High-Octane
Summary
The Gorge may get a bit silly towards the end and is a little slow to get going, but it was exactly what the doctor ordered while being snowed in this weekend. I liked our two leads Miles Teller and Anja Taylor-Joy who had real chemistry, but there were also some entertaining set-pieces with enough explosions and gunfire to keep me engaged.
Plot: Two highly-trained operatives are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from a mysterious evil that lurks within. They work together to keep the secret in the gorge.
Review: The Gorge looked intriguing from the trailers as it seemed like something new with a great cast including Anja Taylor-Joy, Sigourney Weaver and Miles Teller. It tells the story of two operatives who are tasked with guarding a gorge from either side to prevent what’s inside from coming out.
This effectively splices genres together with elements of romance, horror and of course action. The first half may be a little slow for some tastes as our two leads begin their mission while also slowly falling in love with each other. Teller and Taylor-Joy are both immediately sympathetic and one scene is a perfect example of see don’t tell. In one of the opening scenes Levi (Teller) is sitting on a beach when a random dog comes over and he pets it. The dog then runs back to its owner but his reaction and the way he treats the animal shows that this is a good person. It was a nice piece of writing, and I was on his side from then on.
On the action front we get huge cannons blasting the gorge’s inhabitants to pieces, multiple explosions and an exciting finale. I had an idea early on what was really lurking below, and I was pretty accurate, but some may find it all a bit too silly and even I thought it was a bit too bonkers at times. I still went along with it as I enjoyed the ride, and it was nice to see something that felt fresh with two appealing leads and a hateful villain.
The Gorge does suffer from that one thing so many streaming movies have and that’s the dulled colour palette where everything looks to be in shadow. I know it’s a stylistic choice, but I still hate it and prefer my movies to be more vibrant rather than drab looking.
Aside from that, The Gorge was the perfect distraction from the very snowy long weekend we just had.
Overall, The Gorge won’t be for everyone as the pacing is a little slow at first, but I enjoyed the build up of the characters and there was enough action to also keep me engaged. It’s one of the few streaming movies I will watch again in the future as it was nice to see something that felt different.