The Gorge is a 2025 American science fiction horror action film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by Zach Dean. It stars Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Sigourney Weaver. Teller and Taylor-Joy portray two elite snipers who are ordered to guard a deep Gorge without knowing what lies inside. It was released on Apple TV+ on February 14, 2025.

Plot

Two elite snipers receive identical missions: travel to an undisclosed location and guard the West and East sides of a deep Gorge for one year without any contact with the outside world nor their counterpart on the opposite side. Levi Kane, a former U.S. Marine and current private contractor accepts the offer to guard the West tower. Drasa, a Lithuanian covert operative frequently employed by the Kremlin, agrees to guard the East side. Upon arriving, Levi relieves his predecessor, J.D., a British Royal Marine of duty and asks for specifics about the mission. J.D. explains that in addition to the towers on the East and West, there are automated turret defenses to the North and South, a powerful signal ‘cloak,’ and explosives on the walls of the Gorge to keep the creatures inside contained. Their predecessors nicknamed the creatures, “The Hollow Men” which Levi surmises is a reference to the poem of the same name by T.S. Eliot depicting the end of the world. While J.D. does not know the source of the creatures, he affirms that three battalions of soldiers (2,400 men) were sent into the Gorge in the late 1940s but never returned. J.D. exfiltrates as planned but his contact murders him without explanation before he can board. After several weeks, Drasa violates the communication protocol on her birthday and initiates conversations with Levi via written signs. Levi reciprocates and the two engage in a sharpshooting competition that results in a protracted escape attempt from the Hollow Men. After defending their towers and each other, Drasa uses her sign to tell Levi it was her “best birthday ever.” The two start communicating more frequently, sharing messages, playing games of chess, and making improvised drum sets. Six months into their tour, Levi ziplines to the other side of the Gorge to spend time with Drasa. Their date goes well as the two court one another by bringing flowers and making Rabbit Pie; Levi, an amateur poet, shares some of his work, including the title of a piece he is writing for Drasa, “She Collapsed the Night”. The next day, Levi attempts to cross back to his side of the Gorge, but on his way back, the mines on the Western side of the Gorge detonate as the Hollow Men climb it, causing him to fall into the Gorge as the zipline cable snaps. Drasa parachutes in to rescue him, and the two discover that every plant, animal, and insect within the Gorge have been cross-mutated with one another. Seeking shelter, they locate the source of the mutations: a bioweapons research lab abandoned after World War II when an earthquake caused a contaminant leak. Originally run by Eastern and Western governments, the facility has since become the responsibility of Darklake, a private paramilitary corporation that periodically extracts samples and research data in attempts to create super soldiers. Studying the equipment, Levi discovers references to the “Stray Dog” protocol, the final failsafe developed by the original researchers to sterilize the site with a nuclear detonation, which Darklake now controls. The two find a jeep with a working towing cable and use it to climb back out of the Gorge. They agree to separate for five days to ensure that neither is infected with the mutagens and to check in with their handlers. Levi’s handler, Bartholomew, admits that Darklake is running the operation and knows that the site has been compromised. Aware that Darklake is coming and will try to kill them, Drasa and Levi agree to activate the “Stray Dog” protocol to protect the world from the mutagen research. Bartholomew arrives with her soldiers and finds Levi’s tower abandoned; they send aerial drones after Levi and Drasa, but the pair manage to destroy them first. Executing a pre-planned, simultaneous shot, the two destroy the ‘cloak’ and expose the site to surveillance, triggering the “Stray Dog” protocol. Bartholomew and her soldiers are caught in the blast and the entire area is destroyed. Having been separated during the blast, Drasa completes her five day self-quarantine and believes Levi has died since he has not found her. She then leaves for France, where the pair planned to reunite. Among her belongings, she finds a letter from Levi to read in case he did not survive; in it, she finds the completed poem of “She Collapsed the Night”. A month later, Drasa works in a local restaurant where Levi surprises her as a customer, asking if he can have the Rabbit Pie and the two kiss.

Cast

Miles Teller as Levi Kane Anya Taylor-Joy as Drasa Sigourney Weaver as Bartholomew Sope Dirisu as J.D. William Houston as Erikas

Production

Zach Dean wrote a spec script for The Gorge that was later voted onto the Black List of the most-liked unproduced screenplays in 2020. In March 2022, Scott Derrickson was set to direct and produce the film alongside Skydance Media. In August, Miles Teller was cast to star, as well as serve as an executive producer. In October, Anya Taylor-Joy joined the cast, and Apple Original Films signed on. Sigourney Weaver was added to the cast in March 2023. Filming began in March 2023 in London, with production also occurring at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, and in Wales.

Release

The Gorge was released on Apple TV+ on February 14, 2025.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 61% of 96 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Mixing multiple genres, The Gorge makes for a surprisingly endearing romance until its action-thriller obligations steer proceedings back onto a more predictable path." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 57 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Glenn Kenny of The New York Times gave The Gorge a positive review, saying, "'The Gorge' takes an already implausible premise and then catapults it out of the espionage genre and into science-fiction and horror ... this movie crackles most as a lively pas de deux between Taylor-Joy and Teller, who commendably take their material seriously no matter how seriously ridiculous it gets." Jack Coyle of the Associated Press gave the film one and a half stars out of four, calling it "ridiculous" and "preposterous", arguing that the tonal swings between action and romance were not of high quality, with the movie feeling like an "intriguing but empty genre mash-up and streaming-only exercise". Coyle also took issue with the basic structure of the plot, arguing that "If some version of hell was pried open, would we, perhaps, want more than two guards?"

References

External links

The Gorge on Apple TV+ The Gorge at IMDb