Review: The Gorge

Directed by: Scott Derrickson

Written by: Zach Dean

Starring: Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sigourney Weaver

Rating: [4/5]

For every job that seems impossible to complete, there’s someone out there who can do it. An impossibility for some merely represents a formality for others. The work we see take place in The Gorge exemplifies the type of job only a very specific type of person would take on, but it allows us to experience such a raucously entertaining film. One that draws us into its mysterious world of what lies beneath. 

Covert operative employed by the Kremlin, Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy), and former U.S. Marine sniper Levi (Miles Teller) each accept a position that would leave them with the responsibility of standing guard of a gorge atop a watchtower. Each of them is assigned to a tower on opposite ends of the gorge; contact is strictly prohibited. Through sly communication, they strike up a friendship and romance that gets complicated when their work begins to get in the way. 

Of the many terrible job assignments out there, the one in The Gorge certainly ranks highly amongst those I would not take on. It involves staying within this watchtower for an entire year in complete isolation with the only other human on the other side of this gorge, where any communication is prohibited. One must weather the conditions with no real temperature control, and the best part is you must constantly be on guard for whatever lurks at the bottom of the gorge. While initially a mystery, considering these individuals have mines and automated machine guns to quell anything that rises from the gorge, we can assume we should fear whatever lurks down there. 

This raises many questions about our two protagonists, Levi and Drasa, and why they would opt to take on such an assignment. As one can expect, we do get to learn more about these characters through their interactions with each other. Their breaking the rules shines a light on what makes each of them tick, and it quickly blossoms into quite the romance. You’d have to expect it would turn out this way given they cast two attractive actors to play these roles in Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy. As formulaic as this element appears on the surface, it certainly works and helps build this emotional foundation between the pair. Therefore, when the shooting begins and they must face off with whatever lives down in the gorge, we have some emotional connection to attach ourselves to. After all, it becomes clear each of these two individuals does not have much connection back home, which makes sense given they took on such an isolationist job assignment. At this point they only have each other. 

Once we get down into the gorge itself, we learn exactly why so much secrecy exists surrounding this area and these two elite killers must make their way out, utilizing every bit of their skill and newfound connection. Within the gorge we get some strong set pieces as the creatures within this world in itself pose a major threat, and it takes some creativity and ingenuity on the part of Levi and Drasa to shoot their way out and resurface in one piece. These moments may contain some questionable special effects, but for the most part, the gorge itself contains this eeriness to it. From its general color palette to the feeling that just about anything in the area could kill them, it makes every single minute down there one where they could meet their end. 

For characters that could feel quite flat from the writing alone, Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy do a splendid job of making them effortlessly likeable. Levi presents with a stoicism that comes with the territory for someone of his profile, just as one would assume from Drasa, a Lithuanian Kremlin-employed assassin. Teller and Taylor-Joy sell the chemistry exceptionally well between each other that makes the romance very believable even with not-so-substantive material on the page itself. This could have worked as a straight-up romance between the two as we watch two individuals who have found each other essentially at the edge of the world, but we get the added intrigue of the gorge itself with natural elements of horror that come with it, making it all better. 

Quite the surprise and entertaining ride, Scott Derrickson has been on a bit of a roll recently with his directorial works, but the best of them is undoubtedly The Gorge. While he likes himself some horror, and this one would not classify within that particular genre, this feature combines elements of romance and action to make for quite the intriguing and electrifying film. It continues to build upon itself as it answers many of the questions sitting on the minds of audience members about why such secrecy lies around this particular job and what vested interest exists with what lingers down there.