Hello, Review-Verse audience!
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| Poster of ‘The Dog Stars.’ Courtesy of 20th Century Studios. |
Today’s subject: Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars, based on the novel by Peter Heller.
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| Jacob Elordi as Hig and Josh Brolin as Bangley from ‘The Dog Stars.’ Courtesy of 20th Century Studios. |
The film took place in 2035. Jacob Elordi from Wuthering Heights starred as mechanic Hig, a survivor of a flu pandemic living with his dog Jasper and former Marine Bangley, played by Josh Brolin of Avengers: Endgame. Despite flying from their base in Erie, CO to Denver for supplies and reflections on his deceased wife, Hig longed to fly to a rumored safe haven in Grand Junction, CO, against Bangley’s protests given the hopelessness since the pandemic.
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| Jasper the dog and Jacob Elordi as Hig from ‘The Dog Stars.’ Courtesy of 20th Century Studios. |
When Hig decided to finally make his dream a reality, he flew off with Bangley staying behind to defend their base from savages called Reapers. However, his plane was forced to rest due to oil pressure trouble. He crossed paths with a medic named Cima, played by Margaret Qualley of The Substance, and her rancher father Pops, played by Guy Pearce of Iron Man 3. After a rocky introduction and fighting off an attack from Reapers, the three made way to Grand Junction.
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| Margaret Qualley as Cima from ‘The Dog Stars.’ Courtesy of 20th Century Studios and iMDb.com. |
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| Guy Pearce as Pops from ‘The Dog Stars.’ Courtesy of 20th Century Studios and IMDb.com. |
When they make it to what used to be Grand Junction Regional Airport, it seems as inviting as Charles Muntz’s The Spirit of Adventure from Up. But as de facto leader Darlene, played by Allison Janney from Mom, tried getting conversation out of Cima, the peaceful Dean Martin music began getting mixed with sinister string music. Darlene went from a cheerful stewardess to sickeningly sweet and insane like Muntz.
Even though I’ve only seen the first 10 minutes of Will Smith’s I Am Legend, The Dog Stars followed their idea in showing few human survivors and a dog trying to make the new normal work in the beginning. When the trio checked in at the airport, they had their forehead temperature scanned like we did during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Spoiler: Janney’s character of Darlene had a closet of dismembered heads as the trio made their escape. I can’t say Muntz was that cannibalistic in Up, I’ll tell you that.
On one of the few brights sides in the movie, Benedict Wong from Doctor Strange played a Mennonite that Elordi’s character provided supplies to. The bright side was seeing Wong’s character played in some country band at a gathering towards the end of the movie.
I would have to give The Dog Stars a 7.5/10. It’s too similar to other post-apocalyptic survival movies, but it did put some perspective on our own real life pandemic drama, and I liked the chemistry and action exhibited by Elordi and his fellow cast-mates. I also liked the music by artists such as Caamp or Mick Jagger, score by Harry Gregson-Williams, the set design, and the star studying scenes.
Maybe what it could’ve done better was describe how the pandemic affected people beyond Colorado and a way to cure that version of the flu.
Feel free to share your two cents in the comments section if you’ve seen it. If you have time, check out The Dog Stars in theatres, rated R.
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