'The Gorge' A Review

The Gorge is a scifi action romance about two world class snipers stationed at either side of a mysterious gorge that contains mysterious monsters.

Anya Taylor-Joy brings her patented magnetism and commitment and makes something out of this not-much of a character in this convoluted story. She's charming, charismatic, and proves again and again that she's got talent. She brings the same level of intense commitment to her roles regardless of their quality(and good for her!). Unfortunately her wattage isn't really enough to bring the movie out of it's nose dive. Teller doesn't fair as well and uses a less-is-less approach, he hasn't really capitalized on the promise shown in his break out Whiplash partly because of the roles he's had but also perhaps because that was just one of those stars-aligning type of films and he simply doesn't have top-of-the-call-sheet type juice. He's not bad but he's not particularly interesting and the wild swings in tone don't do either actor any favors.

The movie looks cheap, shot mostly on soundstages with extensive greenscreen/CGI it looks fake and there is some uncanny valley effects as a result. The sound mix is atrocious with the oppressive score ten times louder than the (minimal) dialogue track. The biggest issue though is the script. Written on spec, it seems clear that screenwriter Zach Dean's intent was to use this to get his foot in the door not actually have it produced(he's also the scribe of the profoundly unwatchable The Tomorrow War). The Gorge was on the 2020 Black List of "best" unproduced scripts which is kind of baffling and makes you wonder if the script readers at studios actually watch movies. Having just returned from LA I can say it is shocking how many people there who want to work in show business(or do) but don't watch much of the actual product(and seem proud of this fact). Tonally it attempts to mash science fiction, action, and romance but simply switches between the genres scene-to-scene and doesn't meld them which makes you feel like your getting a ride from someone with a stick shift who doesn't know how do it. The dialogue is pretty cringe and there are so many ludicrous plot holes and inconsistencies its virtually impossible to invest in anything that's happening.

Straight-to-streaming mediocrity.

Currently streaming on Apple TV+.

Don't See It.