The Gorge (2025), Scott Derrickson’s latest film for Apple TV+, is a frustratingly uneven blend of action, sci-fi, and romance that starts with promise but ultimately succumbs to convention. Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy do their best to elevate the material, and their on-screen chemistry carries the movie’s far more compelling first half, but by the time the action-heavy second half kicks in, The Gorge loses much of what made it intriguing to begin with.
The story follows Levi (Miles Teller), a highly trained operative assigned to guard a mysterious gorge with little knowledge of what lurks inside. His only clue comes from his predecessor J.D. (Sope Dirisu), who ominously warns him that the gorge is a doorway to Hell. Levi is ordered to monitor it alone for an entire year, with no real contact with the outside world—except for Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy), a Lithuanian-born operative working for the Russian government on the other side of the gorge.
Traditionally, the two guards aren’t supposed to interact, but The Gorge takes a sharp turn into unexpected romantic territory, and surprisingly, that’s where the film works best. Through handwritten messages and binoculars, Levi and Drasa slowly develop a connection, and eventually, Levi grapples across the gorge to finally meet her face-to-face. Their romance has echoes of Park Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area, though The Gorge trades a war-torn friendship for a star-crossed love story and swaps out the DMZ for a supernatural abyss.
This unexpectedly tender romance occupies much of the film’s first half, and it’s by far the strongest section. Teller and Taylor-Joy bring a genuine sense of longing to their performances, making their isolation feel palpable. But once Levi’s grapple malfunctions—sending him plummeting into the gorge—the film takes a hard pivot into generic action and monster-movie territory, and the nuanced tension of the first half gives way to over-the-top government conspiracies and hollow spectacle.
To Derrickson’s credit, the creature designs are solid, and a few stunt-heavy set pieces are visually engaging, but the second half’s reliance on standard sci-fi tropes makes it feel like filler. The central mystery of the gorge is never as compelling as the film seems to think it is, and the big revelations about government cover-ups feel like recycled ideas from better genre films.
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Even Sigourney Weaver, who plays Bartholomew, a U.S. Government official overseeing Levi’s mission, struggles to make an impact. She’s a legendary presence, but her character is mostly reduced to exposition dumps that advance the film’s convoluted backstory.
Apple TV+ has been steadily building a catalog of original sci-fi films starring A-list talent—from Finch (Tom Hanks) to Swan Song (Mahershala Ali)—but The Gorge may be the most frustrating of them all. It’s a film with a strong setup and genuine potential, but it ultimately loses itself in spectacle rather than leaning into the character-driven romance that makes the first half so compelling. Teller and Taylor-Joy do what they can to keep it afloat, but by the end, The Gorge feels like two very different movies awkwardly stitched together, making for a disjointed and ultimately disappointing experience.
Score: 5/10
The Gorge (2025)
- Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Miles Teller, Sigourney Weaver, Sope Dirisu
- Director: Scott Derrickson
- Genre: Action, Horror, Romance, Thriller
- Runtime: 127 minutes
- Rated: PG-13
- Release Date: February 14, 2025
More Reviews for Movies Starring Miles Teller
Cinephile Corner has reviewed the following movies starring Miles Teller:
- Whiplash (2014)
- Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
- The Gorge (2025)
More Reviews for Movies Starring Anya Taylor-Joy
Cinephile Corner has reviewed the following movies starring Anya Taylor-Joy:
