The Gorge is a surprisingly engaging sci-fi romance
★★★★ | How deep is your love
The Gorge is a great date movie with two noticeable problems: its name and that it’s about 20 minutes too long.
Other than that, director Scott Derrickson and writer Zach Dean have crafted a surprisingly likable and thrilling romantic actioner that works because we care about the lead pairing. It helps that they’re played by Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, who could make reading the phone book titillating.
Teller and Taylor-Joy play snipers from the West and the East. Both are at the end of their respective ropes, burnt out from careers of taking distant shots that end lives while saving nations. One day, each is assigned a dead-end job of guarding a gorge in an unknown country beyond all civilization. No one talks to anyone, and no one leaves. Their job is to mind their business and keep whatever is in the gorge secure.
Naturally, the duo quickly notices one another, and they spark an immediate, almost supernatural chemistry between the towers. In one of the most inspired moments in the film, we witness a meet-cute between snipers who can’t talk but know how to shoot.
What happens next is best left a secret, even if you can probably guess where things go and how they end. The Gorge isn’t surprising because of its plot but because of how much it makes us care, even if we’re familiar with it. These are well-rounded and convincing characters, silly as they are, and there’s something genuinely moving about their love that starts as an act of desperation and grows into something deeper.
Derrickson, who directed the first Dr. Strange, makes the most out of his limited sets and cast. For the most part, it’s surprisingly unshowy and meticulous filmmaking. Long takes where the camera sits in a fixed position that allows the viewer to be the editor. It shouldn’t be noteworthy, yet here we are. In a world of clumsy TV movies, something as assured as this feels like a breath of fresh air.
He does eventually get to flex his horror muscles in deliciously evil ways, and it’s wonderful to see a director stage action where you can see what’s going on.
But, as said, it’s about 20 minutes too long, and the final act drags on to the point that it eats away at its effectiveness. By the time it hits that final fade out, it does feel earned, and like we’re going out on a high note, but getting there takes one turn too many.
Still, this is a fun and solidly built thrill that would have worked like gangbusters at the cinema. I’m sure it’ll be a great Valentine’s Day stream at home, but there’s something about this kind of big swing of a romantic high-concept ride that I find best on the big screen. However you watch it, you’re in for a good time, and that’s something we need right now.