The Gorge is a sci-fi horror romance that AppleTV+ released just in time for Valentine’s Day. I found the trailer really interesting, especially seeing Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller as skilled snipers stationed in towers on either side of a huge, secretive gorge. Directed by Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange, The Black Phone) based on a script by Zach Dean (The Tomorrow War, Fast X) movie doesn’t waste much time to get us to the location where most of the movie takes place.
Sigourney Weaver briefly shows up as an intimidating operative who hires Teller’s Levi. On top of being a skilled sniper, Levi also meets the job requirements as he’s a loner who doesn’t have anyone depending on him should the job go south. Meanwhile, we don’t see how Taylor-Joy’s Drasa gets recruited, but we do see that she’s an amazing marksman, capable of taking out her target from an insane distance. She also has an ailing father who hasn’t got many months left, hence she fits the description of being ‘expendable.’
As Levi is dropped off in a mountainous region, we get to meet his predecessor JD (Sope Dirisu) who gives him a rundown on the tower but he is as much in the dark as Levi as to what actually lurks within the gorge. It’s what happens to JD that hints something really sinister is afoot. Levi also begins to discover certain clues about former elite soldiers who guard the tower, but he doesn’t seem to pursue the mystery much after seeing the girl across the gorge.
The movie leans heavily into romantic comedy in the second act. At one point they start writing notes to each other that they can read with their binoculars, a la Love Actually. The filmmakers even reference their famous breakout roles in The Queen’s Gambit and Whiplash with chess and drumming scenes, respectively. Those scenes seem out of place but Taylor-Joy and Teller make them work somehow, I’m not even that bothered by her odd Lithuanian accent. The two have a palpable chemistry and you really start to feel for them, especially after they get through a pretty frightening situation together.
After a lovely romantic evening, the two find themselves thrown into survival mode, facing mysterious threats in a creepy environment. I’m glad the promos didn’t reveal what kind of monsters we’re dealing with here, which increases the element of surprise. It shifts gears into a wild survival horror thriller during the third act. There are shades of Aliens, Annihilation, and even The Last Of Us series. It gets pretty hairy with some big jump scares. Being an arachnophobic, I have to avert my eyes on certain scenes.
Mixing multiple genres is always tricky, but it works pretty well even if it feels jarring at times. What doesn’t work so well is keeping up with the momentum once the big mystery is out of the bag. The idea is interesting on paper, but the script struggles to provide satisfying answers to the questions it brings up. All the riveting buildup pretty much fizzles out in the end even as the action intensifies. What’s worse, the plot holes just keep getting even more risible. A woman gets yanked through the woods by a speeding horse, crashing into rocks and tree trunks, yet somehow she walks away largely unscathed.
Technically speaking though, the movie is well-crafted with strong production values. Shot by two-time Oscar nominee Dan Laustsen, the nature cinematography is absolutely stunning. It sounds great too! Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross really hit it out of the park with the score. Mostly it’s all moody vibe but then kicks into rock ’n roll mode during the high-throttle action-packed scenes.
In the end, the movie works better as a romance than as a horror thriller. Watching the two leads bounce off each other is quite entertaining but the mystery and horror bits are pretty clunky. That said, The Gorge is pretty entertaining and this creature feature meets rom-com provides a rather amusing distraction for a couple of hours without having to leave the house.
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Love creature-feature meets rom-com. A most descriptive line.
I’ll check this out when the Emmys viewing platforms start coming on line. (any day now)
I don’t get Apple TV.
Oh boy! Emmy season!
Hope you are doing well! xxoo
Bummer about the comments! I find that mostly on Blogger not WP, but I guess this platform can be pernickety, too! Sorry for the trouble, and thanks for persisting to leave me a comment ❤️
Ahah well I was trying to figure out a way to describe this movie… given the Love, Actually nod, there’s definitely a rom-com vibe.
Wow, Emmy season is almost here already? Boy you have your work cut out for you, dear!
Yes, I’ll be Gorging on TV shows. That’s enough gorge for me.
Yes, lots of TV watching coming up! Perhaps that’s why I don’t watch as many movies?
xo❦🌹❦
I hope to see this soon as I do like the premise and ATJ. Plus, NIN doing the score. I hope to hear something from them once I get tickets to see them in September.
I think you’ll enjoy this one specifically because of NIN’s score! I immediately thought of you when I saw they’re scoring this movie. It’s one of the best things about this movie.
I remember seeing a trailer of this one a while back but totally forgot about it. Typical Apple TV, they put out a trailer of their contents months before the release date and then don’t promote when it airs on their streaming service. Lol.
I’ll probably watch it soon. My projector is out of commission at the moment, so no movie viewing movies for me until I get a new one. Ha ha!
Oh no, sorry to hear your projector isn’t working. Is that why you’ve been watching more series lately?
Yeah that’s true about AppleTV, there weren’t any promotions for this. I didn’t even see the trailer until the day I saw the movie.
Oh I watched a lot of TV series on my projector too since most of them were shot with the same cameras as most movies and many of them are in widescreen. Heck, The Agency was shot on film with anamorphic lenses to get that 70s filmic look. So, I was a bummed that I couldn’t watch that show on my projector. Lol! I’m going to through eBay to find a replacement since the new version of the projector that I owned don’t have 3D feature. Most new projectors got rid of 3D. If I want to get a new one with 3D, I have pay like $8k or more for it!
I didn’t see a lot movies this past year because I wasn’t interested in seeing a lot that came out. I think I’ll be seeing more movies in theaters this year, though.
Interesting! Premise. Based on the title, I had been thinking this was about a hiking misadventure. I like the cast and bonus NIN soundtrack so I’ll check this out at some point. It’s hard to pull so many different genres all together convincingly isn’t it.
Ahah yeah, with a title like The Gorge, it could totally be about a hiking misadventure. Well in a way, it is a misadventure, though both people sorta knew going in that this wouldn’t be a walk in the park. The rom-com-y bits are amusing… I kept thinking if the filmmakers are fans of Love Actually, ahah.
The NIN soundtrack is great, definitely best part of the movie. The genre-mixing is the least of the movie’s problems, it’s the risible plot holes that are laughable.
Love Actually is NOT the movie reference I would expect here LOL… Then again who isn’t a fan of Hugh Grant free-styling Pointer Sisters??
I know!! I was like ‘what is going on??’ LOL They should’ve referenced Grant’s dance scene in that movie too, it’s iconic!!
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