The Fault in Our (Dog) Stars

            This was an interesting weekend at the theaters. There was Coyote vs. Acme, which had to go through a fight to make it to the theaters. This is a movie that Warner Brothers made, but for tax purposes, they decided they were not going to put it out, so all the hard work that people put into this film would not have the chance to see the light of day. It would not even be sent direct to streaming, but after many people fighting for it, it finally got released. It Ends is a horror movie that had a very limited release, then went to paid streaming, and now almost a year later is back in theaters due to its performance, and it is just about people driving down a seemingly never ending road. The other movie was The Dog Stars, which has some big names in it, and it is based off of a novel that was popular over a decade ago.

The Dog Stars mostly follows Hig (Eloridi) through an apocalyptic Colorado. There was a flu pandemic that demolished most of the population, and it has turned the world into a wasteland. Hig lives on a small rural airport with Bangley (Brolin), who has the military training to keep them safe, and Hig has airplane experience, so he is able to do supply runs to places like Denver to make sure that they stay fully stocked.

            One day while out flying, Hig hears someone on the radio, another settlement. They are located outside of his flight range for one tank, so he needs a plan to be able to go, stop, and then keep going. Hig asks Bangley to come, but Bangley does not want to leave their set up, because he feels safe, and he thinks the outside world has nothing better to offer him.

            While Hig is trying to fly to the new settlement, he experiences some engine troubles, and he must make a crash landing. He just happens to find another small settlement just like his, but this one has a father and a daughter, Cima and Pops, who are reluctant to take in Hig, but eventually he becomes apart of their family and falls in love with Cima, and they all try to go to the new settlement together after the farm is raided.

            This is where the book differs from the movie. In the book, the settlement is a trap, they have a wire on the runway, that they use to destroy the planes of people trying to land there. Then they take all of their stuff, but Hig sees through the trap, and they go and kill everyone there. In the movie, they land fine, and they go in and it is like a weird 50s diner, but everyone is acting weird, and it is basically a cult. They have electricity, food, and alcohol, but they are creepy and immediately try to marry Cima off to some guy, so they flee and go back to Hig’s encampment blowing it up as the fly away.

            The other difference from the book is that the book is all from Hig’s point of view, so when he leaves Bangley, we did not know anything about Bangley until he comes back with his two new compadres. In the movie, we get to see Bangley still, and we get to see this huge conflict that ensues. Bangley is left to face like thirty people all by himself. In the book, we do not find out until the end that he was attacked, and we only get the details that Bangley provides.

            So the second change was positive, it was great to see some more action, but the first change was awful. It was so far from the initial way that the story was told, and it did not add anything. The book telling seemed so much more action packed, they land, and they have to gun fight their way up to the air traffic control tower, and it is super nasty up there with a ton of cats, and it smells like pee, and it is just some person that was tricking people, that is so much better than some old lady in an old flight attendants uniform being weird.  

            To me, this was a weird book to choose to adapt in general. It did receive some literary praise, but I almost did not even make it through the beginning of the book. The style in which it is written is horrible. It is super stream of consciousness, and it is formatted weird. It was hard to get into. I had to rewire my brain to be able to get through it. Also there were moments of action in the story, but it never felt like there was a climax to the book or the movie. It is just events that happen, and occasionally there is action, but none of it is ever that great.

            Another damning indictment of the book and the movie is that there is a dog that plays a key role, and the dog dies, but there is barely any emotional damage. In the book, there is at least more time with the dog, and there is more build up to the death of the dog and how it effects Hig, but in the movie, we get like 20 minutes with the dog, and then it is gone. They also make the dog whimper at everything, like that dog would not be ideal to sneak around with in the apocalypse. This was probably the least effective dog death in a movie that I can remember.

            The movie did look great though. The cinematography was excellent. It takes place in Colorado, but it was filmed in Italy. I was watching, and I thought the mountains looked incredible, but they did not look like Colorado to me, so I felt vindicated when one of the podcasts I listen to said it was in Italy. The action looked great too, and they also used night vision to do one of the action scenes, and that was a cool effect. It made the people attacking seem dehumanized, which was already implied by their barbaric nature.

            Ridley Scott has been receiving some negative press for his last few releases. He has an incredible reputation as a creator of excellent sci-fi and action movies, but recently his movies have been looked over. Gladiator II, Napolean, House of Gucci, and The Last Dual were not very successful at the box office, and the critics did not give them rave reviews. Personally, I love The Last Dual, and I do not think that the other movies were bad. They were not at the height of his filmography, but that is a hard bar to reach.

            I do not think that The Dog Stars is as good as any of the above-mentioned movies, and I think choosing to adapt this book was a mistake. Ridley Scott is 88 years old, but he does not show signs of stopping. He has already scheduled another movie, and he seems to be planning a return to the Alien universe, a follow up to Alien Covenant, which was one of my favorite Alien films. It seems like no matter what, he will continually be given money to make big budget films, so hopefully his next one is better than this. 3 Stars, go see Coyote v. Acme instead.