The Dog Stars just handed Ridley Scott a record he probably didn’t want. Reviews for the post-apocalyptic thriller reveal where the film lands among the director’s worst-reviewed projects on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Dog Stars reviews lead to second worst Rotten Tomatoes score for Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars currently holds a 42% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 50 reviews.
The post-apocalyptic thriller sits just above Kingdom of Heaven (39%) as Scott’s second-lowest score as a director on the aggregator. The score could still drop below that threshold as more reviews come in, though that remains uncertain.
Scott’s recent directorial track record has been mixed critically, with Napoleon (58%) and House of Gucci (61%) both receiving lukewarm responses. Gladiator II earned his strongest recent reviews at 70%, but it fell short commercially against its reported $250 million budget, grossing around $460 million worldwide.
The film stars Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, and Guy Pearce. Mark L. Smith wrote the screenplay based on Peter Heller’s 2012 novel of the same name. 20th Century Studios will release the film in theaters on August 28.
Critics have expressed mixed-to-negative reactions across the board. ComingSoon gave the film a 5/10, noting that “The Dog Stars wants to be deeply emotional without giving its characters enough specificity to earn those emotions.” RogerEbert.com‘s Robert Daniels gave the film 1.5/4 and stated that “it probably takes more effort to make a boring post-apocalyptic survivalist action film than to make a good one.” The AV Club‘s Monica Castillo graded it a D+ and called the film “one of his worst misfires.”
However, some reviewers offered more favorable takes on the film. The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney described the movie as “an appealingly mellow watch” despite it being unlikely to rank among Scott’s best. Screen International’sTim Grierson praised Scott’s “careful attention to his characters” as a redeeming quality. Variety’s Guy Lodge still criticized the film as “a surprisingly low-energy, low-incident blockbuster.”
Additionally, Consequence’s Liz Shannon Miller gave the film a C+ and described the screenplay as “a tonal mishmash.” The Guardian’s Benjamin Lee gave it 2/5 and stated that “the beats are now far too familiar.” IndieWire’sRyan Lattanzio gave it a C and acknowledged Elordi’s screen presence but noted that it still could not “rescue material that inevitably heads straight into its own apocalypse.”
Originally reported by Vritti Johar on Comingsoon.net.
