Ridley Scott piles on epic action set pieces and surreal, surprising sequences that sometimes push the film from prestige drama into absurdist spectacle.

For all the style that director Ridley Scott can muster -- and, admittedly, that’s a whole lot of style -- The Dog Stars serves up a post-apocalypse with a heavy sense of familiarity.

Writer Mark L. Smith's approach to this story is a tonal mishmash that becomes equally mishmashy on the screen in Ridley Scott's hands.

The Dog Stars has hardly an original idea or image to set it apart from its neo-western brethren: The Road, The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, and any number of other color-desaturated stories about soulful, self-sufficient American tough guys wandering the nation’s post-civilization wilds, grappling with the mighty burden of responsibility to family and society.

Somewhat aptly released at the tail end of a long, loud movie summer, this is a surprisingly low-energy, low-incident blockbuster; you'd appreciate its mellow, character-oriented approach if it gave you any real characters to hold onto.