Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Writer: Jeremy Robbins
Stars: Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton, Eric Bana
Synopsis: When an adrenaline junkie sets out to conquer a menacing river, she discovers that nature isn’t the only thing out for blood.
The new thriller Apex has the gravitas and star power that are uncommon in the genre, with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron and the oh-so-close Academy Award nominee Taron Egerton (Rocketman) leading the cast. However, like so many others, this new Netflix film also has clichés, recycled horror storylines, and thrills so cheap they feel plucked straight from a trope bargain bin.
Frankly, the ultra-cheap, no-frills Don’t Move, which came out on the streaming giant last year, is more effective. And in a decade of great horror thrillers, such as Strange Darling, Red Rooms, Longlegs, Trap, and The Babadook, Apex does what only the worst films in the genre can do. Instead of invigorating, it exhausts a class of movies that had finally begun to find a foothold in the American zeitgeist again.
There are so many words that all essentially mean the same thing, but let’s go through them so we can all learn a lesson here. Apex is dull, boring, tedious, monotonous, repetitive, tiresome, wearisome, drab, lifeless, inert, flat, stale, uninspired, listless, lackluster, stultifying, enervating, soporific, mind-numbing, plodding, predictable, formulaic, pedestrian, by-the-book, insipid, vacuous, hollow, barren, and even anemic, all of which appropriately describe this vapid thriller.
Either way, you have been forewarned: hit play (or keep reading this review) and proceed at your own risk.
The story follows an adventurous rock-climbing couple, Sasha (Theron) and Tommy (Munich’s Eric Bana), as they wake up on the side of a mountain in their cozy portaledge. No, this is not a Folgers or Coors Light commercial; it’s just a pair of beautiful people who spend their days almost dying for fun. (This is what happens when you don’t have enough movie theaters in your hometown.) Tommy is cautious, but Sasha loves to push their limits.
They make camp for the night, and by “camp,” I mean hanging off the side of a mountain in a human birdcage, where Tommy expresses his concerns, which Sasha takes to heart and somewhat agrees with. Then, the following day, in a scene practically lifted from the Vertical Limit dud starring Chris O’Donnell, something goes terribly wrong, and Sasha has to make a choice that no one should ever have to face
The opening ten minutes are meant to do a couple of things: first, set you up for an experience where anything can happen, which is lazy storytelling. Second, give Theron’s character some emotional weight so you have something to hang your hat on. Yes, after this, she is being hunted by an “Apex” predator, Ben, played by Taron Egerton, and this turn won’t get him the Oscar he so badly campaigned for years ago.
The best part of the film is the opening, which is the only reason Apex doesn’t receive a full-blown F in my review. However, after enduring an endless 90 minutes of nothingness, there’s no reason for that scene even to exist, as it adds nothing to the character, nor does the villain use it in any meaningful psychological way. The script from Jeremy Robbins tips its hand too soon.
At the very least, it should have revealed what happened through flashbacks during the “hunt” to give Theron’s Sasha some semblance of a character arc. Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, whose filmography includes a string of jaw-dropping misfires, takes minimalism to a new level in character development, offering characters with zero complexity and little sense of pace or atmospheric tension, resulting in almost no slow burn.
Apex is simply not worth watching because there is so much streaming content that’s worth your time, and this isn’t one of them. The film wastes its star power on a vapid formula that mistakes eclectic behavior and recycled plot points for tension. Despite a promising opening, it collapses into a lifeless, predictable slog devoid of character or psychological stakes. By the end, Theron and Egerton’s film doesn’t just fail to engage, excite, and even entertain the viewer.
Apex, simply put, gives streaming a bad name.
You can stream Apex now exclusively on Netflix starting April 24th!
