Photos by Fabio Lovino for 20th Century Studios.
THE DOG STARS— 4 STARS
As soon as the pilot protagonist of Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars, Hig, played by Aussie stud muffin and Oscar nominee Jacob Elordi, brings his patchwork single-engine 1956 Cessna 182 plane down to land amongst the devastated and desolate urban remains of Denver, Colorado, furrowed forehead creases of resilience and standing neck hairs arrive to match the ghostly setting. Like the perked ears of Jasper, the trusty Belgian Malinois dog by Hig’s side, survival instincts are activated as the two scrounge for supplies. Methodically, they find some cases of pop, pick from a hidden stash of medical supplies, and top off some fuel cans for the plane.
LESSON #1: WHAT KEEPS YOU LIVING— There is one particular stop, however, for Hig and Jasper where procuring any gear is not the priority. The pilot and former mechanic makes it a point to visit his old house. Inside, he silently strolls the living space still filled with family photos, unessential belongings, and the dormant medical equipment that used to keep his departed wife Melissa alive for a time. Coming here to sit on an empty old bed to imagine being embraced by his spouse isn’t part of the survivalist plight. This is where Hig comes to remember what it was like to live.
Through this lonely soul still wearing his wedding band and flanked by man’s best friend, we see the heartfelt lamentation at the core of The Dog Stars. In this Life After People-esque landscape, culled from Peter Heller’s 2012 bestseller by Twisters and The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith, that mournful weight must endure a post-pandemic 2035 where scuffles for dwindling resources have pitted survivors against each other. By pitting kill-or-be-killed security against the fading draw of interpersonal humanity, Ridley Scott skillfully balances chaos with contemplation.
The supplies commandeered by Hig and Jasper are flown home to an abandoned airfield in Erie, Colorado, where the duo lives with Bangley, a burly and surly ex-Marine played by the second-billed Josh Brolin. The goateed senior gentleman lives in a constant state of trigger-ready alert. That airtight preparedness has kept the two men alive and comfortable, but Hig’s longing to restore human connection beyond this retired Rambo is always clouding his better judgment. The closest Hig gets is heroically bringing surplus goods to a nearby Mennonite commune, led by Aaron (Doctor Strange co-star Benedict Wong). His urge to offer more help is constantly squashed by Bangley’s insistence on isolation.
LESSON #2: WHAT KEEPS YOU FROM DYING— Therein lies a dichotomy of moral divide permeating in The Dog Stars and presented wonderfully by the solid-giving-way-to-fragile camaraderie conveyed by Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin. Bangley and Hig are nowhere near enemies, but they are built differently in principle. By fortifying himself with an arsenal to win any fight, Bangley, aside from this partnership with Hig, has discarded social graces. He’s as blunt as a sledgehammer and, deep down, loves this type of dominant lifestyle. Bangley is all about what keeps a man from dying. In contrast, Hig’s previously cited nostalgic draw towards lost family stands as a man seeking things that keep him living, and that can be a very different list of behaviors, items, and traits than his homestead mate, starting with his devoted Jasper.
Evidence of a new feral tribe of scavengers raiding the countryside and the recurrences of garbled airport transmissions (voiced by I, Tonya Oscar winner Allison Janney) from Grand Junction have Hig itching to extend his flight reconnaissance trips into a longer exploration to satisfy his curiosity and yearning for connection. An emergency landing on this excursion intersects Hig with a Pops and Cima, a cautious father-and-daughter team of ranchers played by The Brutalist’s Guy Pearce and Margaret Qualley of The Substance. The decision to forge ahead or return to the safety of home drives the drama of The Dog Stars.
LESSON #3: BENEVOLENCE VS. PRAGMATISM— Furthering the dichotomy of morals in The Dog Stars, there is also a split of decisions between benevolence and pragmatism. While it’s easy to separate the dignified actors playing fleshed-out characters from the tattooed, pale, voiceless, and nameless face-painted hellions (who are a heartbeat away from all the tropes of fast zombies right out of World War Z) approaching from the horizon, choices are made about where to extend hospitality, charity, and kindness, and when to shoot first and ask questions later. Both necessary mindsets shown want to be—even if they don’t always end up solidly—in the right.
Meanwhile, noticeable filmmaking choices were made as well. The Dog Stars acutely intensifies the precarious peril of Heller’s work. By shaving some of the meandering lesser treks and infusing a little more terror into the story, Scott and Smith have made the aforementioned chaos and contemplation noticeably scarier than the book without a swelled budget. Oscar-winning Mank cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt and Mission: Impossible franchise aerial coordinator Steven Moth dexterously blend the staggering IMAX-sized serenity granted by the rugged Italian shooting locations in the Alpine foothills near the Dolomites with the edginess of the dangerous dystopian shambles created by the production design teams under Chris Seagers (Alien: Covenant). Coat that with composer Harry Gregson-Williams' hardscrabble, guitar-forward score and the emotional resonance that made the novel popular is not squashed or discarded for action’s sake.
Now, when one person looks like Jacob Elordi and the other looks like Margaret Qualley, benevolence is going to win plenty in The Dog Stars, and not much additional heat needs to be brought to the shared campfire, outside of a banger of song inclusion with Caamp’s “By and By.” True to his resume over the last five years on his meteoric rise to superstardom, Elordi is successfully cornering Brad Pitt’s old market of sadness played as smolder. Likewise, Qualley can easily pierce any smitten defenses to become a worthy object of desire with her outward combination of resolve and toughness. The two characters are granted a patient course to merge their pains and passions together. If anything—in one of the only large knocks—especially compared to the source novel, there might not be enough of our darling Jasper to add even more dreamy appeal next to these two leads. More dog, fewer stars might be the order for many.
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