3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): The Gorge

2025, Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange) -- download

Weird movie, a genre movie whose trailers presented a novel idea -- something not often done in today's scifi flicks, especially one from big studios with current it-people leading the movie. There is a gorge in the wilderness upon which stand two towers, one on each side, and single soldiers are positioned in each tower, one on each side, to watch over what is down in the gorge. Their duty is one year and they are not to make contact with each other; they are not told what is in the gorge. Of course, they make contact. Its a movie that came out on Feb 14, so we know what is expected to happen.

Sort of a "Twilight Zone" or "The Outer Limits" style premise.

The further oddity is that each side represents The East and The West, which is weird considering any Cold War aspect is long gone, and is there even an "The East" anymore? Sure, there is the looming evil of Russia with her few allies, but its not like the cinematic (and geo-political) divide of the 60s era exists anymore. When I saw the trailers, I was thinking the movie was set in some sort of alternate timeline, or maybe a near future where the gorge was a centre stake in the tension between the two sides. Alas no, the movie opens with mundane setup of the characters: one is an ex-sniper for the American military, and the other is a hitman for Russia who gets spotted completing a job. He, the American, has nowhere else to be, and she, the assassin, is being punished by being placed here.

The further dichotomy of this movie flies in the face of current American politics where they (via their current insane leadership) are quickly becoming an ally of Russia, making the movie have little sense in "this" reality.

This movie has a budget, has hot-ticket names leading in Miles Teller (Whiplash) and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen's Gambit). Its a slick movie, well executed, well directed, tense and pleasing, both in the action-thriller parts and the "romance" parts. I was not sure where it was going to go, I posited many theories in my head as to what was going on down there in the mists of the gorge, especially after the reveal of the first antagonist. But in the end I was disappointed by the pedestrian nature of the reveal, something I would more expect from a video game or C-level Netflix series. But still, I enjoyed the experience.

I am still struggling by the dissolution of my head-canon as to who Ms Taylor-Joy is. Because my first [memorable] experience with her was Egger's "The VVitch", I had created a viewpoint that she was Scandinavian of descent, which is further complicated by the idea that movie is set in New England, not anywhere European. Sure, I didn't think she was another Alicia Vikander, but I built a background in my head, that she had some Nordic blood in her, went to school there, was raised there, or something to that effect. Nope, nada. No connection at all. Born in Miami, raised in England to parents of Argentinian and UK and Spanish heritage.

So, yeah, a Feb 14 movie, so romance. They two isolated figures break protocol and make contact, at first via long distance, mechano-magical binoculars, but eventually via a zipline. In some ways the romance is only an excuse for them to go down into the gorge; when the zipline fails and deposits Levi (Teller) into the gorge deep below, and Drasa (Taylor-Joy) makes her immediately down, to save him. That is where we get the reveal and set in motion a climax.

Here lie spoilers.

The gorge bottom itself is wonderfully alien and terrible, full of bugs and slithery things and teeth filled trees, something alien or eldritch. There was a brief moment where Levi witnesses a strange looking drone fly away, and I was thinking the bottom might be a portal to another world, another planet or dimension. But then they come across ruins from the 40s and it all turns out to be the product of an experiment gone wrong. They (both sides, The East and the West) had been working together, just post-WWII, on bio-weapons. Something went wrong and the weapon was released, changing the environment and the people. Initially soldiers were sent in to contain it, but they were also changed, creating immortal zombie-like human-plant-ickiness hybrid monster-men, but then the protocol of the two towers were constructed. The gun and mines installed, the protection to keep whatever was down in the gorge from getting out was established.

After the reveal, the whole setup felt entirely ridiculous. Why solitary watchmen? If they wanted to continue to exploit what was there, then why not a big, giant base, even if it had to wait for more technology to emerge, or the political environment to stabilize, then the 21st century protocol was just ... odd. Or if it was all considered too dangerous, which they did prepare for with an auto-mated nuke system, should whatever was down there succeed in escaping, then why not just destroy it all. The premise on its own is fun, but when it is explained, it just fell apart. So, the movie had to have it all apart by falling back on actioner tropes, with our characters shooting their way out, fighting monsters, and making sure it was all blowed up good. Still enjoyed the movie, but as always, wanted more.