“The Dog Stars” Review

“The Dog Stars” review

MOVIE | Stunning landscapes, stumbling story

The Dog Stars review – sickly sweet hopecore

Ridley Scott’s latest post-apocalyptic fantasy is stacked with pretty faces and product placement, making it one of his least convincing efforts yet. A wave of what is known uninspiringly as “hopecore” is sweeping through theatres. At surface level these films inspire hope, turning often apocalyptic worlds on their head – Project Hail Mary, Mickey 17, Disclosure Day, to name a few. If you dig a little deeper, you usually only find some half-bake…

The Dog Stars Review

Ridley Scott’s latest, The Dog Stars, is a strange beast of a film. At just short of two hours, it’s a post-apocalyptic movie that can’t quite decide what it wants to be; too sleek and glossy to be taken properly seriously, and too similar to other end-of-the-world narratives to feel original.  Based on Peter Heller’s 2012 novel of the same name and adapted for the screen by Mark L. Smith, the film is set after a devastating flu epidemic that ha…