The Gorge (film)

The Gorge
Directed by	Scott Derrickson
Written by	Zach Dean
Produced by	David Ellison Dana Goldberg Don Granger Scott Derrickson C. Robert Cargill Sherryl Clark Zach Dean Adam Kolbrenner Greg Goodman
Starring	Miles Teller Anya Taylor-Joy Sigourney Weaver
Cinematography	Dan Laustsen
Edited by	Frédéric Thoraval
Music by	Trent Reznor Atticus Ross
Production company	Apple Studios Skydance Media Lit Entertainment Group Crooked Highway
Distributed by	Apple TV+
Release date	February 14, 2025 (2025-02-14)
Running time	127 minutes
Language	English
Country	United Kingdom United States

The Gorge is a 2025 American science fiction romantic action film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by Zach Dean. It stars Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Sigourney Weaver. Teller and Taylor-Joy portray two elite snipers who are ordered to guard a deep gorge without knowing what lies inside. It was released on Apple TV+ on February 14, 2025.

Plot

Two elite snipers receive identical missions: travel to a secret location and guard the west and east sides of a deep gorge for one year without any contact with the outside world or their counterparts on the opposite sides. Levi Kane, a former U.S. Marine Scout/Sniper and current private contractor agrees to guard the west tower. Drasa, a Lithuanian covert operative frequently employed by the Kremlin, guards the east side. Levi suffers from nightmares stemming from the guilt he has from killing enemies, while Drasa's father, Erikas, dying from cancer, plans to commit suicide on Valentine's Day to reunite with his late wife.

Upon arriving, Levi relieves his predecessor, Jasper "J.D." Drake, a British Royal Marine corporal, of duty. J.D. explains that in addition to the towers, there are automated turret defenses, powerful cloaking antennas that hide the gorge, and mines on the walls of the gorge to contain monstrous creatures within. Their predecessors nicknamed these creatures "The Hollow Men", a reference to the poem of the same name by T. S. Eliot depicting the end of the world. Additionally, J.D. warns of a protocol called "Stray Dog" telling Levi, "If you hear those air-raid sirens, you run like hell." J.D. tells Levi that three battalions of soldiers (2,400 men) were sent into the gorge in the late 1940s but never returned. J.D. is exfiltrated by helicopter, but his contact executes him without explanation before calling Levi's handler to report the transition complete.

After several weeks, Drasa violates the no-communication protocol on her birthday and initiates conversations with Levi via written signs. Levi reciprocates and the two engage in a sharpshooting competition. There is a protracted escape attempt by the Hollow Men, but Drasa and Levi defend their towers and each other. The two start communicating more frequently, playing games of chess, and making improvised drum sets.

Six months into their tour, Levi ziplines to the other side of the gorge to spend time with Drasa. The two court one another by dancing and making rabbit pie. Levi, an amateur poet, tells Drasa he is writing a poem for her titled "She Collapsed the Night". The next morning, Levi attempts to cross back to his side of the gorge, but the mines on the western side of the gorge detonate as the Hollow Men climb it, causing him to drop into the gorge when his zipline cable snaps. He deploys a parachute as he falls.

Drasa parachutes in to rescue him, and the two discover that every plant, animal, and insect within the gorge has been cross-mutated with one another. Seeking shelter, they locate the source of the mutations: a bioweapons research lab from World War II abandoned after an earthquake caused a contaminant leak that produces symptoms of mutation within five days. Originally run by Eastern and Western governments, the facility has since become the responsibility of Darklake, a private defense corporation that periodically extracts samples and research data, hoping to create super soldiers. Levi discovers the "Stray Dog" protocol, a failsafe developed by the original researchers to sterilize the site with a nuclear detonation, which Darklake now controls.

The two find a Jeep with a working towing cable and use it to climb back out of the gorge as they fight off the Hollow Men. They agree to separate for five days to ensure that neither is infected with the mutagens and to check in with their handlers. Levi's handler, Bartholomew, admits that Darklake is running the operation and that she knows the site has been compromised. Wanting to get away together, but needing to contain the contagion, Drasa and Levi agree to activate the "Stray Dog" protocol to protect the world from mutagens and mutagenic research. Bartholomew arrives with her soldiers and finds Levi's tower abandoned; they send armed aerial drones after Levi and Drasa, but the pair manages to destroy them. Executing pre-planned, simultaneous shots, the two destroy the 'cloak' and expose the site to surveillance, triggering the "Stray Dog" protocol. Bartholomew and her soldiers are killed in the blast and the area is destroyed.

Having been separated from Levi during the blast, Drasa completes her five day self-quarantine. She leaves for France, where the pair had planned to reunite. She waits for Levi, who doesn't appear. Among her belongings, she finds an envelope from Levi to be opened "if I don't make it"; inside she finds the completed poem "She Collapsed the Night". A month later, Drasa is working in a local restaurant. There Levi surprises her, asking if he can have rabbit pie. The two kiss.

Cast

• Miles Teller as Levi Kane
• Anya Taylor-Joy as Drasa
• Sigourney Weaver as Bartholomew
• Sope Dirisu as J.D.
• William Houston as Erikas

Production

Zach Dean wrote a spec script for The Gorge that was later voted onto the Black List of the most-liked unproduced screenplays in 2020. In March 2022, Scott Derrickson was set to direct and produce the film alongside Skydance Media. In August, Miles Teller was cast to star, as well as serve as an executive producer. In October, Anya Taylor-Joy joined the cast, and Apple Original Films signed on. Sigourney Weaver was added to the cast in March 2023.

The film includes a scene where the characters bond across the gorge, with the two playing chess and banging on improvised drum sets, recalling iconic breakout roles of the actors, as a chess prodigy in The Queen's Gambit for Taylor-Joy, and as a drummer in Whiplash for Teller. According to Teller and Taylor-Joy, the scenes were not written for them specifically, but were in the script prior to their being cast. They felt it was a bit on the nose considering their histories, and tried to get them changed, but Derrickson insisted the scene remain.

Filming began in March 2023 in London, with production occurring at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, where the tower interiors were built on a stage. The Rauma River in Norway served as the location for the forest and gorge exteriors, while Llandudno in Wales stood in for Èze in France.

Release

The Gorge had its world premiere at the AMC Theatres at The Grove in Los Angeles on February 13, 2025, with the cast and crew in attendance. The film was subsequently released for streaming exclusively on Apple TV+ on February 14, 2025. It became Apple TV+’s biggest launch for a movie ever, surpassing WOLFS starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 64% of 5.9 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 131/10. On the website, the critics' consensus reads, "Mixing multiple genres, The Gorge makes for a surprisingly endearing romance until its action-thriller obligations steer proceedings back onto a more predictable path." Using a weighted average calculator, Metacritic assigned the film a score of 57 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Glenn Kenny of The New York Times gave The Gorge a positive review, saying, "'The Gorge' takes an already implausible premise and then catapults it out of the espionage genre and into science-fiction and horror ... this movie crackles most as a lively pas de deux between Taylor-Joy and Teller, who commendably take their material seriously no matter how seriously ridiculous it gets."

Jack Coyle of the Associated Press gave the film one and a half stars out of four, calling it "preposterous", arguing that the tonal swings between action and romance were not of high quality, with the movie feeling like an "intriguing but empty genre mash-up and streaming-only exercise". Coyle also took issue with the basic structure of the plot, arguing that "If some version of hell was pried open, would we, perhaps, want more than two guards?"

External links

• The Gorge on Apple TV+
• The Gorge at IMDb

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