Nostalgia for Another World

Commentary #2: The new Hollywood Golden Age and ‘The Gorge’

Back in 2010, two days before Valentine’s Day, Warner Bros released an overly hyped, eagerly awaited ‘special occasion’ movie—just in time for the day of love. The global entertainment giant was betting on a surefire hit.

Along with a star-stuffed ensemble cast, Valentine’s Day was directed by Garry Marshall, as in Pretty Woman Garry Marshall, the one who gave the centuries-old, universally known story of Cinderella a modern update for 1990 audiences.

The adored film about a hooker and a businessman who fall in love skyrocketed its leading lady to superstardom and sealed Marshall’s name in classic movie heaven. Personally, I consider Overboard (1987) another Marshall classic, but as far as iconic romantic comedies go, Pretty Woman will stand the test of mine and many others’ lifetimes.

Despite the roster of A-list actors (too many names to list, but even the ubiquitous Taylor Swift made an appearance), Valentine’s Day bombed. Not even Julia Roberts, who starred in four of Marshall’s movies, could sprinkle her box office gold dust on the flop. That’s not to say it was a bad movie, but it certainly wasn’t good. It was just... forgettable. Nobody talks about it, I don’t remember any of the storylines, and even with all those flashy names, not one of their performances left a lasting impression. It probably only pops up on internet searches when one looks for a movie to watch about Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day is one of many, many films that was released with a bang only to dissipate with a whimper into the mists of the unremarkable and unmemorable past. As a side note, it’s hard to believe that 2010 was fifteen years ago, and Steve Jobs was still alive. I didn’t get my first iPhone until 2011 as I was so committed to my Crackberry, but once I set finger on Planet Apple, there was no going back.

Fast forward to Valentine’s Day 2025, a mere few days ago, and that behemoth of a corporation that I’m about to name again, quietly, without fanfare or announcement, released a slick new film on—you guessed it—Apple TV+.

The Gorge, an Apple Original (the streamer arm of the gargantuan enterprise has only been around five years) is exactly that—original—not a sequel, remake, or based on a novel. The ambitious film was directed by Scott Derrickson from a spec script written by Zach Dean, mashing multiple genres to great effect: romance, thriller, action, adventure, sci-fi, and horror. Derrickson took risks, and they paid off. I can’t predict whether it will stand the test of time (how many movies these days are instant classics?), but despite mixed reviews, I thought The Gorge was a good movie. I will even go as far to say it was a very good movie.

What makes a good movie? Opinions may differ, but here’s mine: one that holds my attention so that I can escape real life for a couple of hours, give or take, and allow myself to be transported to another world via an engaging plot, well-developed characters, and themes that resonate. Other elements that help are the appeal and skill of the actors, good direction, storytelling that has a clear narrative arc, sharp dialogue, high-quality visuals, and a great score.

In summary: entertain me, inform me, don’t bore me, and above all, make me feel something.

*NO SPOILERS!*

The premise of The Gorge: two emotionally wounded special forces operatives from different parts of the world, played by Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, are hired on contract for their exceptional sniper skills and lack of attachments to romantic partners, friends, or family. Levi and Drasa, loners with traumatic backstories, are appointed to an undisclosed location for one full year, stationed in two high rise watchtowers across from each other, a classified mysterious abyss clouded with fog between them known as ‘the gorge’.

Some have said the setup, Act 1, is too slow and that the film should have started with action instead of clunky exposition. Watching a lithe Lithuanian lady (Drasa) shoot an oleaginous Russian oligarch at long range as he steps off his private jet was actionable enough for me, and I enjoyed the ensuing scene with her father. The father-daughter relationship is a particular familial tie that I find endlessly fascinating.

Meanwhile, the haunted and brooding Levi reports to his chilly superior, the head of a shady organization played by Sigourney Weaver. As she decides whether to recruit Levi, an American former marine, we learn what a sad life he leads: unlucky in love and methodically drinking himself to sleep every night, just enough to help him cope with the recurring PTSD terrors.

After being transported to an unknown country in military aircraft, Levi arrives at the gorge and is shown around by his predecessor. The assignment is explained: guard the gorge from itself, but never go down there. Use any means necessary to annihilate the dark forces below, ominous creatures known as “Hollow Men”.

This was the scene that hooked me: Levi reveals himself as someone of depth and sensitivity: he knows about Hollow Men because he reads T.S. Eliot.

After settling into his new digs, Levi discovers handwritten quotes written on the wall behind a bookshelf. Every predecessor before him has left their mark, signing and dating their own favorite quote plucked from books they read during their year in isolation. Levi’s last predecessor, whose fate is a shocking early plot twist, leaves the words of Jean-Paul Sartre:

“If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you’re in bad company.”

Over in the opposite watchtower, Drasa is a carefree, rebellious spirit who chases moments of light and joy to counter her overwhelming sadness. Levi likes to read and write, Drasa likes to dance and sing. Opposites attract, and it’s easy to see why Levi, the noble conformist, would find wild bird Drasa intriguing.

The courtship phase between them is wholly unique and endearing. Even though they are strictly forbidden from having any contact with each other (or the outside world), the feisty Drasa initiates communication with a gunshot to summon Levi’s attention, then by writing the first of a series of flirty notes between them that they read through binoculars. Using stunning effects, the first action scene shows us what horrors lurk beneath the gorge. Gruesome zombies appear only to be rapidly decimated with all the firearms Levi and Drasa have at their disposal.

The pair continue to get to know each other from a distance, playing drums with kitchen utensils—a clever reference to Miles Teller’s role in Whiplash—and playing chess—a nod to Anya Taylor-Joy’s part in The Queen’s Gambit.

Their unconventional love story develops when Valentine’s Day rolls around, six months into their mission at the gorge. Drasa knows her father is going to commit suicide that day (we learn about this in the setup) and when Levi sees her tears through the binoculars, he recalls a T.S. Eliot quote written on the wall behind the bookshelf by the first predecessor:

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

Eliot’s words muster the gumption within Levi that enable him to zipline his way over the murky vastness of the gorge and into the arms of Drasa, his damsel in distress. He makes it just in time for dinner, dancing, and late night romancing.

The film is not without flaws—there is some gratingly cheesy dialogue and a few preposterous plot twists—but I was charmed by the characters and invested enough in the story to suspend my disbelief. I mean, in what world would two highly skilled operatives be young, attractive, single, and hot for each other? Fantasy Land. Exactly the place where good movies are supposed to take you.

Levi and Drasa each carry an albatross of shame and pain from their pasts, but they bear these psychological scars with different approaches to the present: she’s a fun-loving rule breaker, he’s a stoic truth seeker. I could relate to both characters and found myself nodding and voicing my agreement out loud to their opposing beliefs about how much we should really know about something:

Levi: What’s the truth about this place? What’s the truth about those Hollow Men down in the gorge?

Drasa: You know, a long time ago, before I was born, my father was KGB. Years later, when I was a child, he would say to me, “Drasa, my little lion, you don’t want to know the truth. It’s better if you don’t know.” And I would bitch and whine and say, “Why Daddy? Why don’t I want to know the truth?”

Levi: And what did he say?

Drasa: He would say, “Because too much truth puts sadness in your heart and madness in your mind.”

Levi: I don’t know. In my experience, it’s hiding the truth that does that.

Scott Derrickson nailed it on the casting; the two leads are inherently likeable, and as unlikely as their love story might be, they make it work with their effervescent chemistry. Anya Taylor-Joy reminds me of a cross between Uma Thurman in her Kill Bill era and Milla Jovovich circa Resident Evil. Miles Teller pulls off the troubled but earnest characters of a young Edward Norton, and Sigourney Weaver, who was immortalized by Alien, is stellar as the sinister spook.

Personally, I have zero interest in zombie movies, and if The Gorge had been described as such, I doubt I would have watched it in the first place. Scott Derrickson was diligent to avoid that element overtaking his vision:

“I knew that it was not going to be a romantic movie that then turns into a zombie movie. I also needed it to not be two movies with the romantic movie in the first half and then the genre-blending action movie in the second half. The way I dealt with that was by not letting the romance die in the second half and allowing a few romantic beats between Levi and Drasa, especially when they enter the gorge. There was a real emphasis on how they watch each other, how they look out for each other, how they work as a team, how they even touch each other as they’re moving, and how they put themselves in harm’s way for the other person. There’s something very romantic about their connectivity inside the gorge.”

When Levi and Drasa do descend into hell, the world of the gorge is reminiscent of T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land, foreshadowed earlier in the film. The action-heavy midsection blasts along with intense, compelling scenes using impressive CGI and fast-paced set pieces.

The aesthetic has an 80s feel, reminiscent of bygone times. The Gorge is a great date movie—the love story makes the horror scenes tolerable. Another pleasant surprise is the revelation of what the gorge actually is. Rather than being a nonsensical underworld of scary monsters and creepy creatures, the backstory of how it became that way is not only believable but downright terrifying. I won’t spoil it for you, but it involves World War II.

I find a lot of film scores try to manipulate how we are supposed to feel, but the soundtrack to this one—composed by artistic duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross—was effective at stirring my emotions without distraction. There is a brilliant remix of All Along the Watchtower, a song I’ve heard in countless movies, but this time, it sounded completely different.

The ending speeds along and ties everything up nicely, with a final scene that warmed me on the inside and left me beaming. In terms of what I consider a good movie, The Gorge more than delivers. It is refreshing to see a new film that is genuinely enjoyable and entirely original, arousing nostalgia for a longed-for time before tech took over the world.

I happen to be part of a microgeneration born on the cusp of Gen X and Millennial (known as a ‘Xennial’) who had that rare dichotomy of an analog childhood and a digital adulthood. Even so, Millennials and Zoomers will derive the pleasure of nostalgia from this film.

The irony is that The Gorge was not made by Warner Bros, or any of the other major studios that pioneered the Hollywood Golden Age almost a century ago, but today’s titan of tech and the world’s #1 market cap company, Apple. This gives me hope that culture is making a comeback, albeit on a thoroughly modern platform, and that here in the new 20s, we are on the crest of a Hollywood Golden Age 2.0

I heartily recommend and hastily won’t forget The Gorge. I finished it feeling as satisfied as Levi does upon finishing a plate of Drasa’s homemade rabbit pie.

It also made me want to go and gorge myself on the works of T.S. Eliot.