In the movies, we鈥檝e had green valleys, haunted hills and grand canyons. But only now has the time arrived for a long-overshadowed land formation. 鈥淭he Gorge,鈥� a preposterous new videogame-like thriller, at least succeeds in, um, gorging on this often-overlooked geological feature.
The gorge in question, to be fair, is a beauty. In some northern forested wilderness sit two concrete towers, one for each side of a wide, foggy ravine encircled by sheer rock steeps. Two expert snipers 鈥� Levi ( ) from the U.S., and Drasa ( ), placed by Russia 鈥� have been dropped off to man their respective stations.
Both are conscripts of a sort. Levi has been a private contractor for the military since being psychologically deemed unfit for service by the Marines. ( plays the cryptic woman who hires him.) Drasa is Lithuanian. Each operates in the murky quasi-official world of covert military operations. All they know is that they鈥檙e to be at this ultra-classified post for a year, part of an annual rotation. Their main job is to shoot anything that comes out of the chasm below.
What鈥檚 inside? The guy Levi is replacing thinks it could a portal to hell. 鈥淭he Gorge,鈥� directed by Scott Derrickson (鈥淒octor Strange,鈥� 鈥淭he Black Phone鈥�) from a script by Zach Dean (鈥淭he Tomorrow War,鈥� 鈥淔ast X鈥�), unpeels these mysteries in a film that, if it wanted to, could be a very atmospheric post-Cold War parable, a kind of kaiju-in-the-ground thriller, about deep-buried military secrets.
That may be the backdrop, but 鈥淭he Gorge鈥� wants to be something else, too. It wants to be a love story. Taking after the hybrid DNA horrors that emerge from below, 鈥淭he Gorge鈥� mixes rom-com with sci-fi, with mostly ridiculous results. This is the rare movie to boast both horse-riding tree-zombies (that鈥檚 what I said) and so, so many T.S. Eliot references.
There is good preposterous and bad preposterous. 鈥淭he Gorge鈥� 鈥� which I鈥檓 happy to report features the line 鈥淭he gorge is exposed!鈥� 鈥� may find some believers on both sides of that gulf. The production quality is well above the grade of its script, with cinematography by Dan Laustsen (Guillermo del Toro鈥檚 regular DP) and a score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (coming off their incredible 2024 of and ).
But the tonal swings, not to mention the gloss that covers the whole enterprise, make 鈥淭he Gorge鈥� an intriguing but empty genre mash-up and streaming-only exercise.
Like would-be lovers who spy each other across balconies, Drasa and Levi find their gazes trained more on each other than the evil that lurks below. It begins with a sign that could be called a tad cutesy for an elite sniper (鈥淲hat鈥檚 your name?鈥�). As the months go by, their interactions advance to dancing and even, with the help of some rappelling rope, a dinner date.
You could at this point be asking yourself a few questions. If some version of hell was pried open, would we, perhaps, want more than two guards? But if we鈥檙e going with two, how likely is it, with ghoulish things sporadically climbing up from the abyss, that they would soon begin a 鈥淟ove, Actually鈥�-style courtship of holding up signs for each other?
These aren鈥檛 quibbles that 鈥淭he Gorge鈥� has any time for, though. Though the movie鈥檚 flow is choppy and occasionally distracted by overly showy camera moves, it zips along and soon enough the two of them are shooting at what you could only call skull spiders. Questionable as the romantic turn is, Taylor-Joy and Teller have convincing chemistry. Plus 鈥淭he Queen鈥檚 Gambit鈥� fans can rejoice at the chance to again see Taylor-Joy play chess, albeit in a slightly different context.
Once we get a decent view of the creatures they鈥檙e charged with keeping under control, they appear half tree root, half human, like demon Groots. 鈥淭he Gorge鈥� is better before our main characters are no longer poised at the mouth of hell but running through the gorge floor. One minute, they鈥檙e swaying to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the next they鈥檙e being swallowed by an adhesive root system. "The Gorge鈥� is pretty superficial stuff, but perhaps we can await its even shallower sequel, 鈥淭he Gully.鈥�
鈥淭he Gorge,鈥� an Apple Studios release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for intense sequences of violence and action, brief strong language, some suggestive material and thematic elements. Running time: 127 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
