‘The Dog Stars’ Review: This dog has no bite
The Dog Stars is a pointless film and a waste of time; I do not know why it was made. I don’t say this to demean Ridley Scott–he’s made a couple of my favorite movies. But his new film is utterly bland and generic, dragging itself along half-dead with a beaten script. There is nothing truly atrocious here–just meaningless. It ends in almost the exact same place it began, the characters remain stagnant throughout, and the driving force of the narrative is only on display for a few minutes. There is very little breadth or depth to be found.
After viewing the trailer for The Dog Stars countless times over the summer at the cinema, I didn’t see anything groundbreaking. I assumed there had to be some sort of X-factor or hidden nuance to the film; otherwise, I would have hedged my bets on it falling flat. I was correct–there is very little hidden beneath the surface of the movie, which is a major problem when that surface is a generic post-apocalypse story with no bite.
Think about all the post-apocalyptic genre clichés; all of them apply here. The lead characters carry hardened trauma, used as a clunky mechanism to bond them with each other. The remaining survivors in the world are reduced to rabid animals, feeling like something ripped right out of Lord of the Flies. And there’s a dog here too, so you already know exactly what will happen to it. Many more of these tropes are present, but you get the point.
I did like certain beats and stretches of The Dog Stars. Despite the lackluster narrative, I didn’t mind the slow-paced nature of the film, as it allowed everything to breathe and seemed to fit the overall tone. The vistas explored throughout the journey are beautiful as well; this distinct vibe and scenery made the movie much more watchable. The action, however, is what carries the movie whenever the pacing gets a bit too slow. These sequences are still shallow and lack depth, but at least they offer solid entertainment. The set pieces fit nicely into what little story is delivered.
The only point where I genuinely became somewhat invested in the plot was in the third act, when the main storyline comes to a big confrontation. There is actual good filmmaking exhibited during this sequence: tension-building, sharp dialogue, and crisp action come together to provide a satisfying thrill. Unfortunately, this only lasts for a few minutes before things escalate to a bonkers level quickly, resulting in a section of the movie that just feels wildly inconsistent with everything that came before it. This tonal shift can work in some films, but because The Dog Stars failed to build a strong enough foundation as a whole, it did not work.
From looking into the book The Dog Stars was adapted from, it doesn’t seem to lend itself very well to a movie translation. In fact, a lot was changed from the novel to the film–especially the addition of much more action. To me, the book’s synopsis and summary come across as a much slower and more introspective journey that, frankly, fits the style and speed of a book better, which explains the heavy changes made in order to adapt it. There was no real need to actually go through with this process, though–book fans can once again say that the book was better.
The Dog Stars ends up being dull because of all this. There is no good hook, and what is left is stuff I have seen before, just in different coats of paint. That is what makes this whole screenplay confounding to me. There is no substance–only a generic trudge through a post-apocalypse landscape featuring all the well-known staples of the environment. It’s unfortunate for Jacob Elordi and his co-stars, because none of them are in any way bad here; they simply have next to nothing to work with and can only do so much with a script this basic. The same line of thinking extends to Ridley Scott. What is he really supposed to direct for the better portion of the movie? It’s completely nonsensical.
The main theme of The Dog Stars is that no one can survive alone at the end of the world. This theme is well-expressed, but in the most cookie-cutter way imaginable. Either the execution needs to be through-the-roof good, or the central idea needs to be radically different. Otherwise, this is the result: a subpar, meaningless story that does nowhere near enough to prove its worth or why its existence was purposeful. Once this screenplay was finalized, the movie was doomed; it is empty and shows very few signs of life.