Review: ‘The Dog Stars’ isn’t afraid to make pointless trips

Even a cute dog named Jasper can’t pull Ridley Scott’s “The Dog Stars” from the mix. He accompanies a pilot in search of survivors who aren’t infected with a virus, a desire to kill or a weird need to start a new cult.

All of that spills out in due time, but first we meet the pilot (Jacob Elordi), who’s holed up with a military vet (Josh Brolin) who wants to drink Cokes and destroy intruders. While the pilot goes on his discovery missions, we meet a Mennonite community where isolation proves advantageous. We find tattooed vigilantes, gun-toting soldiers and an airport full of passengers missing boarding passes to life.

It’s all odd as hell, but then the pilot meets a doctor (Margaret Qualley) and her father (Guy Pearce) and, somehow, hope has a chance. As the three move on, we realize this is a dystopian story without a definitive end. Even the hoped-for relationship between Elordi and Qualley falls flat. They’re a good-looking pair, but he’s so unemotional it’s hard to tell if it’s headed anywhere. She’s more animated, but Hollywood has tried repeatedly to make the two of them pop, and nothing.

Brolin plays a variation on characters he created elsewhere and gives Elordi a reason to keep looking for life as we know it.

When the pilot decides to head to Grand Junction, Colorado, he’s convinced something promising lies there. It could, but Scott lets another demented world unfold, forcing Elordi and company to accept their fate and make do with what we know.

“The Dog Stars” doesn’t detail the virus or the reason why some are spared, but there are flashbacks that provide the personality Elordi doesn’t.

Considering Scott has dealt with unknown worlds before, it’s surprising this is so dull. The only hope comes when Elordi spots those bottled Cokes and brings a thirsty Brolin a few quenchers. If that’s enough to keep you engaged, go, enjoy.

But “The Dog Stars” tires out so early even the cute dog doesn’t hang around.