A couple weeks ago, my wife & I caught the new sci-fi/action film, "Dog Stars". Now that I've mulled it over, I have to say it's not too bad, but it's not too great either.
The filmmaker, Ridley Scott is no stranger to sci-fi or action movies as the guy is responsible for the original "Alien", "Blade Runner", "Gladiator", etc. So, when his name shows up on a film, fans get intrigued. You have rising stars Jacob Elordi & Margaret Qualley with always reliable Josh Brolin, this is a film that at the very least, deserves to be seen.
"The Dog Stars" is based of a novel off the same name from 2012, but hits close to home as the story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a couple of random survivors at an abandoned airport create a living in a post-pandemic world and of course one (played by Jacob Elordi) seeks to find human connection and wants to venture of their base and risk it all to find other like-minded survivors. Josh Brolin plays the tough & hard survivalist who does not trust strangers and once Elordi's character takes off seeking human survivors, the film gets messy. The tone of the film is all over the place and while that's always not an issue, it seems Ridley Scott could not find a good balance tonal shifts. The build-up was slow, but that wasn't the problem. The first hour is mostly solid! Very sad & depressing for sure, but it was a solid start, but after Elordi's character leaves the base, the film just goes downhill from there unfortunately.
The film flopped big time at the box office! I think that the main reasons for the film flopping is the fact that this movie is difficult to market! It's a sci-fi action film, but marketing it as a "Mad Max" type film was a huge mistake. Also, the critics just tore it apart and the big issue was the "pandemic" plot! Audiences are just tired of hearing about pandemic stories! It's too intriguing to dismiss, but not good enough to recommend! There are some solid moments, but the second half of the film just goes off the rails in a bad way. With Ridley Scott being almost 90 years old, this could be one of his final films and even though the film isn't great, it's still interesting enough for a one time watch!
