Since 2005, the journalist Franklin Leonard has published a list of previously unpolid but promising scripts every year, which are often characterized by particularly original ideas. On the so -called Black List Already ended up scripts to later Oscar winners such as “Argo” and “The Revenant”-and also “The Gorge“By author Zach Dean (” The Tomorrow was “). With its as simple and ominous premise, the script made it onto the list in the crisis-ridden Corona year 2020 when many managers of Hollywood used their suddenly free schedule to browse film ideas.
The script was then also a crucial reason for “Sinister” director Scott Derrickson to join the project that went into production in London in May 2023. After all, “The Gorge” is a large event film far from established film series and franchises with an original story that mixes several genres together. He and the producing streaming service Apple TV+ themselves did not become more specific in the trailers, which can do with vague hints, which could be lurking in the thick fog of a guarded gorge. Finally, the genre mix of science fiction, horror thriller and romance, which is top-class with Miles and Anya Taylor-Joy, pulls its tension from this uncertain-and so we will also avoid spoilers in this criticism.
Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Levi (Miles plate) have to become inventive to overcome the gorge between them.
After a successful assassination attempt on a head of state, the Russian sniper Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) draws a strictly secret post on the east side of a deeply cut gorge. For the occupation of the opposite watchtower on the western side, the US secret service employee Bartholomew (Sigourney Weaver) recruits the former military scorer Levi (Miles plate). For a year with gun violence, both should ensure that an enigmatic threat under the clouds of fog does not reach the surface – and begin to make friends in despite the ban on communication.
However, a personal meeting ends fatally: When Levi wants to return to his west side on a rope tensioned above the abyss, he plunges into the depths-and Drasa jumps behind to save him. So the duo is necessarily ventilating the well -kept secret, which is actually exactly what is going on to the hell in the gorge …
Slime memories of a sci-fi classic
“The Gorge” was shot at locations in Norway, but these only really come into their own in marches through the forests and the mountain landscape. In most scenes, however, the watchtower sets built in the Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden were completed with a green screen background. An overly artificial -looking trick that clearly catches the eye on the numerous crane drives to the balconies of the torable concrete buildings. However, as soon as the first creatures attack and (later) shift the events into the foggy gorge, the effects impress with the interaction of CGI with eerily-slim-slimy make-up effects and dirty-overgrown set designs all the more. In the best sense, this reminds James Cameron's action fireworks “Aliens” from 1986.
For example, a huge carnivorous plant, from which Levi can only free himself with effort and gun violence, is only a feast for the eyes of many of the Oscar -nominated cameraman Dan Laussen (“Shape of Water”) in atmospheric, sometimes somber compositions. Also a couple Jump Scares sneak in the scenes in the gorge in the in the meantime towards the horror thriller and not always quite logical genre mix, in which a film socket with a clear inscription on the knowledge gain of the duo has to contribute openly. But at least: You can understand Derrickson's enthusiasm for the script, because the central unveiling, which has happened deep down in the gorge when (and still plays), is actually surprising and coherent.
After “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”, Anya Taylor-Joy also blends in “The Gorge” more and more about veritable action heroine!
Even if director Scott Derrickson is considered to be a horror and suspense specialist after “The Black Phone” and “Rails us from the evil”, he succeeds almost safely, within a short time between- at least at first glance. Change genre elements. He also gives a lot of time to communicate the two lonely snipers with self -written signs and binoculars across the gorge, only to put a sudden surprise attack from the depths with plenty of leading action needles into the fragile figure relationship.
And just when after about half of the runtime the narrative pace during a romantic evening with rabbit roasts and a dance to “Spiting Off The Edge of the World” finally succeeded and the gorge puzzles are forgotten, he caught this Audience ice cold. Derrickson unexpectedly switches to the sci-fi creeper mode, which is powerful by the ominously experimental hum and roar by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (which already contributed the Oscar-winning soundtrack to “The Social Network”), even if it is a little pushy.
The stars also deliver
The chemistry between the two unequal main characters is right! Miles Teller (“Top Gun: Maverick”) creates the poetically gifted Levi both rational and thoughtful and humorous if, for example, he shows off with his firing skills. Anya Taylor-Joy (“Das Damengambit”) initially gives the Russian sniper somewhat opaque, but her hypothermic kind soon puts her off and once again proves her qualities as an action heroine after “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”. The only strange thing is that she simply completely discharges her clear Russian accent, which her figure speaks with her father at the beginning, in the further course of the film (at least in the original English language).
Conclusion: The first half of the Apple TV+blockbuster “The Gorge” seems a bit frozen, but the Effect Brimborium then impresses all the more! An amazingly sovereign mix of a subtle love story and action-packed sci-fi horror with a coherent resolution for the danger hidden in the fog from the gorge.