The Gorge (2025) Review: A Surprisingly Entertaining Mishmash of Action, Romance and Sci-Fi Thriller
The Gorge shouldn’t have worked. I mean, especially given the fact that Zach Dean (24 Hours to Live, The Tomorrow War) meshes different genres from a military thriller to the slow-burn character drama, romantic dramedy, sci-fi horror and action-movie tropes. And yet, Scott Derrickson, who previously directed one of the segments in the horror anthology V/H/S/85, surprisingly manages to make it work. It has its flaws but I’ll get to that later and let’s dive into the story first.
The movie follows Levi, a former U.S. Marine scout sniper who’s been having nightmares as a result of his PTSD. Now working as a private contractor, he is later recruited by a big-time spook Bartholomew (Sigourney Weaver) for a top-secret mission. That mission in question requires him to board a military plane that will take him to an undisclosed location deep in the jungle and upon landing, Levi meets J.D. (Sope Dirisu), a Royal Marines Commando soldier who’s been guarding the West Tower Observation Point for the past 365 days.
And now, it’s Levi’s turn to replace him as he will finally depart his post. The first 20 minutes are dedicated to laying out expositions as J.D. fills him in about Levi’s job and a bit of history surrounding the mysterious gorge. Expositions, especially the type that relies on verbose dialogues tend to bring down the momentum and drag the movie. But in the case of The Gorge, Derrickson’s assured direction keeps me invested in J.D.’s story where he gets Levi curious about everything.
When Levi is finally all alone guarding the West Tower, he needs to perform the daily routine as J.D. tells him earlier. Well, not exactly alone since there’s a counterpart on the other side at the East Tower. But Levi is not supposed to communicate with his counterpart, who turns out to be a young Lithuanian woman named Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy). Soon, the story morphs into a series of meet-cute moments that instantly remind me of Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai’s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, where the two communicate by showing off written words on sketchbooks as they look at each other’s messages through telescopes.
Instead of resulting in awkwardly misplaced scenarios, the romantic angle happens to work like a charm, thanks to Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy’s instant sparks in their on-screen chemistry. The movie even subtly references both actors’ past works related to a certain Netflix miniseries and an indie music-themed psychological drama. Credits go to Derrickson for taking his time wanting us to get warmed up with these two lonely characters striving for each other’s company before they eventually fall in love. This certainly helps once the stakes kick into high gear in the second half.
From there, Derrickson switches his gear again as The Gorge enters the sci-fi horror territory that makes you feel like I’m watching the cutscenes of a survival horror video game. The CGI may have been a mixed bag and whatever things lurking beyond the thick mist of the mysterious gorge aren’t nothing that you never seen before.
Still, the action is viscerally staged with enough flair, notably the thrilling set piece revolving around an old jeep with winches being dragged by a zip-line on a cliff vertically. Not to mention Derrickson’s expertise in the horror genre allows him to stage some effective spooky moments with the help of Dan Laustsen’s atmospheric cinematography utilising yellow and purple colours in the fog-shrouded landscape and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s discordant score. The final third act is somewhat rushed to wrap things up and for a movie that runs a little over two hours, I’m expecting a better and more satisfying payoff.
The Gorge is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
