterious Hig to their quiet existence, they all soon realize that they don't have to navigate this new world alone.

August is notoriously a dumping ground for studios to release movies of questionable quality that they didn't think would do business during the summer. While the film sports some big names in front of and behind the camera, one could forgive audiences for being skeptical of the movie's quality due to the time of release and that there is essentially little to no marketing behind the film.

While the film isn't great, it was still better than I expected. What little marketing the film did receive painted a very different film than the one we got, as the action film that was presented actually is more of a contemplative drama about the relationships we form and about letting go. While there are action moments in the film, they are few and far between as we mostly see the relationship between Hig and Cima grow. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Both have lost important people in their lives and both have responded in different ways, with Cima willing to let people in and Hig very happy shutting people out. It’s a compelling dynamic that grows organically.

Elordi and Qualley are very capable actors and do their best with the material they are given. Their characters have approached the apocalypse differently despite both experiencing losses of loved ones. Despite Hig being a frustratingly stoic character, you are hoping that he sees the opportunity for happiness staring him right in the face. Pearce and Brolin are great, despite having mostly thankless roles. Pearce's Pops is there just to disapprove of Hig at first, while Brolin's Bangley is mostly there for comic relief and to be the one who asks questions for the audience. But both excel in those roles and the movie picks up when either are on screen.

When the action scenes do hit, they are well done. Scott's career has shown he is never going to disappoint when it comes to action scenes. One scene in particular that uses night vision in a very unique way is a standout. I kind of wish that he had dipped his toe back into moments like that more often because outside of that scene, there is an unfortunate lack of tension present in the film. It never felt like anyone was really in danger and the action never really pulled me in.

Much like the night vision scene, there are other moments that show the potential the movie had to be something special. A scene late in the film involving Allison Janney's character only briefly taps into a layer of sinister that could have been present throughout the film. While I enjoyed the scene, it felt out of place because Scott doesn't keep a consistent tone throughout.

It sounds like I am really down on the film, but I'm not. I enjoyed it much more than I was expecting to despite its flaws. The action scenes are well done and the film is just gorgeous to look at. Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (Mank) really excels at filming the emptiness of the post pandemic world, especially when Hig is flying his plane.

While I went in expecting the worst, I really enjoyed the more contemplative nature of the film. It's well made despite fumbling the tonal shifts the movie goes through. It's far from Scott's best but also far from his worst.

Grade: C-