The Dog Stars (2026) 20th Century/Sci-Fi-Drama-Action RT: 118 minutes Rated R (strong violence and language) Director: Ridley Scott Screenplay: Mark L. Smith Music: Harry Gregson-Williams Cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt Release date: August 28, 2026 (US) Cast: Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, Guy Pearce, Benedict Wong, Ewen Bremner, James Craze, Sam Spruell, Sai Bennett.
Rating: ** ½
I had every reason to believe The Dog Stars would be a complete stinker. Here we have a big-budget film from one of the majors with a great director and two of the hottest stars right now attached and what do they do with it? They dump it in theaters at the tail end of summer. It doesn’t instill a lot of confidence in me. Clearly the studio doesn’t have any. Put that together with an empty theater and do the math. Only this time the math is off.
The Dog Stars has its share of problems, but it’s not terrible. It’s okay. I’d even say it’s slightly more than okay. Semantics aside, it should be better, especially with Ridley Scott at the helm. At one time, he was quite the visionary. He gave us two quintessential sci-fi classics, Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982) as well as Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001) and The Martian (2015). Is he perfect? No. He’s made his share of disappointments- e.g. 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), The Counselor (2013) and Napoleon (2023). And don’t even get me started on the ridiculous Gladiator II (2024). Sharks, really? In any event, The Dog Stars is one of Scott’s lesser efforts.
And then you have the cast. It’s led by two A-listers, Jacob Elordi (Wuthering Heights) and Margaret Qualley (The Substance). It also has Josh Brolin (Dune), Guy Pearce (Prometheus) and Allison Janney (I, Tonya) who gives an absolutely bonkers performance. I count three Oscar nominees, one winner and a Golden Globe nominee. Pretty impressive, is it not? So why isn’t The Dog Stars awesome? I’m going to circle back to this.
Although the trailer leaves one with the impression that The Dog Stars is an action movie, that’s not entirely accurate. It has a few action scenes sprinkled throughout, but it’s really more of a drama about a man looking for a better life in a post-apocalyptic world. You see, humanity has been all but eradicated by a virus. The remaining people are either good people just trying to survive or violent savages. The former group includes Hig (Elordi), a mechanic and pilot plagued by grief and guilt over the death of his wife. He spends his days flying his Cessna plane to nearby towns to forage for supplies accompanied by his faithful dog Jasper. His dream is to make it to Grand Junction where he hopes to find a better life.
SPOLIER ALERT! I’m doing this as a service to all you animal lovers out there. After Jasper is killed in an ambush, Hig decides to pick up and head to Grand Junction against the advice of his human friend, a military type named Bangley (Brolin). Mechanical problems force him to land near a farm where he encounters Cima (Qualley) and her crusty father (Pearce). It doesn’t take long for him and Cima to get something going. Suddenly, he’s not in such a hurry to get to where he was going.
Now back to why The Dog Stars isn’t awesome. Part of it has to do with the misleading trailer. It emphasizes the action aspects of the film; in particular, the sequence where a group reminiscent of wild “Indians” (please excuse the term) from old cowboy movies attack Hig’s plane as it attempts to take off. It’s a cool scene, but it doesn’t represent the film as a whole. Scott tries to be more thoughtful with his adaptation of the Peter Heller novel. It’s a human drama set in an inhumane world. And it has plenty of drama. Hig isn’t the only one dealing with grief. Cima lost her husband in the pandemic too. They bond over their shared feelings of loss. It’s not exactly what one expects from a post-apocalyptic movie. The Dog Stars is actually closer in spirit to The Road (2009). Now here’s where the problem lies. It has a hard time finding an identity. Yes, it’s drama, but it struggles with it, occasionally falling back on tropes associated with action.
The Dog Stars falls short in another crucial area. It doesn’t fully build the world in which it’s set. How did we get here? What actually happened besides a lot of people dying? Were there riots? Was there some kind of uprising? How is it that there are still resources (e.g. food, soda, medical supplies, petrol) to be found? A little more backstory is definitely in order here. Also, there’s not a lot in the way of character development. I’m not saying there’s none, but the characters could have stood more fleshing out.
The Dog Stars has some pacing issues, but it’s never actually boring. It has a few points of interest and for me, the main one is Allison Janney. She plays a character named Darlene. I don’t want to give too much away about her role in the story. I’ll only say that it adds an element of high camp to the otherwise serious proceedings. The word “loopy” also comes to mind.
As you can see, I have decidedly mixed feelings about The Dog Stars. It’s not bad, but it’s not particularly good either. What it is though is interesting. Scott, working from a screenplay by Mark L. Smith and an uncredited Christopher Wilkinson, goes for something different here. While he doesn’t wholly succeed, it’s not a total failure either. It’s either a near miss or indirect hit depending on whether you see a glass as half-full or half-empty.
