Title – The Dogs Stars (2026)

Director – Ridley Scott (Alien)

Cast – Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney, Benedict Wong

Plot – In a mostly barren post-apocalyptic landscape decimated by a virus that decimated the human population, pilot/mechanic Hig (Elordi) begins to wonder whether there is a place where humanity can once more thrive.  

“The end of the world was just the beginning”

Review by Eddie on 04/09/2026

A significant budget, well-regarded source material to adapt, an all-star cast and a hope from all cinemagoers that he would find his mojo once more has sadly amounted to little in legendary director Ridley Scott’s latest forgettable cinematic outing, The Dog Stars.

Disregarded by most critics and falling victim to a quick and decisive death at the global box office, Stars is the newest addition to Scott’s latest round of inoffensive but highly forgettable outings, that may be better than some of his more disastrous efforts like The Counsellor and The House of Gucci but that still doesn’t mean Stars gives us much in the way of reasons to get excited.

Adapted from Peter Heller’s popular novel of the same name, Stars takes us on a familiar feeling post-apocalyptic journey that follows Jacob Elordi’s charisma free dog-dad mechanic/pilot Hig on a bare bones narrative exercise where he decides after more than a decade living in a near abandoned old air strip with Josh Brolin’s grizzled Bangley that he is going to test the skies and try and find a better way to live in a new age world where humanity appears to be lost.

A film that simply just happens with little rhyme, reason or intention, Stars in small parts appears as though Scott is at least trying to do more than the bare minimum, a nighttime attack scene and a bizarre trip to an airport some such scenes, but mostly Stars is just walking through the motions giving us little in the way of emotional context or intrigue on its way to what can only be described as one of the years great uneventful finales.

Throughout the bland adventure a collection of talented Hollywood performers including Elordi’s first real big miss after stepping out from the shadows of Euphoria hype, with his Hig a hard central figure to care much for or enjoy, and mostly thankless roles for Brolin, a bearded Guy Pearce, an underused Margaret Qualley and a Razzie worthy Allison Janney can’t do much to bring life to Scott’s pedestrian affair.

For anyone that was hoping for an updated I Am Legend or a Last of Us feeling event Stars is going to leave them wanting a lot more as this poorly edited and stale experience on passes by on the faintest of fumes, with the gas in the tank of Scott’s career well-past exhausted if we base that summation off his past few weak and carelessly made features.

Final Say –

The Dog Stars is a film you will wish you could’ve liked a lot more as there’s a good film in here somewhere but Scott’s unwillingness to do more than the bare minimum halts any potential right in its tracks.

2 boxes of Sprite out of 5