Apple is once again keeping sci-fi fans well-fed with The Gorge, a new original sci-fi romance starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller, which began streaming today on Apple TV+.
Written by Zach Dean and directed by Scott Derrickson (The Black Phone, Doctor Strange), The Gorge is a compelling tale of two elite assassins who fall in love, despite being isolated in towers miles apart, separated by a deep trench. But their love story faces complications when the thing they are trying to keep in the trench keeps trying to climb out.
The Gorge is the kind of movie best enjoyed knowing as little as possible about it going in. If you came here looking for spoilers, I’d suggest watching the movie first. But if you came here because you’ve finished the film, and you’re a little confused by The Gorge ending, then you’re in the right place.
Read on for a breakdown of The Gorge plot summary and The Gorge ending explained. Spoilers ahead, obviously!
The Gorge plot summary:
Levi (Teller) and Drasa (Taylor-Joy) are both elite snipers who take a mysterious job guarding either side of a deep gorge in an undisclosed location. Levi, an American, is stationed on the Western Tower. Drasa, who is Lithuauan, is stationed on the Eastern Tower. The soldier whom Levi relieves, J.D. (Sope Dirisu), tells Levi that he is strictly forbidden from contacting the East Tower. He also tells Levi that there is a dangerous creature in the gorge, nicknamed “The Hollow Men.”
Since WWII, the east and the west have worked together in order to keep the creatures contained. The entire gorge is “cloaked,” meaning it’s undetectable by radar, cell, and other services. There are bombs placed around the perimeter for if and when creatures try to escape. The snipers are there to shoot anything that slips through the cracks.
After J.D. is choppered away, the government spooks (led by boss lady Sigourney Weaver) execute him. It’s not looking good for Levi and Drasa! For a few months, both Levi and Drasa do their jobs without contact and without incident. They occasionally spy on each other with binoculars. On her birthday, Drasa introduces herself by writing on a notepad and firing a gun in the air to get Levi’s attention. After that, the floodgates open. Levi and Drasa get to know each other by talking via notes and binoculars. They play chess (perhaps a nod to Taylor-Joy’s breakout role in The Queen’s Gambit). They play the drums (perhaps a nod to Miles Teller’s breakout role in Whiplash).
On Drasa’s birthday, they also have their first encounter with The Hollow Men, which are grotesque, human-like creatures that try to crawl out of the gorge. But Levi and Drasa manage to shoot them down. More months pass, and they grow to know and care for each other. On Valentine’s Day, Drasa mourns the death of her father. Before she left, he told her he would be taking his own life on Valentine’s Day, rather than succumb to his deadly disease.
Seeing Drasa is distraught, Levi uses a gun to fire a cable across the gorge. Drasa secures the cable to a tree, and Levi uses it to zip line over to the East Tower. He even brings her flowers! They finally have a proper date. They bond over their love for shooting things from a really far distance. Levi reveals his longest shot ever was 3,241 meters. Drasa asks if he was the one who made the world-record-longest shot of 3,800 meters in Yemen, but he denies it.
Levi also reveals he is a poet and that he wrote a poem about Drasa, but he refuses to recite it. They spend the night together, hubba hubba. The next day, Levi gets on the zip line to return to the West Tower. Before he gets across, some of the Hollow Men trigger the perimeter bombs. The cable breaks, and Levi falls into the gorge.
Drasa grabs supplies and dives after Levi into the gorge. She finds him, alive, in a sort of Upside-Down-esque world filled with mutated monsters. While fighting them, they realize that some of these monsters—which look like a cross between a human and a tree—are wearing WWII uniforms. They realize these are soldiers who were stationed here—or, at least, they used to be.
While fleeing the monsters, Levi and Drasa discover an underground lab. Using a propane-powered, back-up generator, they are able to watch an old film in which a scientist explains that a scientific collaboration between the East and West was formed to develop a “biochemically destructive missile” in the final years of WWII. But then an earthquake struck, damaged the missiles, and released a dangerous chemical into the air. If contaminated, the chemical causes the genetic DNA between living beings to merge. “Human DNA has merged with plants, animals, and even insects,” the scientist explains. That’s why soldiers turned into mutated trees! It’s giving Annihilation.
The scientist says that if you’re only exposed for a few hours, you might be OK. Mutations begin within five days of exposure. In other words, Levi and Drasa need to get out of here ASAP. But why didn’t the government just blow up the gorge and eliminate this threatening chemical? Levi finds the answer to that on a computer in a different room: A private, genetic research corporation is studying the creatures in the gorge to help them figure out how to create super soldiers. The corporation hired Levi and Drasa, not the government. Sure!
One more thing: Levi learns on the computer that there is a protocol called “Stray Dog,” which will cause the gorge to self-destruct. If activated, it will destroy everything within 4.2 km radius. You’ll want to remember that later.
Levi and Drasa discover a convenient old Jeep, connect to the snapped zipline cable, and manage to scale the East Wall. Yay, they escaped the gorge! But they now must quarantine for five days, to see if they are contaminated. Also, they think they should probably do that whole “self-destruct” thing on the gorge, for the safety of the world. Levi needs to get back to the West Tower, because he’s due for his check-in with the boss. They agree to both quarantine for five days, and, if they are safe, met up in one week’s time. Before he zips across on a new cable, Levi tells Drasa that he loves her. Aww! Drasa also reveals that she was the one who made that 3.8 km shot in Yemen.
Levi does his radio check-in, but the boss knows something is up. The boss orders Levi to kill Drasa. He says he will. But just to be safe, the boss flies some guys into the gorge to kill Levi, too. Meanwhile, Levi and Drasa set up bombs on the cloakers that surround the gorge to keep it off the grid. When the helicopter arrives, Levi knows they are there to kill them. They both run until they are 3.9 km away from the gorge, and then take their shots to activate the bombs and destroy the cloakers. With the gorge back on the grid, the self-destruct protocol is initiated. So now Levi and Drasa must run the remaining 400 meters to get outside the 4.2 km radius, and get to safety.
The boss and her henchmen aren’t able to get away in time, and die in the explosion dropped by an atom bomb. Drasa is able to run to safety. But Levi has an injured leg, and moves slower. He throws himself into a nearby river as the explosion rips through the forest. It’s not clear if he makes it or not.
The Gorge ending explained:
Drasa quarantines for five days in cave, and doesn’t show signs of turning into a mutated plant monster. She takes out an envelope that Levi must have given to her off-screen. Instructions on the front say to open the letter at sunset if he doesn’t make it to the spot where they agreed to meet in one week’s time. But she still has hope that they will meet up. So she doesn’t open the letter yet.
When Levi doesn’t show up at the meeting spot by sunset, Drasa opens the letter. It’s the love poem that Levi wrote about Drasa, which he wouldn’t share with her earlier. Drasa sheds a tear for her lost love, and leaves.
The next month, Drasa is working as a waitress when Levi shows up at her restaurant. Levi apologizes for being late, and explains he was injured. But he made it! Drasa teases Levi for beating her record shot, with his 3,900-meter shot. They kiss, and with that the movie ends. Presumably, they live happily ever after. Happy Valentine’s Day!
