{"id":32872,"date":"2026-09-08T23:25:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T03:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=32872"},"modified":"2026-09-09T00:09:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:09:46","slug":"post-apocalyptic-life-after-a-pandemic-is-detailed-in-dog-stars-veteran-director-ridley-scotts-latest-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=32872","title":{"rendered":"Post Apocalyptic Life After a Pandemic is Detailed In \u201cDog Stars,\u201d Veteran Director Ridley Scott\u2019s Latest Film"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Review by Brad Balfour, Arts Editor
Film: Dog Stars
Director: Ridley Scott
Writer:\u00a0Mark L. Smith
Cast: Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, Guy Pearce, Benedict Wong<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Master filmmaker Ridley Scott likes big ideas and big characters, especially when they\u2019re dealing with the fantastical and epic. He prefers the dramatic so his films like \u201cAlien,\u201d \u201cBlade Runner,\u201d \u201cGladiator,\u201d or \u201cThe Martian\u201d suit him. He started out as a visual designer before moving on to directing feature films which lends itself to making movies with strong graphic concepts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout his career, the 88-year-old has taken on huge challenges. When it was announced that his next film after \u201cGladiator 2\u201d would be \u201cDog Stars,\u201d the news prompted lots of curiosity. Based on Peter Heller\u2019s soulful 2012 novel and set around Denver, Colorado 10 years in the future, it has contemplative moments and sweeping panoramas sandwiched between a few scenes of furious action. Not quite what\u2019s expected in Scott\u2019s sci-fi wheelhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this futuristic vision, a deadly virus has seemingly wiped out most of the earth\u2019s population. But since much of the narrative takes place near the Front Mountain Range on the south side of Denver, we don\u2019t know for sure. The deadly flu outbreak has seemingly decimated most of the communities in the cities with almost no contact in between. Many of those who survived are crippled by a debilitating blood disease resulting in an unstable dystopian world. In this brutal, post-apocalyptic landscape, the few who remain are forced to confront the harsh realities of a bleak future. They must struggle to make sense of their new reality, reinvent their lives, and preserve what remains of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there are the crazies. But more on that later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young civilian pilot Hig (Jacob Elordi) and military survivalist Bangley (Josh Brolin) have carved out an isolated but efficient homestead on a deserted little airport outside of Erie. While Bangley has no intention of leaving, Hig frequently flies off in a dilapidated Cessna with his beloved dog Jasper on scouting missions into the decimated city, searching for anyone uninfected. Occasionally he delivers supplies to a small isolated Mennonite community. On several occasions, Hig receives a mysterious radio transmission, so he ventures into the unknown in search of untainted humanity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with plane trouble, he\u2019s unexpectedly forced to land. There he stumbles upon the isolated canyon home of Pops (Guy Pearce) and daughter Cima (Margaret Qualley.) Pops harbors a deep distrust of outsiders and guards his property with military fierceness, embodying a survival instinct stripped to its core. He\u2019s wary, watchful, and unyielding — and regards Hig with suspicion. Cima, on the other hand, retains a sense of the hope that survival is worth it. She carries on without having lost her caring nature \u2014 one that had once drawn her to being a hospital intern before the pandemic. Having lost her husband to the outbreak, Cima offers Hig not just kindness, but the first genuine connection neither of them has felt in years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, the duo helps Hig repair his plane. Unfortunately, they\u2019re discovered by berserkers on horseback so they\u2019re forced to flee. That leads to ever greater danger and craziness. Without revealing the details of one shocking set piece, they stop by a rehabilitated airport installation run by Allison Janney who is both the leader and a demented stewardess. In a fury, they escape one more crazed scenario. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes the film something more than just another grim post-apocalyptic thriller is its slower-pace and ambling storytelling — not typical of most dystopian ideations. Bolstered by the script’s relatively low word count, moments of reflection appear more in flashbacks rather than in conversation. Though not overtly contemplative, Scott gets his actors to reveal through motion and expression that it\u2019s worth trying to survive if not to thrive. There\u2019s an element of hopefulness imbued in the film\u2019s proceedings. Occasionally, it veers into darker gothic turf. That doesn\u2019t seem to be in the book but it\u2019s there at least for cinematic enhancement if not for anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not having read the novel, I\u2019m not sure how much of this directly comes from the novel or has been added to the narrative. Would large swathes of humanity form heavily tattooed death cults or become tribalistic killers? Does it make sense, as Bangley believes, that every intruder on his turf is a threat that only needs to be shot down and burned? Of course if they are armed, they need to be stopped. But has humanity become so desolate and desperate that it\u2019s shoot first and ask questions later?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, from these grim scenes of death and chaos, a more hopeful note emerges as the film concludes. This isn\u2019t a future to be prettified. Fair enough. But that impulse also falls in line with the film\u2019s rural eat-your-greens demeanor. Can\u2019t something here thrive rather than just survive? There must be other cities not as devastated as the Denver we see. That gives the characters hope for the future and hope for the film as well.<\/p>\n

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