As anyone knows who has experienced one, long distance relationships can be hard work. It’s difficult to be spontaneous, with planning going into the smallest details such as communication. And if you just want to do something simple like hanging out, it can take a fair amount of preparation as well as mileage and money to make it happen.

But if anyone can make a long distance relationship work, you would think a pair of snipers would be able to, after all if anyone knows about distances, they sure do.

Having spent years as in the military as a shit hot sniper, Levi (Miles Teller) now works in a freelance capacity, where he is hired by a company called Velocity by a woman called Bartholomew (Sigourney Weaver).

She explains that it’s a job that will see him having to live on site for a year, with other details fairly scarce.

It turns out that he isn’t even allowed to know the location, just dumped in the middle of nowhere. He soon learns that he is to oversee a tower, overlooking a gorge. There he has to monitor any strange activity on his side.

As it happens another sniper, Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy), has just started the same year-long contract on the opposite side of the vast gorge, with exactly the same job description.

Being the only two people in the area, they soon become curious about one another, and even start writing messages for each other to read with their high-powered binoculars.

What they soon discover is that they may well be the only people for miles around, but the gorge itself is home to some strange creatures, known as the Hollow Men, that will see them having to work closely together if they’re to survive.

The fact that this film stars two of the most promising actors of their generation is a good start. However, the distance between them isn’t its only concern.

It starts off dramatically enough, as we’re introduced to both protagonists pre their gorge work. They are both clearly good at sniping, and it would be difficult to distinguish who was better.

Then the film becomes quite playful, as it enters the meet cute section of the film, as the two find ways to develop their relationship over said hole in the ground that separates them.

And finally the film enters its final phase, that of sci-fi horror, as we discover what actually lives in the gorge.

It’s a case of individually the three phases work well alone, but when put together, they have the coherence of a story told by a group of comedy improvisers, with genres being shouted out willy nilly by an audience – “now a western”, “now a musical”, “sci-fi with a hint of documentary!” The result is a little disconcerting, with it lacking a cohesive theme to get behind.

There’s also a curious scene, that is strangely meta, that finds the pair playing chess – a nod to Taylor-Joy’s role in The Queen’s Gambit, as well as playing the drums – which is a cheeky wink to Teller’s performance in Whiplash. Its inclusion makes no sense other than to remind audiences of what they’ve been in before, which seems redundant, and just like other parts of this film, out of place.

American director Scott Derrickson, who is mostly known for his work in horror (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Black Phone ), handles the monster elements well, as you would expect, but with time and energy spent building up boy-sniper-meets-girl-sniper-tale, the story arc of what exactly is going on does get a little lost.

Still, Teller and Taylor-Joy make a killer couple, even if the overall ridiculous premise is more than a long shot that doesn’t quite hit its intended target.