The Gorge brings Scott Derrickson, Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy together, and I’ve got to say, I’m thankful because it feels like these filmmakers haven’t been featured in too many Hollywood projects lately and this feels like a comeback project, of sorts, for each of them. While Anya wasn’t featured in as many high-profile releases within the last year as in the past, it’s been a minute since Scott and Miles topped a genre film.
Off the heels of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Black Phone (both of which were criminally underrated), the multi-hyphenate Derrickson brings a multi-genre story to the small screen. Released exclusively on Apple TV+, The Gorge features two opposing highly trained operatives working on a top-secret mission intended to save the world.
Teller plays Levi, an elite Marine sniper with hundreds of confirmed kills, who’s been technically retired for four years. Working as a mercenary/private contractor for various missions throughout the years, he also writes poetry on the side. Taylor-Joy portrays Drasa, a Lithuanian assassin working for the Russian government, following in her father’s KGB footsteps. Each one is brought in with zero previous knowledge about the task at hand — they don’t even know what country they’re currently in. Provided with the most basic of need-to-know information, their year-long duties mostly amount to an annual rotation of maintenance and restocking duties… along with preventing an unknown, mysterious evil from escaping a very large canyon and destroying mankind.
With Levi strategically placed in the West Tower Observation Post and Drasa’s home away from home in the East Tower, their roles are tedious, to say the least. Cloakers send false satellite signals, hiding them from the outside world and for the last decade, not one U.S. or Russian leader has known about its existence. A relic from the Cold War era, mysterious automated systems connected to old-school air raid sirens protect the properties from unseen invaders.
A majority of the storyline details are revealed through overly detailed exposition — some backstory feels necessary, but other parts could’ve been shown. Quite a bit of effort is focused on their alone time and boredom is a killer. Even though contact with the other side is forbidden, as land mines and lethal tactical barriers prevent them from physically visiting each other, somehow, they manage to eventually meet cute, anyway. Lots of reactionary glances are highlighted from afar and predictably, Levi makes his way across the chasm for a dinner date — how would their superiors ever know because they’re cloaked? Both wonder about the truth of their missions, not knowing what to expect.
“The Gorge is the door to hell, and we are standing guard at the gate.”
What begins as a pseudo espionage story briefly evolves into an unapproved romance and then a horror movie, which is where the tension and beautiful terror begins. About two-thirds through the movie, the “Hollow Men” finally make their presence felt. These unknown creatures, named after a T.S. Eliot poem, looking like Jim Henson-J.R.R. Tolkien nightmare creatures somehow have evolved from the original soldiers who first traveled there in the ’40s. What kind of shrieking terrors will they bring?
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since the infamous Fantastic Four reboot featured Miles Teller — that’s the last time I remember watching the actor perform in any genre fare (although he did appear in Top Gun: Maverick). Taylor-Joy’s appearance here feels like a step down after appearing in Furiosa and Dune: Part Two this past year, but the year has only just begun, so there could be more projects released soon on the horizon for her. And with Sigourney Weaver also appearing as a high-level spook for this mission, there’s a whole lot of talent involved with this storyline that I somehow knew nothing about before watching it!
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Zach Dean wrote the script, which was voted onto the Black List, as one of the most-liked unproduced screenplays of 2020. The first thing I really noticed was the incredibly scenic location where this movie takes place. Norway’s Rauma River and its surrounding wooded acreage was a beautifully magical choice that’s perfect for depicting isolation. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the film’s score, which was more subtle than that of their past projects. There was even one pretty good jump scare involved, but mostly this film is great to watch in the dark — especially if you’re alone!
“Too much truth puts sadness in your heart and madness in your mind.”
The film’s end-of-the-world escape plan felt all sorts of wrong and somewhat cheesy, but I won’t dwell too much on that, as I really enjoyed the horrific world that was only briefly shown. Quarantines and infections are discussed (bringing back vivid COVID scares) and a science experiment that mimics a certain patriotic MCU superhero gets thrown about as well. Creepy creature costumes and lotsa gunfire paired with a terrifically spooky score are showcased in The Gorge.
Is this the fork in the road for Scott Derrickson’s career, where he departs from straight-up horror flicks and turns to mashup films of other genres, with just horror elements? I’ll be watching and waiting to find out. As a long-time fan of Derrickson’s (and Anya’s), I enjoyed portions this film a lot, I only wish there was more story development for the horror portion of the script. Moving forward, I might even forgive Teller for his past F4 performance.
“You bury enough secrets… the graveyard runs out of room.”