DUBAI: Ridley Scott’s “The Dog Stars” looks every bit the kind of post-apocalyptic epic you would expect from the filmmaker behind “Blade Runner” and “Alien.”
The landscapes are beautifully photographed; the abandoned world has an eerie stillness and there is an impressive sense of scale to everything you see. But beneath all that visual grandeur the film feels strangely hollow, as if the famed filmmaker has lost some of his edge.
Adapted by Mark L. Smith from Peter Heller’s acclaimed novel, “The Dog Stars” follows Hig (Jacob Elordi), a pilot living in isolation with his dog after a devastating pandemic has ravaged civilization. Hig spends his days flying over the Colorado wilderness, hunting and keeping watch, while his volatile neighbor Bangley (Josh Brolin) guards their fortified home.
The premise teases plenty of tension. Instead, you keep waiting for something to happen. And waiting. And waiting.
There are moments when the film appears ready to shift into survival thriller territory, but the suspense rarely builds into anything substantial. The pacing is deliberately meditative, but the result is often simply slow. For a film about a man surviving in a world where danger could come from almost anywhere, there is surprisingly little urgency.
Elordi, who has proved he can command the screen, has relatively little to work with as Hig. That is saying something when his character comes with a loyal canine companion who arguably has as much personality as he does. Hig is written as a solitary, introspective figure, but the script gives Elordi few opportunities to turn that solitude into something compelling.
The film’s strongest element is the relationship between Hig and Bangley. Brolin brings much-needed energy and complexity to the movie, playing the latter as abrasive, paranoid and occasionally tender beneath the hostility. His performance is easily the best thing about the film and gives its quieter stretches some much-needed life.
Guy Pearce appears as Pops, while Margaret Qualley plays his daughter, Cima, who becomes Hig’s romantic interest. Both actors are good, but the love story between Cima and Hig feels half-baked. There is little time or emotional groundwork given to make their connection feel convincing.
That is ultimately the problem with “The Dog Stars.” The performances are solid across the board, and the film is undeniably gorgeous to look at, but the script lets its actors down. What should be a tense, emotionally resonant survival story instead becomes an exercise in atmosphere.
It is very likely the story simply works better in prose form. On screen, Scott’s apocalypse feels strangely short on danger. Or, even more importantly, drama.
