In the grand tradition of Road House, The Gorge is a film that is smart about the way in which it is dumb. Directed by Scott Derrickson and written by Zach Dean, the premise is very silly: two snipers are recruited to man watchtowers on either side of a gorge filled with an unknown threat, and over the course of months in isolation “alone together”, they fall in love and I’m pretty sure this movie is Zach Dean’s pandemic baby (it was, indeed, a Black List script in 2020). The Gorge is a two-hander and most of the film is just Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy staring at each other from across a soundstage with a mountainous backdrop green-screened into the frame. Does that sound bad? Somewhat surprisingly, it isn’t, because the film’s execution is exceptional.
Former US Marine scout sniper Levi (Teller) is hired by an obviously evil lady played by Sigourney Weaver to man the western tower on the gorge, and he is told not to worry about his counterpart on the eastern watchtower (is there an “All Along the Watchtower” needle drop? You bet!). Over on the east side, stone-faced Drasa (Taylor-Joy) takes up residence with similar “no talking” orders. These twin towers were built in the days between the end of World War II and the Cold War kicking into high gear and are the remnants of some kind of east-west pact that the political leaders of the world never knew about, so top secret was the work being done in the gorge. Obviously the gorge is full of Science Gone Wrong.
The first half of The Gorge is quite flirty and a little bit sexy, like a dystopic rom-com. Teller and Taylor-Joy are capable of holding the screen individually and together, and even though much of their initial communication is done by writing on cards and staring distantly at one another, The Gorge never feels thin or underdeveloped through the early going. Eventually, Levi works out a way across the gorge so that he and Drasa can have dinner together, and their chemistry once they’re in the same room is even better. Levi and Drasa are lonely, emotionally closed off people, but there is simple pleasure in watching them open up to one another, finding likeness in their singular, violent lives.
But eventually, there must be plot, so on his return trip to his own tower, Levi plummets into the gorge, and this is when The Gorge shifts gears. Drasa goes in after him, and The Gorge becomes a sci-fi/action movie that reminds me of Alex Garland’s Annihilation. While there is nothing as indelibly horrible as Annihilation’s nightmare bear, The Gorge offers some interesting things to look at, nonetheless. The creature design is fantastic—there is one wheezy organism that stands out for its particularly gnarly implications—and the whole sequence through the gorge is paced perfectly, balancing action and exploration to maximum effect.
And if The Gorge ended there, it would be a tight little thriller with romantic undertones that operates as a dumb-fun piece of entertainment. Derrickson capably directs the two parts of the film, balancing the love story with the action elements in a way that few contemporary action movies successfully manage. Yes, the premise is dumb, but the film is so well conceived from a design standpoint, and so well acted, that it’s easy to buy into the premise and go along for the ride. The problem is just that it’s twenty minutes too long. There is a second denouement that feels anti-climactic after the rush through the gorge. The film is at its best in the gorge, once back out of it, The Gorge can’t maintain momentum. But for the most part, The Gorge is enjoyable, a very silly idea executed very well. Sometimes, competence is enough.
The Gorge is now streaming exclusively on Apple TV+.
