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Now Playing: ‘Dog Stars’ is a disappointing post-apocalyptic drama

By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on: Thursday, September 3, 2026

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In my time, I’ve seen many different types of post-apocalyptic movies. Some are Mad Max-style action stories that emphasize destruction and spectacle. Others can be slower and more pensive, like The Road or The Long Walk. Ridley Scott’s latest work, Dog Stars, is definitely the latter. Based on an acclaimed novel by Peter Heller, I will describe the movie as a post-apocalyptic neo-Western that has all the ingredients for a gripping story. Unfortunately, this movie is painfully generic in its execution, while its plagued, ravaged setting itself feels frustratingly vague.

Here we follow a pilot named Hig (a rather mopey Jacob Elordi), a widow who survived a devastating flu pandemic and now lives in an abandoned airport hangar in Colorado. After receiving a signal from a distant community, Hig hops in his tiny Cessna with his dog and embarks on a journey through this post-apocalyptic world that may free him from his isolation.

First, the good stuff. Visually, the film can be quite striking. For instance, on a big screen, seeing Hig fly in their Cessna over this landscape, the camera often lingers on quiet, beautiful rural settings to highlight the emptiness of the world. Cinematographer Erik Messerschmid skillfully photographs the dramatic peaks of the Dolomites mountains of Italy to stand in for a fractured, post-apocalyptic Colorado. Unfortunately, just looking good isn’t good enough.

This movie lives or dies based on how you feel about Jacob Elordi’s character. I was indifferent towards him. It’s not that the actor is acting poorly; there’s just a frustrating lack of urgency to his performance or motivation for his journey. Playing a grieving survivor, Elordi relies too heavily on empty, absent stares. I can’t think of anything he does in this movie that a dozen other different actors couldn’t have done just as well. I was particularly let down by the attempt to create a love story between his character and another survivor played by Margaret Qualley.

Specifically, their romantic arc relies on broad, familiar complaints about missing the comforts of the previous world, like traffic and music. Still, their scenes together feel like surface-level flirtation between two attractive actors rather than two wounded people seeking solace in each other’s company. In the end, there is little to no nuance to his grief. That lack of narrative specificity extends to the post-apocalyptic world as well.

There’s nothing wrong with a story being derivative, but Dog Stars feels derivative in the most generic way. This is another post-apocalyptic film that pretends audiences haven’t lived through decades of shows like The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, or several other films about isolated male loners who desperately try to recreate civilization. The film’s dystopian beats are so familiar and vague.

For instance, it was never clear to me just how much time has passed since civilization fell, or how this disease spreads (are the characters immune, or is sickness still spreading?) How much distance is between communities, and how long does it take to get there?

I have a feeling this story probably would’ve made for a gripping 8-episode streaming series, but the finished product has little to no psychological tension.   ★ ★