How far would you go for something worth living for? That’s the question answered by Miles Teller’s Levi in Apple TV’s newest movie, The Gorge. The Gorge is directed by infamous horror director Scott Derrickson, known for films such as Doctor Strange, The Black Phone, and more. Along with Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, The Gorge stars Sigourney Weaver and Sope Dirisu. The film centers around a mysterious gorge, guarded on either side by Teller’s character Levi and Taylor-Joy’s Drasa.
The Gorge is a melting pot of genres
Scott Derrickson shoots for the stars with this film. He manages to combine romantic comedy with horror action-thriller and creates a mostly cohesive two-hour film. Think of The Gorge as a blend of classic rom-coms like When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Love Actually and mix that with horror franchises like Resident Evil and The Last of Us. The film does unfortunately suffer through severe tonal whiplash, however, as the film changes direction tonally every half hour or so.
The film’s first act touches on the mental taxation and isolation of being one of the most adequate military snipers in the world, but quickly shifts away from this tone. Miles Teller convincingly plays a damaged and isolated military veteran named Levi, who feels he doesn’t have much left to live for. Levi is eventually brought in and recruited to guard the west tower of the gorge.
Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is a Lithuanian sniper-for-hire who also ends up being brought in to guard the gorge, just on the east tower of the gorge. The movie unfortunately gives less time for the backstory of Drasa. The only real exposition for her character comes from a heartwarming scene with her father. Most of Drasa’s character arc comes from her time guarding the gorge.
Drasa feels like a character that only Anya Taylor-Joy could pull off, a jaded elite sniper with a strong sense of youth and bravado. Taylor-Joy is rapidly becoming one of the great young stars of our generation, and she could very well come into her own as the next big female action star. Some of her performance gives off the vibe of a young Charlize Theron, which happens to be ironic given the two actresses have both played Furiosa in the Mad Max franchise.
This Apple TV film might have benefited from being a TV series instead
Without getting into spoilers, once Levi and Drasa head into the gorge, the plot becomes a bit one-note from there on out. The film certainly takes some inspiration from previous entities like The Last of Us, as previously mentioned. The action scenes in the gorge aren’t mind-blowing by any means, but they are serviceable and likely will appease those who enjoy some solid horror action. Body horror is another surprising aspect of the film that was unexpected, nonetheless, the gorge certainly sees its fill of body horror.
The concepts introduced down inside the gorge are quite interesting, though the time we spend learning about them are slim. The Gorge is broad enough to where it felt as though Apple TV could have stretched beyond just a two-hour movie. This film could have been a three or four season television series on Apple TV, that is, if the cast was also expanded upon.
At times, the film certainly felt like watching a TV series in terms of pacing and story development, but the quality never dips below movie-level quality. While The Gorge is still generally a continuously good film, the decision to tell this story cinematically likely hindered the ability to fully flesh out the concepts introduced in the film.
The Gorge is technically sound across all categories
Beyond the cast and story, the film manages to exceed expectations in terms of scope and scale. Some of the horror sets built for this movie are a visual feast and will surely make horror fans happy. Some of the practical effects in the film are also quite impressive as well. The scale of the film never feels below the cinematic level of what you would see in theaters. Apple TV has certainly proven it can produce high level direct-to-streaming films on the same quality that Netflix has somewhat achieved.
The music in the film is done by the talented duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, currently well known for their brilliant work on the film Challengers. Academy Award nominated Cinematographer Dan Laustsen continues his impressive filmography as well, serving as the Director of Photography for the film. In terms of all categories, including editing, sound, score, cinematography, and visual effects, Scott Derrickson and his team put together a technically well-crafted film for The Gorge.
The relationship between Levi and Drasa is what makes The Gorge work
At the center of the film is Levi and Drasa’s incredibly unique romance. It can be said with certainty that this is one of the more original takes on a relationship seen in film recently, which undoubtedly gives the film an advantage. The audience’s takeaway from this film should no doubt be how oddly intriguing the dynamic between Levi and Drasa is in the first and second act. For what feels like almost thirty minutes, the film essentially becomes a silent film, seeing the two leads communicate and get to know each other from across the gorge using binoculars and notepads to write messages.
Selling a mostly silent romance on screen is a testament to the talent of both Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller. The cohesive talent they display makes this film an easy watch, as for about 95% of the runtime, they are the only two actors on screen. As mentioned before, Anya Taylor-Joy is a blooming action star in the making. The pairing of Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller may seem weird at first, but beyond just the action in the movie, both Taylor-Joy and Teller sell their performances incredibly well. As mentioned, this movie only works with true talent at the helm, and both actors delivered.
Overall, The Gorge delivers a high-quality film and a unique blend of multiple genres. Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller put their talents to the test and succeed by carrying this film on their backs, with very little assistance from any supporting cast. While most of the scenes inside the gorge may feel a bit generic and one note, it nonetheless delivers some solid horror action sequences throughout the second half of the film. The Gorge is well worth checking out on Apple TV when it drops on February 14th.
The Gorge releases on Apple TV beginning February 14th. Are you excited about The Gorge? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus or @TheCosmicCircus.com on Bluesky!
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