The Gorge is, to put it bluntly, is a big dumb movie. Directed by Scott Derrickson, who’s known for his deft touch with horror (looking at you, Sinister) and Marvel’s Doctor Strange, this latest venture is a cocktail of action, romance, sci-fi, political thriller, and yes, monster horror, all shaken up with a jarring intensity. Imagine if you threw Titanic, The Abyss, and Resident Evil into a blender and hit purée—you’re somewhere near the vibe here. It’s a wild ride, but just how satisfying that ride is… well, let’s just say it’s a bit of a rollercoaster.

The movie kicks off with two elite snipers—Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy)—stationed on opposite sides of an enormous, misty gorge. They’re tasked with guarding… well, we’re not really sure what’s in the gorge. But we do know it’s terrifying enough that two highly skilled markspeople are positioned there to stop whatever’s lurking beneath from escaping. The film’s first act presents a great mystery, leading you to wonder if the whole movie will be about these two lonely, troubled souls locked in a staring contest across a ravine, both nursing some heavy emotional baggage.

The script by Zach Dean (The Tomorrow War) sets up the world pretty well—lots of mystery, lots of unspoken tension—but then it flips the Titanic switch, and instead of action, we get romantic meet-cutes… across a damn gorge. Yes, there’s a flirtatious shoot-off, awkward messages on signs, and, of course, the iconic zipline scene. Levi builds a ropeway between the towers to visit Drasa, and she responds with a dinner and a dance number (yes, really). It’s a Titanic level romance, minus the iceberg and a lot more weapons. For a while, it’s touching and surprisingly charming, thanks to the delightful chemistry between Teller and Taylor-Joy.

However, this film’s charm wears thin once they get into the gorge. And that’s when things go from quirky to what the hell am I watching right now? It’s a shift that Derrickson himself admits was a challenge to navigate, wanting to keep the romantic core intact while layering on everything from sci-fi horrors to corporate conspiracy to, you guessed it, monstrous creatures.

Derrickson’s The Gorge explores big themes—love, suffering, the baggage we carry—but the problem is that it sometimes feels like it tries too hard to be deep while also delivering monster-horror-action thrills. Derrickson himself describes the film as a meditation on how “love and suffering are the two main things that make us change”—which is all fine and good, except when your main characters are facing down hybrid zombie-tree-spider-monsters in an ever-shifting world of governmental conspiracy. Suddenly, it feels like Derrickson is trying to squeeze in something with depth between CGI monsters and a Jeep chase scene. It’s an ambitious experiment that doesn’t always hit the mark.

Take the gorge itself. It’s supposed to represent a gateway to hell, both physically (monsters lurk below) and metaphorically (Levi’s and Drasa’s emotional walls come crashing down), but the movie plays its metaphor like a kid trying to impress the class with a long-winded explanation of their favorite movie. Derrickson himself notes that The Gorge represents the “angry truth” wanting to come out. The problem? The truth is not as compelling as it should be. Sure, it’s creepy, but in an overly familiar creature-feature kind of way. The gorge could have been an unsettling metaphor for all the emotional baggage these characters carry—if only it had more time to breathe before being swallowed up by CGI.

One area where The Gorge doesn’t disappoint is in the visual department. Derrickson, working with cinematographer Dan Laustsen (known for his work on Guillermo del Toro films), delivers a visually striking movie. The gorge itself is beautifully ominous—misted, isolated, and dripping with atmosphere. The creature designs, while reminiscent of Annihilation, are downright grotesque. The skull spiders and body webs (don’t ask, just watch) are unsettling in the best possible way. But here’s the kicker: there’s a missed opportunity to go full-on del Toro, with more practical effects and less reliance on CGI. It’s an action-packed movie, sure, but it could have been a monster masterpiece if it had leaned into some old-school practical effects. Instead, we get an overzealous CGI monster chase that feels more like a bad video game level than the horrifying descent into madness it could have been. FUCK CGI!

As fun as it is to watch Levi and Drasa slowly fall in love while under the gorge’s oppressive weight, the writing often feels like it can’t decide whether it wants to be a romance, a creature-feature, or a political thriller. It often ends up as a Frankenstein’s monster of a film. The dialogue leans into some serious melodrama at times, with lines like “When you bury enough bodies, the graveyard runs out of room.” It’s heavy-handed and borders on cliché, but it’s not bad enough to ruin the whole thing. It’s just… there. The movie’s pace drags at times, especially in the first act, and some of the action beats feel forced.

But for all its flaws, The Gorge has moments that are genuinely fun. The action sequences—like a particularly chaotic fight scene on top of a jeep—are so over-the-top that they circle back to being enjoyable. At its best, The Gorge is a zany, ridiculous popcorn flick that embraces its B-movie sensibilities with reckless abandon. Derrickson, to his credit, never pretends to be making high art—he’s making a monster movie, and he knows it. There’s an odd charm in how unapologetically silly it can get, and that’s something you can’t always say about big-budget Hollywood movies.

In the end, The Gorge is an oddity—a film that blends five different genres with varying degrees of success. The romance between Teller and Taylor-Joy is the heart of the film, but when the gorge gets involved, it feels like the film is trying to do too much. Is it a love story? Sure, but it’s also a sci-fi-horror-political-thriller-monster-mashup that ends up being more “meh” than “wow.” You’ll laugh at the ridiculousness, but you might also be frustrated by how much potential it leaves untapped.

Would I recommend it? Not enthusiastically. It is entirely watchable and is the kind of film you can enjoy with a few drinks and a willingness to just let things get weird. The Gorge isn’t a masterpiece by any stretch, but it’s not trying to be. It’s a B-movie at heart, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need. You just might have to bring a little patience and some forgiveness for its clunkier moments.