Sir Ridley Scott has earned the right to make a film as derivative as The Dog Stars. Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982) alone sealed his status as one of the great fathers of modern sci-fi, and there’s nary a Dune or a Project Hail Mary now that isn’t covered in his fingerprints (certainly, there’d be no Project Hail Mary without Scott’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s previous novel, The Martian, in 2015).
His new post-apocalyptic drama can be roughly divided into three major set pieces: the bit that feels like 28 Days Later (2002), the bit that feels like Mad Max (1979), and the bit that feels like the video game Fallout: New Vegas (2010). I imagine Scott would defend against such accusations with a shrugged, “well, everyone stole from me, so who’s to say I can’t do a little borrowing too?” Fair enough. That doesn’t make The Dogs Stars any more compelling to watch.
