My quick rating – 6.4/10. We open The Dog Stars with some sweeping shots of beautiful, wide-open scenery while Hozier sings Like Real People Do. Nothing quite says the end of civilization like a bit of Hozier. We meet a man and his dog, Jasper, going about their business, which involves taking a little flight to, well, wherever. Just another day in paradise, assuming your definition of paradise doesn’t include the complete collapse of humanity.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where a virus has wiped out most of the population, the remaining survivors have to contend with roaming scavengers known as “Reapers”. Our protagonist is Hig (Jacob Elordi), a pilot who survived the flu that killed everyone he knew, including his wife. He lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with Jasper, while his only neighbor is Bangley (Josh Brolin), a gun-toting ex-Marine who presumably considers a friendly greeting a waste of ammunition.
Hig occasionally takes his 1956 Cessna out for a spin, visiting a nearby farm run by Aaron (Benedict Wong), where a handful of other survivors have managed to establish some semblance of normality. When a mysterious radio transmission breaks through the silence, Hig finds himself clinging to the possibility that there’s something better out there. So, naturally, he decides to risk everything and fly towards Grand Junction in search of a possible haven. Along the way, he encounters Cima (Margaret Qualley) and Pops (Guy Pearce).
Knowing that Ridley Scott is behind the camera, it should come as no surprise that the barren landscapes look absolutely convincing. The cinematography is easily one of the film’s biggest strengths, with some gorgeous aerial photography and sweeping scenery. There’s a real sense of isolation, and the contrast between the natural beauty and the ugliness of the world makes for some captivating visuals.
This is a very well-made film, although patience is definitely required. It’s refreshingly slow-paced, taking time to explore the quieter moments between characters rather than constantly throwing another crisis at them. I’m not entirely convinced that a pandemic would turn humanity into a collection of brainless scavenging lunatics, but apparently the apocalypse comes with a mandatory IQ reduction for some people.
The story eventually gets moving in a direction I more or less expected, but there’s one problem for me. The entire movie feels like an elaborate setup for something considerably bigger, and that something never quite arrives. It’s not an all-out action film, nor does it pretend to be. It’s a story about survival, loneliness, companionship and finding a reason to keep going.
Ultimately, The Dog Stars is one of the more humane and tender big-budget films I’ve seen recently. I don’t mind a change of pace, and there’s plenty here to appreciate. Just don’t spend the entire runtime waiting for the apocalypse to really kick off. It appears even the end of the world has decided to take things slowly.
