Review: The Dog Stars

It's reassuring to see a movie that reminds us that, even after the apocalypse, there's always going to be poor people wanting to steal our stuff. So ingrained are these fears that in The Dog Stars they outlast America itself: society has vanished in every way, and yet crime gangs wanting something for nothing remain.

A few years on from a flu pandemic that pretty much wiped out humanity, Hig (Jacob Elordi) has a pretty sweet deal going. Living on an airfield with his gruff hetrosexual life partner Bangley (Josh Brolin), he flies his plane into depopulated Denver to collect supplies, occasionally hangs out with a isolated religious community that take in surviving children - nothing dodgy there - and then comes home to chill out, have a beer, play cards, and occasionally shoot intruders before they have a chance to speak.

While Bangley is digging the survivalist vibes of their way of life, Hig is still depressed over the death of his wife and is hoping there's other survivors out there. The occasional radio message from Grand Junction, combined with a crime gang attack that hits a little too close to home, sends him flying off on a one-way trip to try and reconnect with someone.

One of the few strengths of this film is that it (often) sticks to an aggressively low-key approach to things. Yes, there are roving bands of kill-crazy lunatics; later on there's what is basically an Indian (as in, Cowboys & Indians) war party, and if you're wondering if any survivors have gone insane and turned into cannibals, that is also a box that is eventually ticked.

(none of which makes much sense, as we're repeatedly shown that almost everyone died pretty quickly, leaving behind everything a roving band of killers could want without having to bother with the killing part) 

But this also features a lengthy period where the main drama is "will Hig be able to pull up a bunch of tree stumps?". No spoilers, but we're so used to these stories ending in some kind of climactic battle that when this instead focuses on re-establishing a new status quo its almost unsettling in its refusal to put lives on the line.

That doesn't make it a good film though. The action scenes are competent until you notice that they're gleefully dehumanising the attackers in a way that's more than a little problematic. It's the story of a group of people who have a lot, shooting anyone who comes on their property and burning their bodies (yeah, that smoke isn't going to be a giveaway either). Early on it feels like it's going to question that dynamic, but then Hig just flies off.

The Dog Stars ends up a strange and not exactly satisfying mix of post-apocalyptic genres. For long stretches it wants to be about people trying to figure out how to keep going when everyone they loved is dead, then those same people make a bunch of other people dead because that's just what you do after the world ends.  

There's a more interesting and impactful film inside this one, buried just a little too deep for any dog to dig out.

- Anthony Morris