The Gorge: Anya Taylor-Joy is Your Manic Pixie Dream Sniper

Spoiler alert?

This movie has everything: Anya Taylor-Joy, chess, guns, monsters, jeeps (or halftracks or something, I don't remember) winching themselves up cliffs...you name it.

   And I'll watch just about anything with ATJ (who Jonny Quest calls "that fish-eyed girl") in it.

   On the down side, this seems to have been made to be some kind of Valentine's Day movie, if you can believe that...

   Also, Eddie Eagle and the entire NRA firearm safety team would have seizures if they saw the scene where ATJ and...I dunno...what's-his-name...are flirting by shooting at each other. Not even kidding.

   Anyway, almost all such movies collapse in the last half-hour or so, and this one is no exception.

   But the setup was actually interesting enough that I was pretty into it...until it turned into a romance. But that didn't really last all that long. It's really just something for the movie to do until they have to disappoint the audience with the big reveal. Not all that many movies can really pull off the monster part--Alien(s), Cloverfield, the original Godzilla...but not all that many more.

   My long-standing theory is that, if you've got a move idea, just set that mofo at Christmas and you'll make twice as much money for, like, ever.

   Valentine's Day, however, is basically the lamest holiday. So I don't see that angle really working for it.

   Anyhoo, I may change my mind after watching it again.

   But, for now, Philosoraptor say: check it out.