# The Gorge

# The Skinny

Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy guard opposite sides of a huge hole in the ground. But "huge hole in the ground" doesn't have quite the ring to it as "THE GORGE!" does, right?

# The Good

I like Miles Teller. Ever since Whiplash, I decided I'd watch him in just about anything. And he's good here as an action/romance guy who woos Taylor-Joy from a distance. I was surprised at how much of the movie's runtime was dedicated to their relationship, even though it was a little ridiculous (flirting by shooting high-powered rifles at each other's living quarters?!). But after a while, I wondered when we would ever discover what's in the gorge.

# The Bad

I wish I turned off the film once we discover what's in the gorge. It's almost like the writers went "Whoa whoa whoa...we've built up all this mystery about a hole in the ground, but we've spent all our time on a romance subplot! Quick, throw them in the gorge and have them shoot stuff and let's wrap this up!" From that point, everything was rushed and lame: bad CGI, not-scary adversaries, and a plot that nobody (even the leads) seemed to care about.

# The Ugly

There's actually a second point I should've turned the movie off, and it's when Teller's character pauses to think for a second and says something like, "These things can think tactically." Shortly after there's a scene with a jeep that involves driving completely vertical up a mountain." It's like one of those shooting games in the arcade where you press a pedal to pop up from behind cover, only to find swarms of baddies coming from all corners of the screen. Only playing those arcade games is way more engaging.

# The Bottom Line

If you were to take the pre-gorge story and fully develop it as a romance drama, I think it could've worked! But as an action/adventure, it's a "hole" lot of disappointment. See what I did there?

# Score

1/5 stars