Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Ridley Scott, ‘The Dog Stars’ begins in a post-apocalyptic world where survivors are hounded by both their memories and the wilderness. One such man is Hig, a mechanic cum civilian pilot who teams up with a former Marine named Bangley to push up his odds. However, sometime later, his own trauma, coupled with a desire to explore the world and find others, compels him to make daring, often rash decisions. Based on Peter Heller’s 2012 novel of the same name, the film explores what it means to remain human in a world that has given its survivors very little reason to trust one another. As Hig ventures beyond the relative safety of his home, the prospect of finding other survivors becomes inseparable from his struggle to come to terms with the losses that continue to haunt him, while forcing him to confront the kind of person he wants to become. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Dog Stars Plot Synopsis
‘The Dog Stars’ begins years after a devastating flu pandemic, with Hig, a former mechanic and civilian pilot who lives in the abandoned city of Erie, Colorado. He is not a lone survivor either, as he is accompanied by Jasper, his dog, and Bangley, a former Marine who trusts almost no one. While Hig makes occasional trips into an empty Denver to gather food and fuel, he also shares supplies and offers repairs to a nearby Mennonite community, much to Bangley’s frustration. This difference in temperament becomes harder to overlook when two teenage strangers approach their property, and Bangley shoots them. Hig is troubled by the decision, not only because the boys never get a chance to explain themselves, but because it suggests just how far the world has pushed the people left in it toward treating every stranger as a threat.
For years, Hig has occasionally picked up a radio signal from Grand Junction, though every attempt to establish contact has come to nothing. When attackers ambush them outside the camp, Hig’s search for Grand Junction takes on a new urgency. Bangley helps repel the attackers, but Jasper is killed, and the loss leaves Hig with little desire to continue the life he has built in Erie. He decides to follow the signal himself, while Bangley stays behind. The trip takes an unexpected turn when a mechanical failure forces Hig to land in a valley where he meets Pops and his daughter, Cima. They agree to help one another while Hig repairs his plane and clears trees to make a runway. He and Cima grow close during this time, and she asks him to stay, offering him something other than another uncertain journey.
Before Hig can decide what he wants from this new life, an attack on Pops and Cima’s farm forces all three to flee in his plane. They reach Grand Junction Regional Airport, where a radio operator reluctantly lets them land and enter the settlement unarmed. They are the first outsiders to arrive in two years, but the place offers little of the safety Hig had imagined. Darlene, a former flight attendant who leads the settlement, wants Cima’s medical training put to use and orders her to marry a soldier. Her demand exposes the control beneath the community’s order. Matters grow worse when Hig, Cima, and Pops discover that the community survives through cannibalism. Realizing the mess they’ve landed in, the trio wastes zero time in blitzing their way out, with Hig dropping his aerial explosives to finish the airport for good.
The Dog Stars Ending: Does Hig Survive? Do He and Cima End Up Together?
‘The Dog Stars’ ends with Hig choosing not to take his own life, and instead looking forward to a new chapter with Cima and the others. Though the events of the movie are enough to fill his heart with despair, they also birth hope in equal parts. It is only because of his decision to step out of his comfort zone that he gets to meet Cima and forge a relationship that essentially reignites his love for humanity. In the final scene of the film, the two of them sit down under the stars, feeling truly at ease for the first time in months, if not years. As they gaze ahead, Hig shares his knowledge about the stars, something he used to do with his partner before things went wrong. This isn’t to say that he has replaced her with Cima, though, but rather that he has found the courage to move on and start anew.
The final scene of the film also ties into why the movie is called ‘The Dog Stars,’ as there is more to it than the name being a nod to Sirius, the brightest star in the Earth’s night sky. More specifically, the fact that the title refers to multiple stars implies that it isn’t talking about any one star in particular, but the many characters who come to define its symbolic position as a carrier of light and hope. Hig is not the only character who gives his all to protect the future of humanity, and it is that collective will of the people that makes them not just survivors, but the true inheritors of the proverbial torch. This, of course, includes Cima, who finds her own space within this new life.
Much like Hig, Cima has a traumatic connection with her past, particularly her former partner. It is this very foundation that makes this new relationship work, as not only do she and Hig understand what it feels like to lose someone who was a part of your life, but also how important it is to assess the journey ahead. To that end, their stargazing has as much to do with the very idea of anticipating the future as it has to do with reclaiming one’s past. Interestingly, the book by Peter Heller, which serves as the basis for the film, ends with the couple noticing mysterious jets tearing through the sky, indicating military action. While that bit is removed from the adaptation, much like many of the other beats in the book, the emotional message nonetheless remains.
Why Did Hig Try to Kill Himself?
Mere moments before Hig returns to the community and begins his relationship with Cima, we see him consider the complete opposite path, as he flies a plane, alone, and lets go of the handle in what appears to be a suicide attempt. This is reminiscent of an earlier scene where he allows the plane to drop, with the goal of regaining control at the last minute. This time, however, everything in the narrative suggests that Hig is letting go for good, and the cliffhanger only adds to that tension, until the final scene gives us an optimistic answer. The reason for this flight incident, though, connects back to Hig’s backstory, and what has been a constant, hopeless desire to reconcile with his partner’s death, or perhaps find a way to reunite with her.
Throughout the first stretch of the film, Bangley repeatedly points out how there is no need for Hig to fly the plane and risk his safety, which, while true, doesn’t quite get to the bottom of his character. On some level, soaring through the skies is the last bit of agency that Hig can claim to feel, and along with that agency come more complex thoughts. The risk that comes with flying a run-down plane in a desolate, hostile terrain is both life-affirming in its exhilaration, and grounds for suicidal ideation. Hig’s final ride and free fall, though, doesn’t fit into either camp, as he tells Cima that it was his last goodbye to his family, and from now on he will be a completely reformed man, flying for the present and the future, not to cling to the past.
Does Bangley Live or Die? How Did He Survive the Reapers?
Perhaps the most shocking development in the final moments of the film is when Bangley is confirmed to have survived the Reapers’ assault. The last time we see him before that is in a particularly dire condition, with the Reapers getting their hands on his weapons stash, and proceeding to get caught up in a swirling fireball. Though it seems almost impossible for Bangley to have survived such challenging odds, reality turns out to be more favorable for him. When Hig and company return to the camp, they find it mostly deserted, save for Bangley, all patched up with a few major and minor cuts, burns, and injuries. As Cima helps him get the medical attention he needs, fans can rest assured that Bangley is here to stay for a long while.
Though we aren’t given an update on what happens to the Reapers, or if there are any more of them, the obvious implication is that Bangley killed most of them and burned their corpses. For the most part, the fire at their camp seems to have served this exact purpose as well, incinerating everything within a considerable radius. While the Reapers may have left the place for now, that doesn’t mean their forces are all wiped out. For that matter, we see a sizeable number of them attacking Hig’s plane not even a day after they stormed Bangley’s place, and there is no reason to believe that they won’t target the Mennonites any further. However, if there is one thing these characters have learned in this odyssey, it’s that their greatest strength lies in sticking together.
Read More: Where Was The Dog Stars Filmed?
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