For a film that focuses on two elite snipers, The Gorge could stand to hone its focus. The Scott Derrickson film is a feverish blend of the director’s favored genres, sampling from horror, pulpy action, heady science fiction, and even romance. And while there’s no shortage of pulpy thrills in The Gorge — packed as it is with one bonkers twist after the next — for all its exciting ideas, one major ingredient seems to be missing: a sense of restraint.
The film kicks off as a grounded action thriller, introducing us to ex-Marine Levi (Miles Teller) and Lithuanian sharpshooter Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) in the midst of their lonely lives. Each are among the best in their profession, with hundreds of confirmed kills between them. And save for Drasa’s dying father, neither has any friends or family that’d miss them if they disappeared. It makes them the perfect candidates for an off-the-books mission somewhere in the wilderness, each manning a watchtower on opposite sides of a seemingly bottomless gorge.
