Hig (Jacob Elordi) has a routine. He fuels up his rickety vintage airplane, flies into the abandoned city of Erie, Colorado, and restocks. He picks up more fuel from the gas station, its walls covered in graffiti and nearly buried by vegetation. He drops by the local bar, where he takes a few cases of soda. He naturally stops by the hospital, lights still flickering, where he’s squirreled away tons of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. But his most important stop is his old house, its doorway marked by a giant red X, but everything inside still untouched. He returns to his bedroom, where he’s greeted by the beatific vision of his pregnant wife, still full of love and life. But then we cut to Hig sitting alone on the bed, accompanied only by Jasper, his loving dog and partner in this post-apocalyptic landscape.The world in The Dog Stars has been ravaged by a devastating flu pandemic, which has left only a handful of survivors scattered across the world. Some, like Hig and his disgruntled survivalist roommate Bangley (Josh Brolin), have insulated themselves in self-made fortresses, while others roam the country as part of feral, bloodthirsty tribes. Hig and Bangley’s home — an abandoned airport near Erie — is as good as it gets, with the ever-paranoid Bangley stocking up on weapons and provisions, while Hig makes his regular trips to the city (as well as stopping by a nearby Mennonite community to give handouts, against Bangley’s wishes). They’ve achieved “the American Dream,” Bangley says dryly. But Hig, who bristles against Bangley’s ruthless executions of anyone who comes within shooting distance of their home, wants more than just to get by. It’s the age-old question of many a post-apocalyptic drama: What does it mean to not just survive, but live? The Dog Stars doesn’t have an answer, and Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Peter Heller’s acclaimed 2012 novel doesn’t really seem interested in one.A post-apocalyptic survivor and his dog. | 20th Century StudiosThere’s no question that apocalypse dramas are having a moment right now. The post-apocalyptic sci-fi genre is thriving both on the big screen and small screen, ranging from off-the-wall shows like Twisted Metal and Fallout to brutal horror like 28 Years Later, and outrageous spectacle like Mad Max: Fury Road. But perhaps the one having its biggest heyday is the grim survivalist drama, the genre best embodied by 2009’s The Road and buoyed by the popularity of The Last of Us. To both its benefit and its detriment, The Dog Stars feels like a blend of all of those, but most obviously owes its inspirations to the melancholic stylings of the bleak survivalist drama.The Dog Stars, whose screenplay is penned by The Revenant scribe Mark L. Smith, wears the patina of prestige like Elordi’s Hig wears the protective scarf that remains fashionably draped around his neck throughout the film. It’s a slow-burning, wistful character drama that seeks to find the glimmers of hope at the end of the world. It’s present in the long stretches of Hig and Jasper wandering the abandoned ruins of Erie. It’s present in the sweet slice-of-life scenes of Hig pointing out the constellations to Jasper. And it’s ever-present when Hig, after a tragedy shakes his world, finally decides to part ways with Bangley to seek out a distress call he heard from Grand Junction years ago. It’s on this trip that he meets the kind former medical resident Cima (Margaret Qualley) and her grizzled dad Pops (Guy Pearce), and forms the kind of human connection he’s been seeking out for years — if only he’ll let it happen.Apart from Elordi, Brolin is a standout as a grizzled survivalist. | 20th Century StudiosIt all feels so very par for the course in a post-The Last of Us world, and it’s only emphasized by the constant soundtrack of folksy country songs that play over these early slow-moving stretches. But despite Elordi’s soulful performance — bringing some of that deep vulnerability that he first showed glimmers of in Frankenstein — and the long, lingering pans over magnificent mountains and landscapes now untouched by man, these melancholic stretches feel more morose than profound. The rest of the cast is solid (though it’s notable that apart from Benedict Wong, who only has a handful of speaking lines, the cast is primarily white with model good looks), and Brolin in particular lends an impish spark to his grizzled character, though they aren’t given much space to become more than post-apocalyptic archetypes.It results in The Dog Stars feeling a little shaggy and shapeless, ironically only coming alive when its contemplative moments are interrupted by shocks of violence. Indeed, The Dog Stars is most successful when Ridley Scott is allowed to flex his action chops (which have never been brawnier or more brutal, despite the director pushing 90), and most interesting when it’s allowed to deviate from the post-apocalyptic norm and get a little weird and horror-tinged. One particular mid-point segment involving a delightfully unhinged Alison Janney feels like it dropped in from a different, much more heightened, movie altogether.Campfire stories about the world gone by. | 20th Century StudiosPerhaps it’s a case of a director not suiting the material — late-stage Scott films are at their best when he maintains a “screw it” mentality and doubles down on the sort of grim, trashy nihilism that characterized The Last Duel, Napoleon, or even House of Gucci. Scott approaches the more meditative nature of The Dog Stars with a workmanlike mentality, which is not bad per se, but doesn’t help the movie stand out in the crowded post-apocalyptic pop culture landscape. Or it could be an issue that reaches back further; Heller’s novel, the source material, was published in 2012 — back when The Road was still fresh, and The Last of Us video game had not yet taken the world by storm. The movie comes from a different time and feels like it.Still, there is much to enjoy about The Dog Stars, which is elevated by Elordi’s earnest performance, rugged good looks, and a very good dog. Its mournful contemplation of a world long gone is true and often moving, as are the sweet moments of connection between Elordi’s Hig and Qualley’s Cima. Its brutal sequences are truly thrilling, and that absurd mid-movie pivot makes it worth seeing alone. But it does feel like The Dog Stars might be destined to be lost among the many great post-apocalyptic dramas crowding the mediascape today.The Dog Stars opens in theaters August 28.