The Gorge is another ok but not great movie from Apple TV+. Not terrible, and not pure “content” like some of the Netflix and other straight-to-streaming crap that we sometimes see, but also not a huge success. Think, B-movie, but with good production value.
Levi (Miles Teller) is a former Marine Scout sniper and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is a Lithuanian sniper doing jobs for shadowy Russian masters. Both find themselves assigned to a new and mysterious mission; a one year isolated tour occupying guard towers across from one another with a giant gorge described as “the gates of Hell” in between. Despite orders prohibiting contact between the two towers, our snipers exchange pleasantries via binoculars, celebrate birthdays and holidays, and quickly fall in love, all while the monsters of the Gorge threaten from below. When Levi falls into the Gorge, Drasa follows to save him, and the two lovers must find their way back to the light. But are they truly battling demonic creatures, or maybe something a bit more sinister?
As I mentioned, this is basically a B-movie. The writing is weak, the dialogue is frequently forced and corny, and there are all kinds of little moments where they obviously didn’t pay much attention to getting details right. There’s some perfunctory character development in the first act. However, the filmmakers then rush you through a not very convincing romance, onto which they then pin the rest of the story. There are several times during the movie where you might ask yourself, “Didn’t these two just meet like, 5mins ago? Why are they willing to sacrifice their lives for each other like they’ve been in love for decades?” The reveal of who the bad guys are is pretty predictable, and there’s never really any tension regarding whether or heroes will emerge victorious or not. The CGI is decent on a TV at home, although I found the lighting of the movie (like lots of movies these days) to be very dark.
That all said, there is some decent popcorn movie horror-style action in The Gorge. It’s not particularly scary, but there are some Lovecraftian style notes, and a bunch of creatures and nasty things trying to kill the two main characters. There are some good action set pieces, reminiscent of 80s or 90s action films, and plenty of stuff blows up. Additionally, there is some beautiful cinematography, plus decent music by Trent Reznor / Atticus Ross.
Overall, The Gorge is a decent straight-to-streaming action horror romance popcorn movie. There’s very little gore, no nudity or drugs, and I don’t remember any cursing. It’s not going to be your new favorite, but if you’re looking for something that doesn’t require much brain power, is fairly safe for the family (might be scary or too much action for little kids), and if you already have Apple TV+, then this might be for you.