Ridley Scott's THE DOG STARS

Hmm... starts as I Am Legend (which, if you know Ridley, go *figure), and winds up much closer as it goes along to... post apocalypse John Ford. That will sound like a stretch, I know, and right now I can't find the proof; but I swear I read a long time ago that Scott, early in his career post Alien and Blade Runner, said he wanted to be the "John Ford of Sci-Fi." While I don't think obviously that turned out the way it did, this is a story that culminates in community and family being important above all else, which like pick a Ford and that is all here.

In fact, it is hard not to use the term "elegaic" or even "contemplative" for good stretches of this film. It may be more heavy-handed at times with its messaging- Josh Brolin, very good as he always is, says everything in bold letters (and "fucks," natche) with nearly every other line- but there are a lot of minutes where we can just watch (also very good) people like Elordi and Qualley and Pearce looking and thinking and trying tentatively to find what kind of place they have around new people and what kind of connection is even worth making in a devastated world. And like Ford's films in his later years, The Dog Stars is more thoughtful about regret and inner pain while still being a mostly engaging spectacle.

Maybe a movie like this works a little better if you are not expecting something like a great big late-era surprise, but rather something that is a "Programmer" kind of genre exercise (seeing this on a lazy Sunday afternoon is just the thing ss well), which finds a filmmaker with something to say about grief and the pain of moving on. The casting is especially important here and I found everyone was game and good for what was needed - this is also including what Allison Janey has to do, and her appearance in the trailer didn't prepare me at all for the hard right turn this takes with her.

That section of around 15 minutes is a much weirder and off-kilter tone than much of the rest of the film, but I also found that was necessary at that point in the story to add an extra jolt or what have you to what was happening (sort of like the other extreme of what the Menonites represent with Benedict Wong). I can even get that some might find this movie dry, or familiar especially if you've seen things like the Last of Us to a certain extent.

If anything the parts where it is more action-heavy (ie the night-time raids on Brolin's character's property and what he does about it) are when it was more OK, and I wanted it to go back to those more calm and "small" scenes where Elordi and Qualley bond over their shared bits of trauma and yearning (yes, don't laugh... much). When Scott shows people working together and hanging out and the differing worldviews, it feels more compelling.

As much as the parallel is clear as day with the roving band of (tatooed?) Scavengers are placeholders for tribes of Native-Americans, it makes the Western allegory easier to parse. Some scenes and moments drag or maybe a little dull, where the movie ends up I really like and appreciated the more I thought about it.

It may even feel somewhat abrupt by the end, but I don't think so. Seing where the characters end up at the end is exactly what feels right especially watching this in 2026. Maybe the kind of I Am Legend that Scott would have made decades ago would have been rougher and more centered on isolationism, but he's not that director anymore and I think watching this as a "Old Man" movie is more interesting for me... even if it is, admittedly, extremely "Mid-Tier" Ridley (ie where does this fall, like around White Squall or Black Rain? Better than Napoleon or Prometheus, but I digress).

(* it should be noted that the comparisons should not be read too deeply since Scott wanted Schwarzenegger for his film and.... Elordi is not that to be clear)