The Gorge

You may have and probably did miss that Apple TV+ celebrated Valentine's Day with a new movie, as the streamer actually used the typically romantic day to premiere a new original film with Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller at the helm. Known as The Gorge, this film is a somewhat fitting flick for the occasion, as there is a love story that blossoms as the plot unravels, but at the same time this is much more of an action effort, one that has its strengths and plenty of weaknesses too.

For starters, the idea of the film is actually a really interesting one. Government and political intrigue drive a plot that is centred on a distant valley in an unknown parcel of the Northern Hemisphere. We follow two highly-trained individuals, Taylor-Joy's Eastern Europe-based Drasa and Teller's American Levi, both of whom are tasked with heading to this godforsaken area to keep tabs on the very mysterious gorge that separates them. As the story unfolds, you learn more about the gorge itself, what it's keeping secret and trapped within, and also more about Drasa and Levi, who begin to fall for one another despite the literal, cultural, and metaphorical distances that separates them. There's a plot at the core of The Gorge that works, but is it strong enough to tie everything together? Sometimes.

The two leading stars do well to anchor this film too, but their chemistry is fine at the best of times. Even though Teller is a fantastic actor, Taylor-Joy does stand out as the more charismatic and lively performer, pretty much always stealing the show. As for the rest of the cast, the majority of the film doesn't feature anyone except Teller and Taylor-Joy, meaning there is even greater emphasis and weight placed on the shoulders of these two stars, who can struggle to stand firm amid the pressure and expectation and the uneven direction.

One of the main issues that The Gorge seems to face is its pacing. The first hour of the film really begins to drag as the relationship between the two characters trudges along at a very brisk pace and the mystery of the gorge itself is slowly unravelled. This changes almost in an instance when Levi falls into the gorge, leaving Drasa to follow and save her paramour, and from here on out the plot moves at almost full sprint until the closing five minutes. It's a bizarre balance that seems to prove that The Gorge doesn't quite get how to manage its leading romance and action themes.

The action is also fine but nothing particularly special. The CGI of the twisted creatures you meet after a short while remind of The Flying Dutchman's crew from the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and they're neither particularly memorable nor frightening. They just serve a purpose of being a thorn in Levi and Drasa's sides, and not even the main antagonist, which is instead reserved for one of the few other human cast member, Sigourney Weaver, who delivers and appears as a character that is disappointing and cliché at the best of times.

The Gorge and its unique premise will hold your attention for its two-hour duration, but once the credits roll it leaves a very weak impression on the viewer. This screams out as another Apple TV+ film that all said and done will be forgotten to the annals of time, in the same way that Ghosted, The Instigators, The Family Plan, and such, all seem to be too. If you have a subscription to the streamer, it's perfectly fine entertainment for an evening, but it is by no means must-watch content in the same way that many of its television productions are.