Charlize Theron’s Netflix film Apex is an exhilarating action / thriller mashup with undertones of horror
- Carla Davis
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
The newest Netflix original to nab the number one spot on the streaming giant is Apex, an action thriller with definite horror vibes. Apex stars Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton, with the rugged Australian wilderness as their co-star. Theron also served as a producer on the film.
Apex opens with Sasha (Theron) and her boyfriend/husband Tommy (Eric Bana) scaling the “Troll Wall” in Norway. The two are clearly adrenaline junkies who do a lot of mountain climbing, but a blizzard forces them to abandon their climb. As they descend, Tommy falls to his death.
We then cut to Sasha, who has gone to Tommy’s homeland of Australia as a way to deal with her grief and self-blame. She is in her element though, prepared to kayak, climb, or whatever else it takes to complete her journey. At a local gas station, Sasha encounters some creeps, with one guy, Ben (Egerton), seemingly less creepy than the rest.
That turns out to not be true however, as Sasha discovers when she later encounters Ben in the forest, and that’s where this movie becomes a horror/thriller. Sasha must try to avoid Ben and his weapons as she makes a desperate run for safety through the treacherous wilderness.
Apex is packed with action sequences
The action in Apex is thrilling, and both of the leads give the climbing sequences in particular their all. While of course stunt people did a lot of the most dangerous work, Theron actually did a lot of the climbing sequences herself after some intense training.
A film like this really only works if the characters pull you into the story, and both Theron and Egerton bring theirs to life. Egerton is a completely believable madman, and it’s not really a surprise when we discover he is a serial killer responsible for many disappearances in the area. His unhinged acting performance is off the chain, and I was really impressed.
I don’t want to give away too much, but when Ben shows Sasha his killing ground/cave, it gave me genuine chills. I was on the edge of my couch throughout most of Apex, rooting for the very gutsy Sasha the whole way, and I definitely wanted Ben to be defeated by her.
Eric Bana, while only onscreen briefly at the beginning of the film, was good as well; he and Theron have good chemistry. When Tommy basically tells her she is overzealous and needs to think things through, we can sense that disaster is on the close horizon.
Fun fact: Theron ended up good enough at rock climbing to climb a rock wall in Times Square as a publicity stunt for Apex.
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