The Dog Stars

Grade: B+

Ridley Scott knows a thing or two about action, and the trailer for The Dog Stars appears to promise an all-out violent extravaganza. Instead, the movie we get is much quieter than I’d have ever guessed. There are a couple of fight/chase sequences, but it’s more about characters, situations, and relationships. It’s different than what I thought I was in for, and all the richer because of it.

It’s set in the mid 2030s. A plague has wiped out most of civilization, and we follow the journey of a few survivors. I loved the opening sequence, as we see Hig (Jacob Elordi) go about his daily routine. I chuckled at the three different modes of transportation he uses within such a short time. After driving a lawnmower to his plane, he then flies to deserted post-apocalyptic Denver, and then takes a golf cart to City Hall to “borrow” the usual supplies. Josh Brolin plays fellow survivor and “neighbor” Bangley. He and Hig have a good system going. Sometimes they drink, smoke cigars, and play cards. They play for money, but it’s just a prop in the game. Money obviously doesn’t mean anything anymore.

While flying, Hig receives sporadic radio calls from Grand Junction. He’s built it up in his head as a thriving community, fancier and more populated than his current digs. It’s his Oz. He wants to go there, and finally makes a decision to leave Bangley and venture out to Grand Junction. His plane breaks down, but fortunately, and conveniently for the plot, he was a mechanic back when the world was still worlding. He knows how to fix it, but needs a little time and tools.

He has landed near somebody’s hideout. Cima (Margaret Qualley) lives there. Her dad, known as Pops, is understandably skeptical and distrusting. People try to keep “unknowns” off their property. You don’t know where they’ve been, or what sickness they might be carrying around. Not to mention, if you have a daughter who looks like Qualley, and a man who looks like Elordi literally dropped in, it might make you feel some kind of way. Guy Pearce plays Pops as eternally gruff and crotchety, even when he grows to befriend and help Hig. It’s just his tone. There are lines like “Did he just say something nice?” and “I’ve never heard him be nice.”

The movie does eventually take us to Hig’s great white whale: Grand Junction. The unofficial mayor/president of the area is played by Allison Janney. She has on heavy makeup, wears a vintage flight attendant outfit, and looks like a Hunger Games character. When I saw her in the trailer, I thought it was Gwyneth Paltrow (who, incidentally, played a flight attendant from older times in View from the Top). The Grand Junction sequence is an example of where the film could have gone if it chose to. The fact that we don’t spend too much time there works in its favor.

Watching The Dog Stars, the phrase “just enough before being too much” frequently entered my head. The Grand Junction business could have been its own set piece for a standalone action thriller, much like other scenes involving a plane chase, or Brolin fighting off unknowns. We get a little bit of that stuff, but then circle back and never lose sight of the meat and potatoes of the story. When I write about a bad movie, I often say that I can see glimpses of a good one in there somewhere. With The Dog Stars, it’s the opposite: at times, I caught traces of how it could have been worse if certain subplots had been dwelled on too much. Instead, we get just enough of the parts I didn’t care for as much, while what I really wanted to see was at the forefront. This is a pensive post-virus survival drama, with characters I enjoyed getting to know and some beautiful scenery. It even mostly eschews a romance plot. The one and only kiss doesn’t happen until the very end. The Dog Stars is smart enough to know what should get the most focus.

Grade: B+