The Dog Stars ★★★★★

Released: 28 August 2026

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, Guy Pearce

Late style in contemporary film is a fascinating phenomenon, especially within the studio system. Just this year alone, we’ve already seen ageing auteurs tackle introspective narratives with unmistakably singular flair: Spielberg and his Disclosure Day, Zhang Yimou with Scare Out, and that’s only accounting for the first half of 2026. The wider reception painted those films as nothing more than unwieldy curios—works that functioned as reflections of their creators’ lifelong thematic preoccupations. Regrettably, the discourse around them often fails to account for the human factor of seeing a mature artist in the final stage of their career, conflating their artistic legacy with rigid formal and narratological expectations. Ridley Scott’s latest, The Dog Stars, is now facing a similar uphill battle: a film so haunted by its architect and his past, even the massive IMAX screen could often feel too small for all the ghosts that inhabit it.

Based on the Peter Heller novel, the film is set against the backdrop of a post-pandemic America in 2035 where a devastating flu leaves humanity fighting for supplies. Hig (Jacob Elordi), a pilot anchored to his past, is trying to survive at a fortified airfield alongside his doomsday prepper companion, former Marine Bangley (Josh Brolin). When a tragic event snaps Hig out of his daily routine, he’s forced to confront his loss and fly past the point of no return in hopes of finding the fabled Grand Junction.

Scott claims to have never read the source material, which makes this an even more interesting endeavour. The Dog Stars is, first and foremost, a showcase for Scott’s keen eye for visual storytelling: the first act of the film is sparse on dialogue, opening in medias res and spotlighting the harsh survivalist lifestyle of Elordi’s character. There’s a strangely meditative quality to it all, almost as if Scott is plainly uninterested in any semblance of dramatic tension, instead opting for a beautifully melancholic rumination on a life long gone.

It’s hard to imagine a more earnest attempt at exploring late-career anxieties through the prism of a post-apocalyptic drama. The film essentially acts as Scott’s plea for a better, kinder world that we’re leaving for future generations. Not unlike Nolan’s The Odyssey, the weight of an ongoing apocalypse is heavy on the 88-year-old filmmaker, positioning the film’s young and trendy leads as the torchbearers of love and empathy. Picturing a life of comfort and dreams in a world like that seems like a distant fantasy, but one that Scott is willing to sincerely indulge in.

There’s always been a touch of cynicism to a lot of Ridley Scott’s finest works, but that quality is notably absent in The Dog Stars. While watching his latest, it’s impossible not to think of the director’s personal losses: the tragic passing of his brother, the inimitable Tony Scott, has always been a point of conversation around Ridley’s post-2012 output. However, few of his films since have possessed the kind of soulful mindfulness that permeates this haunted apocalyptic tale. Tony’s presence is felt throughout; his guiding star lights up the path. The Dog Stars is a film of discovery: a desire to discover a new beginning, a way forward when all the roads seem to lead back to where it all began, a prospect of a better life beyond all the pain and suffering. Saying goodbye is always the hardest part.