Ridley Scott has been on a roll as of late as an auteur director. He is at a point in his career where he will not take NO for an answer. This latest film seems to be a tipping point for his artistic integrity, as it is following the same old path that we usually see from Ridley Scott. It is a post apocalyptic story about a young, searing man who wants to break free from his own trapped space. Based on Peter Heller’s novel of the same name, The Dog Stars deals with a former mechanic named Hig (Jacob Elordi) who is trying to find a place to truly live in a world where everything has gone to shit. Bangley (Josh Brolin) is a military meathead conforming to the belief that humanity is over and that humans’ only sole purpose in life is to hunt and kill for survival. Hig avoids this claim by believing in others and by taking his own personal matters into his own hands. Especially when the film progresses into the romantic elements with Hig finding love with Cima (Margaret Qualley) a former medic who is at odds with her own duties as an individual in the virus stricken world she is living in. Both of these characters are of course polar opposites from each other, and like any typical post apocalyptic story, that is the hook for feminine audiences alike. You get the romance for the ladies while the big boys get all the action and grit in the story.
So why did Ridley Scott choose to make this film?
That is a question that isn’t necessarily answered in this film. In fact, Scott is more entertained with just letting the cards fall in his favor with the generic storytelling that is portrayed in Mark L. Smith’s screenplay. It plays into every single survival, sci-fi, and post apocalyptic trope in the book. A broken masculine man who is abiding by his own rules, takes on the leadership role on his own terms, and then stumbles upon a lucky lady who wants to fuck him, and the rest is history. You already know where the film will go when that notion is established. Along with dealing with typical survival tropes like having factions inside of the world that only abide to their own standards. The enemies in the film are faceless, bruting stock characters who are sadistic and are only there to kill other survivors of the apocalypse. It isn’t explained who these people are, but they do have their moment in the sun with Bangley using his Splinter Cell skills to snipe the enemies with his night vision goggles and gun, which makes for a fun scene in the middle of the film.
Performance wise, Jacob Elordi is phoning it in with his role. He is extremely stoic and almost acting like a Western character from the 50s. That is not to say that he isn’t trying to make something out of this lame film. He really is trying. Everyone else is about the same performance wise. Ridley Scott unfortunately cashes out on Guy Pearce’s performance as Jack. Jack, played by Guy Pearce, is Cima’s father and is constantly on Cima’s ass about not inviting strangers to their vicinity. Again, you know where this dynamic will go as far as Hig’s intentions go. And when it eventually disperses into trust in one another, the film steamrolls along to its actual conflict, which is about how these people are trying to get out of their own heads. Hig wants to go to Grand Junction, Colorado to live his life all the way till his last dying breath, and the film centers on this goal in a very dire and dry action sequence involving Allison Janney, who plays a retro stewardess named Darlene. Darlene’s intentions are unclear, and when the actual action sequence in Grand Junction happens, this is truly where the film falls apart, as it doesn’t know whether or not it wants to be a mystery film involving survivors of the virus. There’s no real exploration on that matter, and it’s basically just the backdrop for a lame romantic plot involving Hig and Cima and a boring survival aesthetic that has been played out to death in cinema now in days.
Once again, the film chooses not to explore deeper on the backdrop of the virus, its survivors, nor anything to do with the land itself. Scott is at a point in his career where he truly does not give a fuck about his career choices as a filmmaker. He’s just making films until his last dying breath, and that is something that needs to be highlighted here in this review. I’ve been a massive defender of Scott’s post career long after Gladiator. The sequel to Gladiator was unnecessary but also stupendously entertaining. The same sentiments go to House of Gucci and All the Money in the World. When he is in his element, he can churn out some fine wine like The Last Duel or The Martian. Scott is now trying to claw back into the Alien franchise after Alien: Romulus‘s success. I think now is the perfect time for him to retire. But then again, he will not listen to some guy on the internet.
With The Dog Stars, it is now or never for Ridley Scott. He can choose to phone in his career to his deathbed, or he could retire gracefully as an auteur that changed cinema for the better. This film certainly does not help his case as a legendary filmmaker. But I do think it’ll be a forgotten film that does not have any baggage towards his entire career outlook. It’ll just be a footnote in his filmography, and that’s all.