The Gorge: When Romance Meets Monsters

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The Gorge defies expectations at every turn. What starts as a seemingly formulaic assassin romance between Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy evolves into something far more intriguing when they literally fall into another world. Their chemistry anchors this genre-bending adventure that seamlessly transitions from romantic thriller to monster-filled horror without missing a beat.

Miles Teller's transformation is nothing short of remarkable. Gone is the young actor from Whiplash, replaced by a commanding leading man whose emotional range perfectly complements Anya Taylor-Joy's enigmatic presence. Though her Lithuanian accent occasionally wavers, their connection feels authentic and earned. When joined by the legendary Sigourney Weaver in a perfect supporting role, the cast elevates what could have been a standard streaming release into something truly cinematic.

The film's visual design deserves special mention—particularly the creature concepts that blend organic and plant elements reminiscent of The Last of Us. While some CGI moments betray budget limitations, the overall production design creates a world you can believe in. The pacing masterfully drip-feeds information, building tension before dramatic reveals that keep you invested throughout. Even as hardcore film critics, we found ourselves genuinely startled by jump scares in what isn't technically a horror film.

Where The Gorge stumbles is its final act. After brilliantly navigating multiple genres and building to a thrilling climax, it settles for a predictable conclusion that lacks tension. The music telegraphs developments too obviously, undermining otherwise strong storytelling. Yet these flaws don't erase what works—a streaming release that proves direct-to-digital films can deliver genuinely engaging cinematic experiences. Whether you're drawn to romantic thrillers, creature features, or simply appreciate watching talented actors elevate material, The Gorge offers something unexpected and worth your time.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can direct-to-streaming movies
change their perception?
With high-quality movies likethe Gorge, what happens when two
high-caliber actors work on afilm that transcends different
genres in the short span of time?
Find out in the Gorge To bereal.

(00:23):
Me and Addy both saw thetrailer for this film a couple
weeks back for our other videowhere we were talking about
upcoming movies of 2025, and wedid not think much of it.
We were kind of annoyed as wellbecause the trailer kind of
spoiled so much of the mysterysurrounding the Gorge.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
It felt the trailer gave so so much information away
that I could have predictedwhat the movie was going to be
about and, to be fair, weweren't that far off.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
But there was actually a lot more to it that
it became less of a cliche filmand it became actually more
interesting than we expected itto be I was so shocked with how
well the movie did with itspacing as far as building up to
that epic climax of the end, andthe chemistry between Miles

(01:12):
Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy wasphenomenal.
They did such a good job ofbuilding up their relationship
that when the film reaches thiscrucial point where one of them
had to make a key decision, tokind of go into the gorge.
It made sense to us which Ithink would have been very hard
for lesser actors to get thatacross.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
There's a lot of stuff I didn't expect from
Milestello.
He was just completely changed.
He wasn't the same kid, he wasdoing Whiplash.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Fan 4-stick.
What Fantastic Four, oh Fan44stick.
What Fantastic Four, oh FanFan4stick, fan4stick.
They call it Fan4stick becausein the title oh, fan4stick, so
that's always.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
He changed.
In other words, he changed.
He was a little kid and nowhe's just like a f***ing man
Like, and a good looking man too.
No homo, he was a good.
F***ing man like, and a goodlooking man too.
No homo, he was a good f***inglooking man it's like.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Are you sure?
No homo, I don't know, aftersome of your reactions.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
I was like I don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, he made me one of myself yeah, something's
happened with his jawline, whereit's like much more defined.
I don't know if that naturallyhappened or he just knows a
really good surgeon, I don'tknow.
But whatever he did, it looksgreat.
He looks great.
I take him seriously as aleading man whereas anya taylor
joy.
On the other hand, I believe shehasn't changed at all look, I I

(02:38):
really liked her in the menu,but I can see what you mean as
far as she looks like the exactsame character from the other
films I've seen her in.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Besides the critique on Anya Taylor-Joy and the craze
on Miles Stutter, from myperspective their chemistry was
really good.
The thing that did threw me offa little bit is Anya
Taylor-Joy's accent, which wasweaving in and out what was it
meant to be lithuanian?
Yeah, sometimes she goes intolike this whisper voice and then
it's just like crystal clearamerican and it's like why is it

(03:11):
lithuanian when you speaknormally, but then when you
whisper it's just generalamerican.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
I have new orders that require me to go dark for
at least a year, maybe more.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
A special assignment in an undisclosed location
sometimes you can hear when anactor is just not from that
country, whereas when you go toHugh Laurie in house, oh, and
nobody knew the guy was Britishyeah everybody thought this guy
was American because his accentis so f***ing on point.
Now I understand an Americanaccent is easier than the
Lithuanian accent, but it wasjust a bad accent.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
I personally I didn't mind it.
I thought anya taylor joy waspretty good.
The accent was the only thingthat was throwing me off but,
like her, moments and everythingwere there.
Both actors, I feel, were verygood at showing their emotional
baggage of what it entails beingan assassin where you've killed
so many people, you've lostsight of what it means to have

(04:05):
any sense of morality orintegrity about what you're
doing.
It was all really well done andbelievable for these two
characters to be in thissituation, despite how
ridiculously over the top itsounds when you talk about the
premise with people that haven'tseen it.
Yeah, and we haven't evengotten into the actual gorge yet

(04:26):
.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, interesting how , when they go into the gorge,
not just does the world change,the whole genre changes.
Yeah, it was like thisinteresting romance kind of
thing happening in the firsthalf, but when they go into the
gorge, all of that disappearsand it becomes a full-on

(04:48):
thriller.
It gets you on the edge of yourchair because it's something
you did not expect.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
For me, it reminded me of films like From Dusk Till
Dawn, where the first half islike this suspenseful thriller
where Tarantino and GeorgeClooney are being chased by
their fugitives on the run andyou think that's what the film
is and then the midpointvampires coming out.
The change in tone is superjarring in that, whereas in this

(05:17):
it was done in a way where itmade sense, based on the story,
it all makes sense for thegenres where they fall into the
gorge.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
You know they're going to be surrounded by
monsters.
You expect it to be scary, andso it becomes scary.
It's a welcome.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
The other thing I really liked was the creature
designs were pretty cool.
Reminded me a lot of the lastof us.
You get this vibe of this meshbetween natural, organic, like
plants, kind of taking overpeople in a way.
The designs itself were reallygood.
It was just like a few momentswhere I was like, ah, they're
over-relying a bit too much onthe CGI for the gorge itself,

(05:58):
the environment, but I reallyenjoyed that.
When they go into the gorgeyou've got this change of colors
, the, this change of music.
That was jarring, though I felt, yeah, but that was meant to
like.
It made you feel weird.
We thought like one of usthought the other just kept
farting and I'm like, no, it'sthe music no, but a change of
lighting.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
It was really weird.
It just walked from orange intoblue and it's like what
justifies the color change,because then suddenly it's
nighttime.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
I just felt like it.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
It was a way of saying this world is completely
unpredictable I like it, butit's so surreal that for me in
that moment it just took me outof it completely.
Because, like you, can make theworld surreal, but done in a
believable and unjustified way.
I will give it a minus pointfor that interesting.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, as I said, like the, the cgi at times looked
really great, and then therewere moments where, like certain
drones were flying or creatureswere looking a bit off.
There was a moment that youpointed out where we were
looking at the water and we werelike yep, that's a green screen
this is yeah, um.
Yeah, that took me out of itbecause that was the moment when

(07:06):
I go oh yeah, this is direct tostreaming, which sucks because
so much of this movie wasactually high quality it's the
little things I understand.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Doing the cgi for water is really difficult, but
the cgi for so many things wasreally good.
But then, like some of theshots with the water in the back
, it's just.
This looks like a computer gamefrom 1964.
It's weird.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, it's like if you were watching Jurassic Park
and you see the T-Rex and you'relike holy shit, he's amazing.
But then you see the raptorsand they looked terrible.
You'd be like what the Like?
Why wouldn't you take that sameattention to detail so that it
consistently looks goodthroughout?
You know what surprised meSeeing Sigourney Weaver.

(07:49):
Where the hell would she be?
I swear I haven't seen hersince Avatar.
And then she comes out ofnowhere in this film and I'm
like holy shit.
I feel like her role reallysuited her.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
You know what?
Sigourney Weaver, you don'thave to question anything.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Along with Miles Teller and anya taylor.
Joy like having another highquality actor like that only
helped the perception of me forthis film.
It felt like this was a highconcept movie that has some,
some weight to it.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, we have a few more points which he kind of
dipped into it here and there.
They really did a very good jobat drip feeding the audience.
It was a slow release ofinformation over time and
suddenly a big piece ofinformation and a long pause
before the next big reveal ofinformation.
But done in a very tastefulmanner where you stay interested

(08:38):
and every time that right pieceof big information is coming at
the right time.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
I felt the pacing made me feel like this isn't
going too long, it's not goingtoo short, it's like it's just
right.
I think it's time to get tolike our final ratings.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
What do you think?
One to five stars, what wouldyou give it?

Speaker 1 (08:59):
I think I'm going to give the Gorge like four out of
five stars, because I went inwith really low expectations and
got blown away.
The way it handles so manydifferent genres within a two
hour runtime is very well done,very balanced, very good flow,
great pacing, pacing.

(09:27):
It was a treat to see it gointo that shift of becoming now
action sci-fi, while stillholding down this romance as,
like the foundation for it, thejump scares actually got me.
I feel like I haven't seen ahorror movie that got me with
its jump scares in a long time,and this isn't even technically
a horror movie.
If it was in theaters, I feellike I may have had a different
perspective about it, butbecause it was direct to
streaming, I'm like, wow, thisis awesome.

(09:48):
So if you got time and you'reat home and you don't know what
to watch, it's a great time.
Great time at home watchingapple tv I would.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
I was considering giving it a three and a half,
but I'm gonna give it a three.
The whole movie was prettydecent, was pretty good.
I'd give that a four and a halfstars, but at the very end it's
just like is that it?
That's the ending.
There was no tension.
Actually, after the climax youcould turn off the film because
then the last 10 minutes kind ofgonna ruin it for you.
Yeah, that that does bring up agood point.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
the way the gorge tries to misdirect the audience
at the end was honestly reallylaughable.
Like there was no effort put into be like no, we're actually
going to try our best to get theaudience to think they're not
getting that ultra, super, duperhappy ending.
Yay, Everything in the world isperfect.

(10:40):
We both looked at each otherand we're like I don't believe
that for a second.
And then you see that ultrasuper happy ending and you're
like that's really disappointing.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, it was boring, Boring, boring boring.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
It was like in those rom-coms where there's that
moment of like oh no, they'renot going to get together and
everyone knows they're going toget together at the end, because
everything alludes to it.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
It's like the style filming, the color grading, the
music, the f***ing music givesit away Pretty much.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
The music score gives away the ending before we even
get a chance to catch up and see, which essentially just spoils
all the tension.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
I think yeah because of how well the rest of the film
is.
It out like a sore thumb.
It stands out like a fuckingsore thumb, so that's why I'm
giving it a three out of fivestars and kind of you've kind of
convinced me to change my mindnow, oh, too late.
You gave four stars.
No, you gotta reduce the threeand a half.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
no, no, no, you can reduce I'll.
You gave it four stars.
No, I'm not.
You know what?
No, no, no, you can reduce it.
I'll keep it at four stars, butif this was in cinemas it would
be less.
Well, that's it for us guys.
But, yeah, comment below.
Let us know what did you thinkof the Gorge?
For now, that's it from us guys.
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(12:09):
like this.