"The Gorge" and "Companion"

2025 has been very good for original genre films so far.  A few minor spoilers ahead.

First, "The Gorge," which is an offbeat horror-action mystery movie, where the best thing about it is surprisingly the romance that develops between the two leads.  Miles Teller plays Levi, an ex-Marine who is sent by a not-suspicious-at-all Sigourney Weaver character to a mysterious gorge, which is guarded on one side by a lone American soldier, and on the other side by a lone Soviet counterpart, both in command of impressive military arsenals.  Their job is to keep whatever is at the bottom of the mist-shrouded gorge from ever getting out.  The two soldiers are forbidden from contact, but the Soviet turns out to be the lovely Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy), and both of them are bored, so of course they start flirting with binoculars and homemade signs.

I appreciate that we find out very quickly that there are eldritch monsters who keep trying to come out of the gorge, and have to be repelled with a lot of heavy gunfire.  The mystery is not drawn out at all, though there are the usual twists and turns about what's down under all that mist, for those who are here for the monsters and the action.  However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much of "The Gorge" is actually a romantic-comedy, featuring two capable, attractive young people who come up with a lot of different ways to carry out their romance, despite being physically separated.  Directed by Scott Derrickson, who mostly does horror, this is a fun digression from the usual formula, and I found it very enjoyable.  Well, until the film is obliged to be an action movie again.  

"The Gorge" is a pretty by-the-numbers monsterfest in the second half, when our leads are expected to go fight more CGI beasties and uncover the terrible secrets about the gorge.  Fortunately the actors are very good, especially Anya Taylor-Joy proving again that she's a solid action star.  The creature designs also feature some very creative and memorable abominations.  I think it helps that I went into "The Gorge" expecting a B-movie, and that's exactly what this is.  The romance is a nice bonus, but in the end the mindless violence takes center stage, and is both very mindless and very violent.  It's hard to get too upset with the film for doing exactly what it said it would from frame one.  Would I have been happier with a smarter, more thoughtful film that spent more time on the central relationship?  Sure, but that's not the movie "The Gorge" is trying to be, and I don't begrudge it any of its indulgences.

On to "Companion," a horror/thriller/comedy where I have to tread more carefully because it does have several big reveals that will directly impact audience enjoyment.  Let's just say that the film is about technology and romance, and involves three couples having a weekend getaway together.  There's Iris (Sophie Thatcher), who is nervous about meeting the friends of her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid) for the first time.  There's Eli (Harvey Guillen) and Patrick (Lukas Gage), the friendly gay couple.  And then there's prickly Kat (Megan Suri), who is dating an eccentric Russian, Sergey (Rupert Friend).  Drew Hancock, previously of "Suburgatory" and "Blue Mountain State," is making his feature film debut here as writer and director.

"Companion" is one of those tricky little genre movies where the characters are playing cat-and-mouse and trying to outwit each other constantly.  The writing is clever, darkly funny, and occasionally lands a good zinger.  The young actors are a solid bunch who're mostly known for their television work, but easing into bigger film roles.  Sophie Thatcher, of "Yellowjackets" and "Heretic," is the standout.  Iris is our main POV character, and Thatcher is effortlessly genuine and relatable throughout, despite dealing with a lot of heightened, high concept material.  When things go south, she's easy to root for.  

This is the kind of premise that could have gotten very silly very quickly, without Thatcher's grounding presence.  Frankly, the movie still is silly a lot of the time, on purpose, but it also offers some decent observations about how technology can enable some of humanity's worst impulses.  But more importantly, it's a fun watch, and hopefully we'll see everyone involved continue to do good work in the future. 

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