The Gorge - Review

Rating: 3 out of 5

FILMMAKER Scott Derrickson is no stranger to merging genres despite being a name more synonymous with horror. His Exorcism of Emily Rose, for instance, mixed courtroom drama with Exorcist-themed horror, while even his Marvel entry Doctor Strange combined fantasy, superhero and supernatural tropes.

With The Gorge, the director mixes another three genres: romance, conspiracy style thriller and horror. Ironically, it’s the first of those that yields the film’s best results.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller star as, respectively, Drasa and Levi, two super assassins, who are recruited by their respective agencies (one from the East, the other from the West) to watch over a gorge for one year - both located on either side of the abyss.

The exact location of said gorge remains a mystery, although Levi is informed during a handover from his predecessor (Sope Dirisu) that he could well be protecting the gates of hell. The mission therefore is simple: it is one of containment, preventing anything from escaping.

As the months pass by, Levi and Drasa begin contacting each other from across the divide, communicating by way of pen and paper (and super powered binoculars) and playing the odd song to each other via loudspeaker. It’s during these moments that the film provides the most fun.

There’s a delightful montage involving nods to two of both stars biggest hits - The Queen’s Gambit and Whiplash - as well as some comically inventive ways of flirting, which endear audiences to these two battle scarred loners.

When Levi figures out a way to reach Drasa by zip-lining across the gorge, the two share a romantic meal together and talk about the guilt they feel about their kills. It’s another convincing moment that thrives on the chemistry between them and further endears them as a couple.

En route back to his side of the gorge, however, events conspire to send Levi into its depths, prompting Drasa to follow in a bid to rescue him.

It’s at this point that the film switches to action meets horror, with both Levi and Drasa employing their formidable killing skills to keep each other alive against attacks from mutated marauders and over-sized insects. Here, Derrickson seems to be borrowing from the likes of The Last of Us, Kong: Skull Island, Peter Jackson’s giant bug fight in King Kong and Game of Thrones (white walkers)…. not to forget the genetics inspired body horror of John Carpenter’s The Thing.

There’s an ick factor to certain scenes, while the underlying cause for what’s happened in the gorge leans into government experiments and the creation of bio-weapons, all trading on the same kind of real-life ethical and moral dilemmas that fuelled Oppenheimer’s creation of the nuclear bomb.

Yet while there’s room for some interesting commentary here, the film doesn’t really seem interested in exploring any of them - there’s a rush to proceedings that both negates any of the potential for thought-provoking psychological horror or out and out peril.

That audiences should continue rooting for Levi and Drasa to escape and expose the gorge is down to the earlier work the two have done while falling for each other.

But it also lends proceedings an uneven tone, inviting audiences to question how much better a different film - one that remained content to remain up top and concentrate on the issues of loneliness and guilt that inform the leads - might have been.

The Gorge works best on a human level, buoyed by the charisma and chemistry of its two leads. As a horror, it underwhelms; while its conspiracy/cover up elements just feel silly. It’s a curious mix that keeps you entertained. But it could have worked so much better had it concentrated more on its obvious strengths.