GORGE, THE
(director: Scott Derrickson; screenwriter: Zach Dean; cinematographer: Dan Laustsen; editor: Frederic Thoraval; music: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross; cast: Miles Teller (Levi Kane), Anya Taylor-Joy (Drasa), Sigourney Weaver (Bartholomew), Sope Dirisu (J.D.), William Huston (Erikas); Runtime: 127; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: C. Robert Cargill, Sherryl Clark, Zach Dean, Scott Derrickson, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Gregory Goodman, Don Granger, Adam Kolbrenner; Apple TV +; 2025)
“Too absurd to take seriously.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Scott Derrickson (“Hellraiser: Inferno”/”The Black Phone”) directs this sci-fi thriller written by Zach Dean.
In a remote unknown fog-covered area on the border of Eastern Europe there’s a Gorge that powerful nations want kept secret ever since WW2. From a watchtower two ace snipers stand watch, with high-powered binoculars and an assault weapon, who allow no one out but allow people in.
Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is a marks-woman from Lithuania who watches the Eastern side for Russia, while on the opposite Western side that’s the duty of Levi (Miles Teller), an American ex-military man, who now works for a private contractor. He was recruited for the job by the high-level spook Bartholomew (Sigourney Weaver).
The snipers are committed contractually for a year, and live without modern conveniences or outside communication. Every 30 days they make radio checks to their own government headquarters. The two are forbidden to contact each other, but can clearly see each other.
Drasa begins holding up signs to him, breaking the contract rules, until they meet and become lovers.
It seems the Gorge is filled with monsters called The Hollow Men (named from a T.S. Eliott poem), who when escaping are killed. The snipers must make sure the monsters don’t escape or there’s hell to pay.
The film is too absurd to take seriously, but it’s well-crafted, well-acted and entertaining. Its big reveal over a Bartholomew revelation, keeps things unpredictable.
REVIEWED ON 3/9/2025 GRADE: B-
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