Updated

Updated · Fox News · Aug 29

Ridley Scott's 118-Minute 'The Dog Stars' Lands 2-Star Review as Jacob Elordi Leads Dull Thriller

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Aug 29

Ridley Scott's 118-Minute 'The Dog Stars' Lands 2-Star Review as Jacob Elordi Leads Dull Thriller

Q: Why did veteran actor Josh Brolin almost quit Ridley Scott's visually stunning but critically divided apocalyptic thriller on his very first day?

Josh Brolin nearly quit *The Dog Stars* because Ridley Scott’s directing style on day one left him alarmed and creatively unmoored. In interviews with *Empire* and other outlets, Brolin said Scott spent much of the time “talking a lot of stories and not really rehearsing,” which deeply unsettled him. Accustomed to a more structured process, Brolin was thrown by Scott’s low-rehearsal, fast-moving approach and his use of multiple cameras, a method designed to capture spontaneity rather than polish scenes through repeated preparation. Brolin said the experience “bugged me out” and made him “really scared,” to the point that he called his agent after the first day and said, “I want out. Something’s really wrong, and I’ve got to get the f--- out of here.” The reaction appears to have been heightened by fatigue as well: he had arrived after a run of back-to-back productions, including *Weapons*, *Wake Up Dead Man* and *The Running Man*. What changed was seeing the footage. Brolin recalled Scott bringing him into his trailer and showing him a scene he had just shot with Jacob Elordi. Once he saw that the material was strong and dynamic, he began to understand Scott’s method and “feed off that.” Within a day or two, Brolin said he embraced the process, later calling it “stratospherically creative and stratospherically dangerous” and ultimately one of the most satisfying projects of his career.

Q: What mysterious radio signal drives a lone survivor to abandon his safe haven in Ridley Scott’s quiet yet violent post-collapse wasteland?

It is a faint, garbled radio transmission believed to be coming from Grand Junction, Colorado. In *The Dog Stars*, that signal becomes the spark that pushes Hig, the lone survivor played by Jacob Elordi, to leave the relative safety of his abandoned Colorado airfield. He has been living there with Bangley, a heavily armed former Marine, and clinging to the possibility that some form of civilization still exists beyond the mountains. Both the review material and related coverage describe the message not as a clear broadcast but as a fragmentary, mysterious signal — just enough to suggest that someone may still be out there. That uncertainty is exactly what drives Hig forward: the transmission offers no guarantees, only the possibility of life, connection and something better than mere survival. So the answer is not a coded message with a known meaning, but a broken radio call from the direction of Grand Junction that awakens Hig’s hope and sends him west.

2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 29

A 2-star review labeled Ridley Scott's "The Dog Stars" a skip, saying the 118-minute post-apocalyptic drama never becomes involving despite a few gun battles.
Jacob Elordi plays Hig, a mechanic surviving flu-ravaged America from an abandoned Colorado airport with Josh Brolin's ex-Marine Bangley and a dog, before setting out in search of life beyond the mountains.
The review says the cast largely delivers—Elordi, Brolin, Guy Pearce, Margaret Qualley and Allison Janney all get praise—but faults Hig as a generic dystopian lead and the film's sleepy western tone.
Adapted from Peter Heller's 2012 novel, the R-rated film is now in theaters and is described as another entry in Scott's recent run of middling releases.

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Fox News2h ago

Review: Ridley Scott's "The Dog Stars" Starring Jacob Elordi Deemed "Dull"

imdb2h ago

The Dog Stars (2026) - News - IMDb

Why did veteran actor Josh Brolin almost quit Ridley Scott's visually stunning but critically divided apocalyptic thriller on his very first day?

Can Jacob Elordi's standout performance save a visually breathtaking post-apocalyptic drama that critics are calling beautifully mounted but ultimately forgettable?

What mysterious radio signal drives a lone survivor to abandon his safe haven in Ridley Scott’s quiet yet violent post-collapse wasteland?

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2 total

Fox News2h ago

Review: Ridley Scott's "The Dog Stars" Starring Jacob Elordi Deemed "Dull"

imdb2h ago

The Dog Stars (2026) - News - IMDb

Ridley Scott's 118-Minute 'The Dog Stars' Lands 2-Star Review as Jacob Elordi Leads Dull Thriller

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