by Samuel Nichols, Contributing Writer
Post-apocalyptic stories are a well that seems to never run dry. There’s so much that can be done in those genres. From horror games like The Last of Us to young adult novels like The Hunger Games, there’s something for everyone in this genre. Ridley Scott’s newest flick, The Dog Stars is the latest entry in this vein. With his talent and eye for cinematography, you would think Scott could surely come up with something interesting to entertain us for two hours. Too bad this disjointed movie is about as interesting as watching the grass grow through the cracks in an abandoned Walmart.
About a decade after an influenza pandemic killed the vast majority of human life on the planet, pilot Hig (Jacob Elordi) lives in an abandoned airport with ex-Marine Bangley (Josh Brolin). The two spend most of their time looking out for invaders. Bangley is bought into the idea that no one left could be up to anything good, but Hig is still on the lookout for a semblance of humanity. When a radio transmission comes over the airwaves, Hig heads out over the horizon where he finds daughter and dad pair Cima (Margaret Qualley) and Jack/Pops (Guy Pierce). Maybe he has found what he’s looking for in this small family.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Elordi lacks the necessary tools to play a scavenger savior. That deep and monotone voice mixed with the towering frame is the reason why he was a good monster in Frankenstein and an even scarier one in the first two seasons of Euphoria. But asking him to play a hero who you can rely on is a waste of his talents. When an actor’s smile sends a chill down your spine rather than warming your heart you might have the wrong guy as your hero. I’ve grown past my complaints that he cannot act, but I see his limits plain as day.
Brolin’s gruffness is the right fit for this kind of movie. Seeing him brutally execute ruffians with a sniper rifle is the only interesting thing going on here. A post-apocalyptic movie where almost nothing happens outside of Brolin’s own paranoia and defensive maneuvers could have been an interesting movie. But he’s not the lead. Neither are Qualley or Pierce, both of whom have charm to spare, of which they have both been lauded for in The SubstanceandThe Brutalist. But when all you do is force them to despair of the terrible world they live in, it becomes pretty one note. I will give Qualley and Elordi props for the inevitable romance which doesn’t spring on you right away as these two slowly fall together.
At least the sparce and desolate landscape is beautifully shot. That might be the one unadulterated cinematic part of the movie: the glorious outdoors. The green trees and sounds of nature are captured well. It reminds me of being in northern mountains or outside camping. But then you remember this is a movie and not a nature documentary.
The action sequences are similar feeling: clean and honest. They aren’t like the Raid movies with kicks and flips and pencils killing men in bars. It’s just brutal and quick, perhaps how a real fight would go. However, there is no challenge for our heroes. It’s like we’re playing on easy mode and the enemies still run straight at you and refuse to duck and cover. Having everyone square off in a crazy shoutout akin to John Wick would be out of place, but the enemies providing no threat removes the tension. It stays this way for a while, but the final two battles become massive in scope and/or bizarre in tone. There’s a scene at the end of the movie where the movie morphs into that funhouse mirror scene from It: Chapter Two and it took me right out of the movie.
Usually what keeps an audience interested in these movies is there being a purpose for surviving the apocalypse. Finding a cure for a disease, restarting civilization, or finding a lost loved. As far as I could tell Hig just wants to explore and find another person. Objectively that could work and this could be seen as a metaphor for escaping loneliness. But if that was the case, why does he find someone so easily after about 5 minutes of screentime and why did he leave someone he already knew? Our characters need some semblance of logic and there should be at least some tension. Leaving one person to find another makes sense in a world where there’s billions of people, not in one where there might be only a few left. This story strategy will not help you gain points darting between a grounded and gritty tone to over the top and obscene.
I’ve thoroughly beaten a dead horse at this point, but Scott deserves his razzing for this one. When your CV includes all-time highs like Alien and Gladiator, you need to put a little more elbow grease into your work. Scott has been off his game since The Last Duel. His movies have been half baked (cough, cough Gladiator II cough, cough) or led by incapable talent like Lady Gaga in House of Gucci. Make whatever you want, Ridley, by any means you have earned that right. Despite your best efforts, your creative freedom cannot be taken away from you easily. But we may have entered the dog days of your career as a genius.
Rating: Didn’t Like It
The Dog Stars is currently in theaters.
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