'The Gorge' a strange but enjoyable thriller

The most recent release on Apple TV+ is the science fiction thriller "The Gorge." Starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, both rising stars in the film industry, this movie is unique and interesting, even if it starts slow. "The Gorge" is available now only on Apple TV+.Levi Kane (Teller) is a retired Marine Corps Scout Sniper, aka the best of the best, who is between jobs as a private military contractor. He is between private jobs for the same reason he is retired from the military – issues with his psychological evaluation. He's seen too much death, caused too much death.Drasa (Taylor-Joy) is a Lithuanian assassin who is frequently hired by the Russian government. When we first meet her, she is on a mission. Soon a Russian oligarch is dead at her hands at the behest of the Kremlin. She makes the kill with a sniper rifle from long distance. After the mission, she visits her father, who is dying of cancer. She has no other connections to anyone and nothing holding her to any one location.Levi is contacted for a job by the military and asked to come to Camp Pendleton where he is left in a room with a woman known only as Bartholomew (Sigourney Weaver). Levi assumes she is from the CIA. After assessing his mental status and confirming that he has no ties to anyone who will miss him, Barthlomew hires Levi for a very unique job.The next thing he knows Levi is on a plane, drugged so that he doesn't know how long he's been in the air or where they are going, and is told to jump. Levi's mission is to guard a gorge. It's a massive gorge, hundreds of yards across and with a bottom that can't be seen. He is to stay on the western side of the gorge while a counterpart from Russia will be guarding the eastern side. Levi must stay here for one year and have no contact with anyone other than monthly radio calls to his superiors.Unsurprisingly, Drasa has been tasked to guard the eastern side of the gorge. They form a relationship and an alliance that is crucial to defending the gorge from the denizens of the deep.The only things I knew about this film before watching it were that it starred Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, it involved some type of science fiction and that there was a gorge involved. Not much, I know. Have you ever watched a movie you knew virtually nothing about? My hit rate on those types of films is less than 20%. I would put "The Gorge" in the positive side of that percentage.The story of the film is unique. Two high-level operatives are sent to guard a mysterious gorge in the middle of nowhere directed to have no contact with the guard on the other side of the gorge. While the first hour or so of the movie is interesting, it is a little slow. Don't give up on the movie during the first half, especially if you are a sci-fi fan. When they inevitably make their way into the gorge it gets wild.The action picks up when Levi and Drasa see creatures known as Hollow Men, a reference to a T.S. Eliot poem about the end of the world. These creatures climb up from the depths of the gorge. What else is in the gorge? You'll have to watch the movie to find out.Apple TV+ seems to excel with science fiction stories, mostly with its television shows. Shows like "Silo" and "Severance" are highly regarded both by critics and fans. In fact, the streaming service has a plethora of high-quality TV shows. Its movies are not quite as good, with some being real stinkers. Having said that, I enjoyed "The Gorge" more than I was expecting.Though I enjoyed the movie, it's far from perfect. There are a few concerns with the movie. Like how can you trust the fate of the entire world to only two people? And what happens if the Hollow Men attack when Levi and Drasa are asleep in the middle of the night. These questions were in the back of my mind as I watched. Still, with such a simple and strange plot, "The Gorge" was better than it had any right to be.Grade: B+Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, brief strong language, some suggestive material, and thematic elements.•••Bradley Griffith is a local attorney and longtime film buff.