Ridley Scott's $110 Million The Dog Stars Misfires as Jacob Elordi Leads Lethargic Pandemic Drama
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 26
Ridley Scott's $110 Million The Dog Stars Misfires as Jacob Elordi Leads Lethargic Pandemic Drama
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 26
Summary
$110 million adaptation The Dog Stars lands as a critical disappointment, with reviewers calling Ridley Scott's postapocalyptic film limp, derivative and dramatically thin.
Jacob Elordi's survivor tale in a flu-ravaged Colorado is undercut by a puddle-deep script from Mark L. Smith, familiar genre beats and characters too insubstantial to sustain its human-over-spectacle approach.
Scott's direction also draws fire, from late-arriving action and an unconvincing third act to janky visual effects that make the large budget hard to spot on screen.
The film, based on Peter Heller's 2012 novel and co-starring Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce and Allison Janney, opens in Australia on Aug. 27 and in the U.S. and UK on Aug. 28.