‘Apex’ review: Australian setting the star of engaging survival thriller
Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton are solid in latest from director Baltasar Kormákur that’s worthy of the big screen
Apparently, Baltasar Kormákur wasn’t going to let the fact that Netflix, in early 2024, acquired the rights to the cat-and-mouse survivor thriller “Apex” stop him from making a movie fit for the big screen.
Known for preferring practical, on-location filmmaking to shooting against a green screen and relying on digital effects, the director of films including 2015’s “Everest” and 2022’s “Beast” delivers the rare streaming offering that makes you wish your relatively large TV were even bigger.
Much bigger.
Debuting this week on Netflix and in a very select few theaters, the often breathtaking, if only reasonably entertaining “Apex” takes the viewer into the wonders and wilderness of Australia, Kormákur saying in the film’s production notes that even to scout certain caves in the Blue Mountains National Park required swimming.
Consider the challenging landscape a character in the film, as you can with others from the Icelandic filmmaker. However, it’s Charlize Theron who gets top billing as a wilderness enthusiast.
We meet her character, Sasha, not in Australia but instead in Norway, climbing the Troll Wall with her significant other, Tommy (Eric Bana), a more experienced climber who works to dissuade her from the notion of continuing to climb, instead of stopping for the night, as potentially dangerous weather approaches.
“I want to summit today, Tommy,” she implores.
“And that’s exactly why you have a climbing partner — so someone can make the call when one of you loses the plot,” he says. “So I’m making the call, OK?”
Even with that sound decision, tragedy befalls them.
Given that Taron Egerton, not Bana — a lead of the recent disappointing but popular environment-dependent Netflix limited crime series “Untamed” — is listed as Theron’s co-star should tell you all you need to know.
Five months later, Sasha is en route to Australia’s fictional Wandarra National Park for a solo adventure. She soon encounters Egerton’s Ben at a general store, where she buys what she later learns is his homemade jerky. As her GPS is dead, she asks him for recommendations on how best to get to where she wants. Eventually, he recommends a route to what he says is a great camping spot that’s a well-kept secret.
Before long, she’s enjoying kayaking some rapids and having the type of adventure she’d envisioned. However, she returns to her tent to find her belongings and food missing.
But hey, it’s Ben to the rescue, the local nature lover popping up during her time of need with some water and food. Reluctantly, she trusts him, but she quickly realizes he is decidedly not worthy of trust.
Wielding a crossbow, he informs her he is going to hunt her and is giving her until the end of a song he’s suddenly blasting from a portable speaker to get a head start.
Man, some guys are just bad news.
Competently penned by Jeremy Robbins (“The Purge” TV series), “Apex” is at its most engrossing during this chase, serving up one terrific jump scare even as you suspect it’s coming. Of course, you’re not going to keep the only two humans in the film apart for any significant chunk, and “Apex” is less compelling once Sasha and Ben are put together. (It’s creepier, but the tension loosens.)
Egerton (“Rocketman,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service”) has had recent practice playing an unhinged type in the middling 2025 Apple TV drama series “Smoke,” but he takes things up more than a few notches to portray Ben. The less you know about Ben’s, well, habits, the better, but Egerton leans into it all and is fairly effective as the psychopath.
Theron, meanwhile, is dependable, as usual, the star of films ranging from “Atomic Blonde” to “Tully” to “Monster” — for which she earned an Academy Award — reportedly threw herself into this role, performing some of her own stuntwork. She is relatable and convincing as Sasha, who’s still trying to figure things out emotionally after the events in Norway, carrying around Tommy’s lucky compass as she works to find her new way.
The real selling point of “Apex,” though, is its visceral qualities, stemming from the on-location shoot and most noticeable in the at-times arresting camera work of director of photography Lawrence Sher (“Joker,” “The Bride!”).
Your TV probably IS large enough to do “Apex” justice … but if you’ve been looking for ANY excuse to pull the trigger on some beast with a 100-inch screen, this may be it.
‘Apex’
Where: Netflix.
When: April 24.
Rated: R for some strong violence, grisly images, nudity, and language.
Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes.
Stars (of four): 2.5.
