REVIEW: ‘The Dog Stars’ delivers a meditative post-apocalyptic story but with little tension
DUBAI: Ridley Scott’s “The Dog Stars” looks every bit the kind of post-apocalyptic epic you would expect from the filmmaker behind “Blade Runner” and “Alien.”
The landscapes are beautifully photographed; the abandoned world has an eerie stillness and there is an impressive sense of scale to everything you see. But beneath all that visual grandeur the film feels strangely hollow, as if the famed filmmaker has lost some of his edge.
Adapted by Mark L. Smith from Peter Heller’s acclaimed novel, “The Dog Stars” follows Hig (Jacob Elordi), a pilot living in isolation with his dog after a devastating pandemic has ravaged civilization. Hig spends his days flying over the Colorado wilderness, hunting and keeping watch, while his volatile neighbor Bangley (Josh Brolin) guards their fortified home.
The premise teases plenty of tension. Instead, you keep waiting for something to happen. And waiting. And waiting.
