pening with a romantic-drama vibe, “The Dog Stars” doesn’t initially hint at the postapocalyptic disaster-porn premise that will quickly take hold. It’s based on the Peter Heller novel and directed by Ridley Scott, so one would be forgiven in believing this to be an exercise in excitement and suspense. And yet, despite a brief belligerency with a “roach” or “reaper” scavenger with a crossbow, there’s very little of either in the first half of the film.

It would appear that Mother Nature has had her revenge against humankind, retaking their encroachment on her wilderness. Animals thrive, but people do not, as a flu has wiped out a significant chunk of the population. It feels a touch like “Resident Evil” or “Silent Hill” or “I Am Legend” with the exploration of abandoned, dilapidated structures, though it’s unknown whether the raggedy roaches are zombies of sorts … or just bedraggled and desperate. Either way, the introduction features former mechanic Hig Haver (Jacob Elordi) and his trusty dog Jasper as they fly and drive across Colorado, making runs through scourged cityscapes to acquire gasoline and scattered supplies. The streets are empty, but electricity still works in a great many areas – as if the plague was so sudden that workers never got around to regulatory disconnections.

Hig even visits his former house, where he reminisces about the wife he couldn’t save, though he mainly resides at an airfield with older pal Bruce Bangley (Josh Brolin), safely guarded by a sniper tower, plenty of ammunition (which is supposedly rare, though most survivors carry guns), and various sensors. Despite pockets of civilization or merely tiny gangs of killers roaming about, Hig never seems too worried, which is quite the problem for audiences. Over the course of the film, Hig continues to be outrageously reckless, bringing direct harm raining down onto the people he cares about; this makes him a suspiciously unsympathetic character, which bodes ill for his various escapades as well as the eventual relationships he fosters with fellow survivor Cima (Margaret Qualley) and her father Jack (Guy Pearce). He’s primarily to blame for virtually every negative situation that transpires. “We have no idea what’s out there.”

Eventually, some action and thrills arise, though they’re infrequent and lumped together, leaving large spells of tedium and repetition. It’s awfully easy for this storyline, akin to zombie movies, to randomly invent new villains or allies, since audiences are unaware of who or what is still alive out in the wilds; this may be set in 2035, which isn’t all that far removed from a traditional way of life, but the first encounter with machete-wielding reapers would be enough to have anyone believe that the only rule of survival is now shoot first and inquire afterwards. Believably, the source of devastation seems to be a pandemic that killed so rapidly that medicines and vaccines are long depleted, leaving small groups of survivors to become feral, mimicking concepts from “The Walking Dead,” “The Last of Us,” and the “28 Years Later” pictures. “The Dog Stars” may be more interested in a sense of adventure than morbid horror, but it does boast a couple of bonkers surprises, even if they unfairly utilize technologies that seem too farfetched even for this mild level of futuristic extrapolations.

Hig may boldly wander out into the unknown with a grass-is-always-greener mentality (and infuriating incautiousness), stumbling upon both fortunate and unfortunate characters, and into unpredictable imbroglios, but it nevertheless feels routinely uneventful. Part of this is the overuse of the scenario; as it utilizes countless postapocalyptic tropes, it never really bothers to explore original avenues. It just doesn’t seem to have anything new to say; it’s a chance episode about aimless personas in an end-of-the-world setting that refuses to explain why these particular survivors deserve a feature film centered around their trivial exploits.

– Mike Massie