‘The Gorge’ receives 6 out of 10 stars.
Premiering on Apple TV+ on February 14th, ‘The Gorge’ is the latest release from the tech giant’s film arm to skip theaters and debut on its streaming service.
While it doesn’t have the clout of, say, the George Clooney/Brad Pitt-starring ‘Wolfs,’ it’s hard not to think that Apple has largely forgotten about this one, even with some promotion on TV and via billboards.
Related Articles: Miles Teller Starring in ‘The Gorge’ for director Scott Derrickson
Should you venture in the ‘The Gorge’?
In the universe of the movie, of course you shouldn’t go into the gorge! Various characters take turns explaining why that’s A Very Bad Idea, but of course the story must find an excuse for our central figures to venture in (as it happens, a quite silly reason, mostly brought about because they’re attractive people who must endanger their mission because they’re attracted to each other).
The major issue of the movie is a common one to mystery box adventures such as this –– once the truth is revealed, it’s never as interesting as when you’re being teased about what might be lurking in the titular valley, your imagination going wild.
And while the creative team (particularly director Scott Derrickson) try to keep things twisty, it all devolves into some very generic action tropes.
Script and Direction
While director Derrickson usually tends to generate his own movies (even for the likes of Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange,’) here he’s working from a script by Zach Dean, whose previous credits include the likes of ‘Deadfall,’ ’24 Hours to Live’ and ‘The Tomorrow War,’ none of which are particularly going to win many awards for inventiveness beyond coming up with a hooky concept.
The big downfall for the ‘The Gorge’ is that Dean layers in plenty of little details about the characters, but those then become signposts for you to guess how the rest of the movie is going to play out. Will their sharp-shooting skills end up being helpful? Yep! Will Miles Teller’s Levi channel his PTSD into something that affects the outcome of the story? Affirmative! Is there something more to Sigourney Weaver’s mysterious employer? Copy that!
Yes, these are all basic storytelling devices, but here they’re so basic as to be ridiculous. You might as well have giant screens pop up behind our heroes proclaiming, “this will be important later!”
GODr7ax0Also, as mentioned above, once the Gorge is demystified, everything becomes even more rote –– ticking clock survival issues, one character or the other under threat from what is inside (that’s not a huge spoiler –– we learn early on that there is something in there, and even the trailers nod to the concept) and then revelations that impact the story. It’s just… sort of bland once it’s all laid bare.
Derrickson has been an inventive, smart director in the past (he’s specialized in horror and gets to apply those skills from about midway here), but the material just doesn’t do him justice. While he gets good work out of the main pair, it’s all in service of something that you might have found lurking in a dusty corner of a video store many years ago.
There’s nothing wrong with exploring that corner, but ‘The Gorge’ doesn’t really have much to say about it or do with it that’s fresh.
Performances
Miles Teller’s Levi is our main way into the story, a former marine and expert marksman who these days splits his time between helping out his old commanders and lucrative private military contract work. Is he haunted by his past? You betcha!
Yet despite that seemingly seen-it-before backstory, Teller makes Levi into something compelling, and his chemistry with his co-star is what keeps this from sinking into B-movie territory (at least until the character stuff is swallowed up by CG nonsense).
Likewise, Anya Taylor-Joy is an expert at giving extra depth to slightly closed-off characters and makes sniper Drasa come alive on screen. She is likewise saddled with some less-than-fresh baggage (in her case, a suicidal father looking to end his life before cancer does it for him), but nevertheless makes it work.
The connection between the main pair is what makes any of this worth watching at all.
There are precious few other characters in the movie, since it’s stripped-down tale of terror. But Weaver, as mentioned, has little to do and while British actor Sopé Dìrísù does what he can with his role, he largely serves as an exposition delivery service, briefing Levi on why the guard posts exist for the Gorge at all (though not telling him the whole story and quickly exiting the film).
Final Thoughts
There is certainly a lot promised here by the basic concept; trouble is, once you promise big things, you have to deliver, and ‘The Gorge’ never truly does.
With a decent first half introducing watchable characters played by charismatic actors, the second half lets the side down in a big way with dodgy effects, predictable plot turns and a waste of the likes of Sigourney Weaver (who surely signed on to this thing for the money more than any satisfying chance at character work).
UclBGLKAp3aJTFygJQ7Zp3What’s the plot of ‘The Gorge’?
Two elite snipers (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy) are assigned a mysterious mission: to guard either side of a deep and impenetrable gorge, without knowing what actually lies beneath them.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Gorge’?
- Miles Teller as Levi
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Drasa
- Sigourney Weaver as Bartholomew
- Sope Dirisu as J.D.
- William Houston as Erikas
List of Scott Derrickson Movies:
- ‘Hellraiser: Inferno‘ (2000)
- ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose‘ (2005)
- ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still‘ (2008)
- ‘Sinister‘ (2012)
- ‘Deliver Us from Evil‘ (2014)
- ‘Doctor Strange‘ (2016)
- ‘The Black Phone‘ (2022)
