The Gorge
Two experienced snipers, the American former US Marine Levi, and the Lithuanian, Drasa, who worked for The Kremlin, are each hired by a mysterious military ‘spook’ to watch over a secret ‘gorge’ – hundreds of meters wide and covered in a mysterious fog. Levi lives in a tower on the west side; Drasa on the east.
They are each given year long missions, forbidden from communicating with the outside world, or each other, they break the rules by writing notes to one another, and developing a friendship.
When Levi falls into the gorge one day, Drasa jumps in after him – to the horrors below.
Direction
Good direction from Scott Derickson (2008’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, Doctor Strange, The Black Phone), who I found did some solid camera techniques at times.
I liked his use of ‘dark’ tones – as many of the moments that occur – are when it was dark.
There are some interesting style choices, such as early on in the film when Levi is at the beach and we get some quick cuts of the ‘same frame’. it gave almost Steven Soderberg vibes. This was married with a ‘similar theme’ of character at the beach later in the film with Drasa (quick cuts/same frame), although hers was in daylight as apposed to Levi’s dark. It was a very subtle nod to their characters emotions at the time.
Cast/Characters
Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy are reasonably well cast and do a decent job in their respective roles. While I’m not able to give a ‘technical’ analysis on if they are ‘age appropriate’ or showed accurate precision in weapons handling – for what the movie’s intentions they did well.
I liked Sigourney Weaver as the ‘spook’ – who knows what the gorge really is and has ulterior motives when it comes to how she chooses the ‘guards’. I found her character too similar to the one she played in Paul (although that was a comedy). Some of arcs her character does here, is identical to that film.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
At 127m, this is about half an hour too long, and could have done wtih plenty of edititng.
Teller and Taylor-Joy pair well together, and their ‘friendship into romance’ feels organic. The ‘romance’ part of the film felt like it overtook the ‘mystery/horror’ aspect of what was below the fog. There were a couple of cute nods to their past film/tv roles such as the drumming sequence, and the playing chess sequence (Whiplash and The Queen’s Gambit)
The answers to ‘what lies below’ was done rather poorly, with an exposition overload within minutes of arriving (a conveniently found old video and the easiest located file on any computer).
When it did come to the ‘horror/supernatural’ element – I did find myself having a couple of jumps – and the action excitement element was done effectively, although the ‘zombie/undead’ seemed a little too easy to ‘off’
There was a very well done moment early in the film where the pair first strike up their friendship, and due to not physically able to speak to one another (rather write on note pads and look through telescopes to see what the other has written) there is ‘no spoken dialogue’ for about 25 minutes – and due to what is seen on screen – it is not at all missed.
While Sigourney Weaver is a fine actress, and does well wherever she goes – the film could have edited her character out entirely and would still have had the same end result.
Score/Soundtrack
There’s a decent score that pairs well with the scenes on screen. A couple of examples are during the ‘first’ communication scenes between Levi and Drasa, and later on during the final confrontation between the ‘big bads’ and the heroes when they are defending the towers and ‘Stray Dog’ has been activated.
Overall
I went in blind with this one, and came out pleasantly surprised. While nothing extraordinary – I did enjoy the way they created the pairing of Levi and Drasa, and how their relationship developed.
A little too much attention was given to this, and I wished we saw more down below. Good direction, and some good use of ‘no dialogue’ – made a passable Saturday night in.
3.5/5
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