Scott Derrickson has developed a reputation as a fine filmmaker, but for me he’s leaning toward safe filmmaker. Though his resume includes the excellent “Exorcism of Emily Rose,” “Sinister” and “Doctor Strange” (plus “Urban Legends: Final Cut,” of which I’m the only fan), his big hit “The Black Phone” (2022) was bland, and now “The Gorge” (Apple TV Plus) is a little better, but not what it should be.
Shooting their shots
Derrickson sometimes directs, sometimes writes, and sometimes does both. Here, he directs a screenplay by Zach Dean (“The Tomorrow War,” “Fast X”). Broadly, there’s no arguing with the premise or the actors.
World-class snipers Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) are assigned by Western and Eastern powers, respectively, to surveillance towers on each side of the titular, fog-shrouded Gorge. On one-year assignments, they must shoot anything that tries to emerge, both manually and by making sure the automatic sensor guns are maintained.
“The Gorge” (2025)
Director: Scott Derrickson
Writer: Zach Dean
Stars: Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sigourney Weaver
We’re firmly in a filmmaking age where B-movies can look pretty great. Filled with mist, the gorge is the textbook definition of evocative. Yet, although there’s little quibbling with the artistry of the CGI effects that later drive the film, I found it hard to get swept up in this world.
“The Gorge’s” biggest achievement is its “similar people attract” love story. The performances and sketched-out backstories establish that Levi and Drasa are loners. Even their killings are not intimate; Levi has the second-longest-distance sniper kill on record. Teller goes effectively stoic while Taylor-Joy – whose exotic look reads as “foreign” for Hollywood purposes — chooses spunkiness and tries for a Lithuanian accent. She fares a bit better than in “The New Mutants.”
Most viewers will enjoy watching two attractive movie stars get along, and Dean craftily handles the question of whether people can fall in love when their communication devices are binoculars and marker boards/drawing paper. Derrickson shoots the “love across the chasm” stuff well, and the matter-of-fact way Levi and Drasa physically meet up is worth a smirk. But unfortunately, too much of “The Gorge” is treated with a smirk.
Here be … something (Spoilers)
(SPOILERS FOLLOW.)
To the surprise of no viewer between age 9 and 99, The Gorge contains monsters. It’s remarkable how their first emergence is only worth a shrug, both in directorial and acting flatness. Later, when Levi and Drasa find a filmstrip that explains the decades-old experiment gone wrong, the lack of a “wow” factor is striking.
The monsters – human soldiers combined with DNA of flora and fauna – are a serious threat according to the movie, but I never quite believe it. One sequence of our heroes navigating a bridge covered with gestating monsters calls to mind the “Alien” saga and “The Thing.” Although the CGI effects aren’t bad at all, I don’t feel the chilling reality of those practical-effects classics.
“The Gorge’s” too matter-of-fact nature extends to expected beats falling flat rather than being big moments. For instance, J.D. (Sope Dirisu) – the soldier Levi is relieving – is murdered by his handlers. We know at some point Levi will learn his employers are evil, and an expected (but potentially chilling) way for him to learn would be by finding J.D.’s corpse in The Gorge.
Does nothing faze these people? (Spoilers)
However, there is no moment of revelation. Levi and Drasa simply conclude that their employers are evil when they see the filmstrip. When it turns out Levi’s employer is not the U.S. military but rather a mercenary group (fronted by Sigourney Weaver), I don’t even think that’s supposed to be a shock. If anything, it feels like a script workaround so the military isn’t portrayed as evil.
A better science-run-amok flick would have additional wild twists amid the descending action, but – remembering how “The Black Phone” is content to stick with the obvious rather than add layers – I correctly suspected “The Gorge” would have no additional revelations. It’d just be an actioner about Levi’s and Drasa’s escape.
(END OF SPOILERS.)
As an actioner, “The Gorge” is reasonably good, highlighted by a sequence where Levi and Drasa winch a jeep up the side of a cliff. The film’s first half does establish a neat setting, a mysterious mood and two likeable characters. I give it a mild recommendation for those reasons. But if “The Gorge” remains an off-the-books mission in your Apple queue, you won’t be missing much.