THE DOG STARS (2026)

A depressed pilot living in the world after a pandemic wiped out most of humanity wants to fly to investigate a radio signal he occasionally hears on the radio. Things happen.

A first half exploration of life after is actually quite good. Going against everything we see in every other post-apocalyptic film, it survives because it's different, especially since for that early section the film is nicely morally gray (They kill anyone who comes on their land without questioning them).

The problem is that the second half, when the marauders wander, goes off the rails completely. I say completely because the film has issues like the dialog sets out a period of time that well over a decade since the fall but the note we see says it's just 9 years from today, or some things are more decayed than others while some abandoned places look freshly mowed. On the other hand, once the marauders attack things cease to make sense. For example, they don't seem organized and are more there to look cool. Sure, we get a gang of topless skin head from the road company of Road Fury, but they are all perfectly washed and more like zombies of the movies or kids at a rave than people scavenging. And I shouldn't say a word about Junction City but if you don't instantly know what is going on THE DOG STARS must be your first film.

Yes, the films ending is very good, but it's not enough to overcome the weak and cliche third plus before it.

After the film I did what apparently several of my writer friends did and that was look to see how close to the book the film is. The basic plot is the same however, based on my reading on line they altered some bits and pieces, in particular by amping up the action sequences and adding most of the cliche turns that annoyed me. Apparently, Ridley Scott didn't trust the material and broke it to have three action set pieces.

To be fair, I don't hate the film, but I wish the filmmakers had trusted the material and didn't fuck it up. The low-key post-apocalyptic take is brilliant on its own terms.

It's worth seeing at some point, but there is zero reason to see it in IMAX. They are only running it that way to scam you out of extra money/