The Dog Stars review: Ridley Scott takes to the empty skies

The end of the world, with a co-pilot

The set-up is lean. A pandemic has wiped out most of the world’s population. Our man lives a solitary life in a Colorado airplane hangar with his dog and a dour gunman he has struck up an uneasy friendship with. It’s not a cosy arrangement, but out here even grim company counts as company.

Then, while he’s up in his old Cessna, a mysterious transmission crackles over the radio. Somewhere out there, someone or something is broadcasting, and the need to find out who sets the story moving. That’s as much as I’ll say. The fun of a film like this is not knowing what’s at the other end of the signal, and the trailers have already given away more than enough.

The TMDB comparisons, I Am Legend and The Omega Man, tell you the territory: one man, one dog, too much silence. The Grey is a smarter match for tone, though. This is men, landscape and the slow ache of what’s left after the noise stops.

Elordi, Brolin and a very handy supporting cast

Jacob Elordi gets top billing, which is the clearest sign yet that the Saltburn and Euphoria lad is now a leading man who gets films made. Josh Brolin comes second, and if you’ve seen him in No Country for Old Men or Sicario you’ll know he can do taciturn menace in his sleep. The pair of them in a hangar together sounds like a stage play, and that’s no bad thing.

Below them is a cast that would make most directors weep with envy: Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Benedict Wong and Allison Janney. Pearce’s turn in The Brutalist reminded everyone how unsettling he can be, and Janney rarely turns up for a film without stealing at least one scene from someone younger and prettier.

Behind the camera is Ridley Scott, whose CV includes Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise and Gladiator. He’s an old hand at empty spaces and at people talking themselves into trouble. The Dog Stars runs 119 minutes, short by his recent standards (Napoleon felt like it lasted most of the Napoleonic era), and carries a 15 certificate in the UK.

What works, and what might not

Scott is still among the best in the business at making a landscape do the talking, and big skies over the Rockies seen from a small plane are exactly the kind of thing that justifies leaving the sofa. The premise also suits him. It’s built around a question (who’s on the radio?) rather than a body count, and that gives him room for atmosphere over spectacle.

Strip away the pandemic and the guns, and this is really a film about two men who’ve forgotten how to talk, and the dog who has to do the emotional heavy lifting.

The risks are just as easy to see. The post-apocalyptic genre is crowded, and audiences who’ve sat through The Last of Us, Station Eleven and a dozen lesser imitations know all the beats: the scavenging, the suspicious strangers, the hope that might be a trap. The Dog Stars has to find something new in that, and its pull depends heavily on whether you buy Elordi as a man worn down by solitude rather than a handsome one pausing between photoshoots. Billing it as action may also mislead anyone expecting wall-to-wall shoot-outs. On paper this is a slower, more reflective creature.

What the critics say

Scott’s late-career run has split critics more often than not. For every The Martian there’s been a House of Gucci, and his two Gladiators show how far apart the reactions can be. The Dog Stars arrives with that baggage, and a smaller, more personal story may suit him better than another sword-and-sandals epic. Check the aggregators before you book. My advice is to judge it on whether the premise grabs you, and leave the star counts aside.

Where to watch The Dog Stars in the UK

The Dog Stars is showing in UK cinemas now, released by 20th Century Studios with a 15 certificate. As a 20th Century film it will most likely end up on Disney+ eventually, but no streaming date has been announced. For now, if you want those Colorado skies on a screen bigger than your telly, the cinema is the only option.

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Verdict

The Dog Stars is a grown-up end-of-the-world story from a director who still knows how to frame a horizon, with a cast deep enough to carry the quiet stretches. It won’t reinvent the genre, but it seems built around character and mood rather than explosions, and that makes it a better bet than most. I’d recommend it to anyone who rated The Grey or the quieter half of I Am Legend, and it’s a decent midweek cinema trip with a mate who also owns too many survival books. If you like your apocalypse loud and fast, like World War Z, give it a miss and wait for the inevitable Disney+ arrival.

Sources

• IMDb – The Dog Stars (2026) cast and credits
• 20th Century Studios – Official site for The Dog Stars

The Dog Stars – 2026 – In cinemas – Cast includes:
Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce
Images from TMDB. Streaming data from JustWatch.