Mid-February saw the release of the Apple Original action-romance film ‘The Gorge’, directed by Scott Derrickson (‘Doctor Strange’) and starring Miles Teller and Anna Taylor-Joy in its lead roles.
The story follows Levi Kane (Teller), former U.S. Marine sniper turned private-contractor, and Drasa (Taylor-Joy), a Lithuanian covert operator, as they are assigned solo-missions on opposite outposts across the eponymous Gorge. Despite orders forbidding contact with their counterparts, the two form a connection through a simple pen, paper and binoculars system, all while completing the task of eliminating any entities escaping from the fog of the gorge.
The specific genre is hard to define, and perhaps the term hybrid-genre would be more applicable, since Apple have attempted – albeit somewhat clumsily – to merge the thriller, sci-fi, action, dystopian and romance genres all together.
Visually, the film is first-rate, with Apple likely sparing no penny on ensuring the visual effects were slick and realistic. However, while this elevated the dystopian concept in terms of verisimilitude, it may have been detrimental to the believability of the characters place within the world.
The actors’ reactions to terrifying moments—such as the ‘Hollow Men’ attack—feel muted. Teller, for example, does not reflect the wide-eyed horror the audience no doubt felt, possibly a result of working with CGI ‘monsters.’ Often, there was a sort of stoicism to both Levi and Drasa’s ‘action-hero’ posing and gesture codes that felt a little cliché.
Unlike ‘The Hunger Games’ or ‘Maze Runner’, where protagonists’ fear feels visceral, (think of Dylan O’Brien’s big wide-eyed stare when he first sees the Glade or a Griever) ‘The Gorge’ lacks that same immersive intensity. An argument could be made that this slight nonchalance is due to both Drasa and Levi being trained soldiers who can keep their cool, as opposed to the young adults of other dystopian thrillers. Still, at times, it made the film feel a little superficial.
The actors’ reactions to terrifying moments—such as the ‘Hollow Men’ attack—feel muted.
Possibly the tensest scene in the movie is the discovery of – and subsequent escape from – the missile silo. The distorted chemical webbing inside the warehouse, was reminiscent of the vine-like pulsing tendrils of the upside down in Netflix’s popular series ‘Stranger Things’, and the nail-biting moment of the two navigating the writhing organism is likely to make a viewer’s skin crawl.
Overall, ‘The Gorge’ is an entertaining ‘Friday night’ watch with solid action and CGI – a ‘mockbuster’ of sorts – but beneath the glossy surface it lacks a necessary sense of depth.
