Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) are elite snipers working for different world powers, and they have been given the task of protecting the titular gorge located in some unknown country. Zach Dean and Derrickson should have opted for a different approach and placed us right into the middle of their assignment because “The Gorge” is one of the slowest films I have watched, and the introduction is without a doubt the most boring part of the film, with background narration for Levi and Drasa that is superfluous as it is. The two actors are charming and likeable enough for us to care about them even if we are not privy to Levi’s PTSD or Drasa’s dying father before we meet them. That does, however, allow him to cast Sigourney Weaver in a minor role as Levi’s superior, and in return he wastes the great Sope Dirisu on an exposition dump of a role as the person whose position Levi takes up. But there is a two-hander version of this film that is far more delightful than what we have here.
In this segment of this movie, the so-called doomed soldier discusses his job responsibilities with both the audience and Levi. Their mission is to “ Guard the gorge” Not from intruders, but from what could come out of it. The soldier takes step further when he refers to the gorge as Hell, where godly creatures called “Hollow Men” rise, and their job is to “gun down” the poor souls. Levi has it easy. His partner is the gorgeous Drasa and instantly Levi starts courting her from the opposing side of the gorge, meaning their courtship in the gorge is pretty traditional. Drasa tends to be on the more sour side and is quite playful and rambunctious, while Levi is stern and rigid in his mystmal even preparing her Shotgun to initiate the fling. In a rather unpredictable turn of events, Drasa starts to flirt cross gorge by blasting music and challenging him to shooting contests. To be fair, he does seem to ease his guard a bit too fast for someone who has trained so intensely, but the plot has to progress.
Teller manages to maintain a noble calm under pressure while Taylor-Joy sketches a more free-spirited chaos agent, which is clearly meant to give our pair a sort of “opposites attract” dynamic. They do lack a bit in the chemistry department, but they are such engaging performers that they help the script over a few of its shallow (I apologize) patches. It's difficult to restrain your eyeballs from rolling out at lines like, “You bury enough secrets the graveyard runs out of room,’’ but Teller and Taylor-Joy's likability makes it so that the dialogue does not completely ruin the production. Rather, it adds a peculiar type of charm to the movie. After all, we do not come to B-movies for the poetry.
In no time, the philosophical Levi has done himself in with Drasa, and vice versa. This is where “The Gorge” really gets going. Without getting too much into details, Derrickson’s film is rapidly becoming the one that it seems like he is most passionate about, with phrenetic set pieces and outlandish creature design all to another great score from Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. The guys who did “Challengers” (which is still the biggest Oscar snub of the year) do it again by composing music for an action movie where their contribution can only be described as remarkable. That is a reality. This actioner does have a heartbeat.
At its most entertaining, it evokes the kind of anarchic horror-action energy that made Sam Raimi an 80s genre star when it drives, and boy is it a blast. This chaotic sequence with a jeep and swaths of enemies was so Raimi-esquethat I expected Bruce Campbell to jump out and rescue the day. (This is a compliment, by the way.) There’s a scene wonderfully filled with chaos that showcases action like we truly need: work that does not feel like it has been sanded down by CGI and focus groups, and is instead defined by a loose, unhinged quality that far too few studios are willing to risk in 2020s.
The gorge does too much work in its setup, as it does take too long, and the ending is wrapped in a manner that is far too rushed and unsatisfying, but when it begins to hum and smack during the initial flirtation or the action heavy mid-section, it actually matches it’s hybrid genre potential. Dean’s script is certainly ambitious, and it blends elements of horror, action, sci-fi and romance into a single story. It’s far from perfect, and can be very muddled at times, but more realistic and from the blockbusters that are likely to be seen nowadays.
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