The Gorge (2025) - A Review
The Science isn't Sciencing.
🎭 Genre: Action, Mystery & Thriller, Adventure, Horror, Romance
📅 Year: 2025
🎭 Top Cast: Miles Teller as Levi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Drasa, Sigourney Weaver as Bartholomew
🍅 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 61% based on 96 reviews
Synopsis
Two highly-trained operatives, Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy), are stationed in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast, classified gorge, tasked with preventing an undisclosed, mysterious evil from escaping. Despite strict orders against communication, they develop a bond while confronting the enigmatic threats lurking below.
Spoiler-Free Review
"The Gorge" presents a compelling premise with stellar performances and breathtaking visuals. The chemistry between Teller and Taylor-Joy is palpable, and the film's lighting enhances its atmospheric tension. However, the narrative falters as it delves into the origins of the gorge, offering explanations that strain credulity and diminish the story's impact. Additionally, audio issues detract from the overall experience.
If I have to turn my TV and speakers to top volume, and still can’t hear, an error has been made.
In-Depth Review: The Science Ain’t Sciencing, and the Hollowmen Are Hollow
Let’s start strong—The Gorge had potential. Like, serious "if you squint, tilt your head, and ignore the imploding middle" potential. There’s a version of this film in a parallel universe that slaps, but unfortunately, we’re in the version that politely smacks you in the face with missed opportunities and makes you say “thank you” like a deranged Victorian child.
So. Drasa and Levi. Phenomenal casting. Their charisma practically hummed off the screen, and you could feel that tension—romantic, platonic, professional, maybe even gastrointestinal. Who knows. They were fun. They bantered, they brooded, they smouldered across the gorge at each other like a Cold War Romeo and Juliet with better lighting and less death (barely). And speaking of lighting? Chef’s kiss. Seriously, the cinematographer deserves a bonus and a back massage. Every environment, from the eerie towers to the glowing depths of the gorge itself, felt purposeful. The vibe was right.
But unfortunately, vibes alone do not a movie make.
Let’s address the biggest issue first: the actual explanation for the gorge. This massive, top-secret anomaly guarded by two lone wolves on opposite towers? Apparently caused by… radiation. That’s it. Radioactive catastrophe. Nothing biblical. No ancient curse. No dimensional rift or forbidden ritual. Just your good ol’ fashion “Oops, we dropped the science” moment.
And the science? Isn’t sciencing. Not even pretending to. We’re told 2,400 cavalrymen rode into the gorge eighty-odd years ago, and now they’re still down there, mutated, fused into the flora and fauna like a discount Annihilation meets The Last of Us. But somehow also tactical. One even kidnaps Drasa instead of killing her outright, and sets her up in a tidy little horror-den. Why? For chats? Torture? Afternoon tea? We never find out—because this moment, which could’ve been a powerful and tense confrontation with something sentient, devolves into a nonsense fight scene where Drasa forgets she’s freshly injured and suddenly goes full Lara Croft on a regrowing tree monster thing.
It’s insulting, honestly. You’ve built up these creatures as unkillable, logical, strategic to a point, and you give us a fight with no logic, no stakes, and no resolution. Are they part plant? Are they immortal? If they regenerate, how are we killing them? The film offers you zero clarity and even less satisfaction. They do regenerate right? I mean, they’re decades old and still down there? What’s with these creepy zombie-centipede looking monstrosities? What is happening?
The creature designs are phenomenal, but the movie explanations ruin it.
And let’s circle back to the absolute nonsense of only having two guards in charge of containing this gorge. Two. As in, one per side. They’re not even allowed to talk to each other. Literally—part of their directive is zero communication. Imagine guarding the gates of hell, and your walkie-talkie privileges are revoked because some corporate overlord thought team-building was “unproductive.” The towers are so close you can see each other, probably hear a sneeze, but nope—no contact.
And that’s the thing: the film wants to be a slow-burn psychological mystery with sci-fi horror teeth, but it doesn’t put in the groundwork. When the characters eventually enter the gorge, they’re given all the answers on a silver platter. Secret files. Video recordings. Bits of information just lying around like an escape room for idiots. There’s no effort. No meaningful discovery. It’s like they Googled “what happened here?” and the gorge itself popped up as the top search result.
And I get it—stories don’t have to be realistic, but they have to feel plausible in their own world. And The Gorge doesn’t. The rules don’t make sense. The institutions behind the project are vague to the point of confusion—are they private? Government? A sinister nonprofit with a dramatic logo and a taste for gothic architecture? It’s never explicitly clear. Which is fine if ambiguity adds tension, but here it just feels lazy and leaves me with more questions than answers.
Now, let me drop a hot take: this film would’ve worked better as fantasy horror. That’s right—scrap the "oopsie radiation" angle and give us something supernatural. That would explain the creatures, the setting, and give permission for all the visual weirdness without trying to ground it in radioactive pseudoscience. Instead of trying to science the shit out of things, let’s just let the gorge be fucking cursed. Done. Solved it.
There’s a line early in the film where the previous guardsman tells Levi that ‘These are the gates of hell, and we’re guarding them,” and THAT would have been a better storyline.
Also: the audio mixing was criminal. Like, actually should’ve been illegal. Dialogue so quiet it sounded like the actors were whispering from across the street with socks in their mouths. I had to throw the subtitles on and max out my volume like I was trying to decode a Soviet broadcast.
In the end, what hurts most is that the elements were there. The characters worked. The atmosphere was brilliant. The cinematography could win awards. But when you build a horror-thriller around a central mystery, you have to stick the landing, and this one faceplants into the irradiated moss.
Final Thoughts
"The Gorge" teeters on the edge of cinematic brilliance but ultimately loses its footing, plunging into the chasm of mediocrity. While the performances and visuals are commendable, the story's foundation is as unstable as the gorge itself. It's a journey worth taking for the sights and the company, but don't expect a satisfying destination.
💉 ★★★☆☆
Where to Watch
🔍 "The Gorge" (2025) is currently available to stream on Apple TV+. Availability may vary by region.