The Dog Stars      Director: Ridley ScottCert: NoneStarring: Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Allison Janey, Benedict WongRunning Time: 1 hr 58 minsYou wouldn’t necessarily identify Ridley Scott as the sort of fellow to deliver an agreeable apocalypse. But for large parts of The Dog Stars that is what we get. Oh, sure, Josh Brolin and Jacob Elordi blow the heads off marauders as they close in on the boys’ compound. Late in the day we get a bit of retro cannibalism. The whole thing is soaked in pessimism about the human project.There is, however, a great deal of hanging-out here. The boys bond over a glass of whiskey. Later, after a wee bit of a plane crash, Elordi makes friends with Margaret Qualley and, as the stars twinkle eternally, they cuddle around the camp fire. If it weren’t for the end of the world this might register as a pleasant way to live.Based on a prescient 2012 novel by Peter Heller and a screenplay by Mark L Smith, The Dog Stars imagines the world nine years after an influenza epidemic has wiped out most of the population.Hig and Bangley (Elordi and Brolin) find themselves in control of an abandoned airfield in Colorado. They get along as a classic odd couple – Hig the civilised Felix, Bangley the grizzled Oscar – until, after a trauma we shan’t spoil, Hig decides to set out in search of an apparent human signal from the town of Grand Junction. The plane goes down and he meets up with a cautious, but ultimately friendly daughter and dad in the welcome form of Qualley and Guy Pearce.Here’s the odd thing. When The Dog Stars isn’t about very much, it’s perfectly watchable. Shot by Erik Messerschmidt in rich natural shades, the images conjure up a United States in retreat to the stone age. Four compatible actors bump up against each other with an apparent naturalness. There isn’t exactly a plot, but we can do without such a thing during the quieter moments.Less enjoyable are the wearisome attacks by off-the-peg Mad Max cultists and, worse still, a vulgar dystopian sequence late on that seems to have sprung from an entirely different type of film. Imagine if a chorus-line number broke out in the closing 20 minutes of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker. Elsewhere, the flick is not bad, but not great. Which, sadly, is often the way with recent Ridley.In cinemas from Wednesday, August 26th[ Director Ridley Scott: ‘I do 120 hours a week. I think I’m working class, right?’Opens in new window ]