Sometimes, leaving a film with mixed feelings can make it harder to review. In The Gorge‘s case, it’s instead become easier. Scott Derrickson’s latest hasn’t given me knots of praise and reservations to untangle in writing, but a collection of clear positives and drawbacks to delineate and balance. I’ll sift through my experience, but the sum of yours will likely depend on how you weigh those component parts.

The movie’s premise is straightforward. Somewhere in the world, hidden from everyone but the shadowy organizations overseeing its defense, is a gorge hiding something horrific beneath its thick, perpetual mist. It has existed since at least the 1940s, when representatives of both sides of the Cold War agreed to collaborate on keeping it secret. On either side of the gorge is a tower, where one highly trained operative from each bloc will spend a solitary year devoted to keeping whatever’s in that crevᴀsse from getting out.

Miles Teller & Anya Taylor-Joy Are A Winning Pair

Thanks To Their Chemistry, The Gorge Always Has A Pulse

This year’s occupants are Levi (Miles Teller), an American ex-serviceman-turned-mercenary whose grip on life has become tenuous, and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy), a Lithuanian sharpshooter preparing to mourn her terminally ill father. The woman who recruits Levi (Sigourney Weaver) tells him virtually nothing about his ᴀssignment. What we learn about the gorge comes from J.D. (Sope Dirisu), his British predecessor, in their hours of overlap.

One thing Levi learns is that contact between West Tower and East Tower is strictly forbidden, which doesn’t stop him from watching his counterpart from across the chasm. Drasa, however, either missed that briefing or decided not to care. She writes Levi a message, and, with a little target practice, goads him into responding. Before long, they’re communicating every day, until these two chronically lonely people suddenly don’t feel so alone in the world anymore.

This brings me to the start of my “pros” column. Teller and Taylor-Joy have instant chemistry, even at sniping distance. There would always be enjoyment in watching them connect. But Derrickson uses the simple magic of sH๏τ-reverse sH๏τ to let us in on this emotional bridging of physical distance, until it feels as if the camera has actually brought them closer. Romance blossomed quickly between Drasa and Levi, and once their bond is established, they kept me happily along for the ride.

This is despite their general thinness on the page. The Gorge often seemed like it could’ve been based on a video game (and I think it would make a cool one), in that the narrative framework is fleshed out just enough to provide scaffolding for the design choices and set pieces. Key elements of story and character are sketches at best. If Levi and Drasa are ever fully alive, it is physically, when their performers can silently lend them an extra dimension.

The Gorge Is Full Of Creepy, Well-SH๏τ Design Work

But The Script Is Its Achilles Heel

Eventually, their love story is interrupted, and the film’s events lead them from the safety of their towers to the terrors of the gorge. I won’t reveal what they find inside, except to say that there, too, The Gorge giveth and The Gorge taketh away.

Firstly, a major pro: this movie looks great. I mean that in terms of sets and effects, which bring to life some compelling creature design that was effectively unnerving, but also at the level of pH๏τography. The Gorge was sH๏τ by Dan Laustsen, the frequent DP for Guillermo del Toro who also worked on chapters 2-4 of John Wick, and he’s brought that experience to bear here. Not only does the haunting texture of light give this dark place some real atmosphere, but the action is always crisp and visible through the gloom.

Secondly, a critical con: the plotting mishandles our relationship to information. In a movie like this, so much of our engagement depends on what we know and when we know it. From J.D.’s info dump and a surprisingly early creature reveal to some discoveries made in the gorge itself, Derrickson & Co. are eager to show us their cards. That approach sometimes worked for me, as with Levi and Drasa’s emotional leaps, but I think it hurt more often than it helped.

The Gorge would’ve benefited from a greater degree of mystery, or even unknowability. There’s a version of this film that doesn’t spell things out so clearly and could’ve been something close to Annihilation‘s action-movie cousin, but this script is too quick to fill in gaps that would’ve left room for thought. As a result of what the characters learn, The Gorge‘s ending is clearly visible with a full third still left to go. I found myself leaning back during some of the most high-octane fighting as I waited for the movie to get there.

That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the set piece – in fact, I had fun with the whole film. While The Gorge is (ironically) fairly shallow, it offers some strikingly designed genre thrills and is powered by two charismatic stars, one of whom, Taylor-Joy, is among my favorite working actors. Factor in that I had a good time, and I’m inclined to be forgiving; for me, the movie’s better qualities overcome its flaws. Whether the same is true for you will depend on whether you find The Gorge‘s sleek surface as winsome.

The Gorge is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, brief strong language, some suggestive material and thematic elements.