My quick rating – 6.1/10. Sometimes you watch a movie for the story, other times you watch because the scenery is so gorgeous you ignore the fact that someone is about to take the express route off a mountain. Apex lands somewhere nicely in the middle.
The film opens with one of those immediate “absolutely not, count me out” moments as Sasha (Charlize Theron) and her husband Tommy (Eric Bana) are hanging off the side of a mountain like it is a casual weekend hobby. I am already stressed just watching them clip in. The cinematography wastes no time showing off the jagged terrain, and just when I was admiring the view, that ominous score crept in and lets us know somebody is about to discover gravity the hard way.
Sure enough, the initial tragedy strikes hard, leaving Sasha with guilt-filled baggage that accompanies her throughout the movie. Moving forward five months, the tale moves onto Australian soil, where cinematographer Lawrence Sher totally steals the show. The Blue Mountains are captured with breathtaking scale and texture, the kind of imagery that makes every frame look like a tourism campaign directed by someone with a very dark sense of humor. Since those mountains are basically right over there (I’m pointing at a window), it is quite fitting to see them used as both beauty and nightmare fuel.
Of course, because movies insist on doing this, every random Aussie bloke Sasha runs into is framed like he either has excellent hiking tips or several bodies hidden nearby. Ben (Taron Egerton) gives off immediate serial killer energy, and Apex does not exactly try to hide it. Once Sasha heads out into the wilderness by kayak, I had the same practical thought you did. How exactly are we getting back to the truck here? Miles. Sorry, kilometers downstream, and apparently, the return plan is just teleportation.
Before that becomes a concern, Apex throws in another very relatable Australian horror moment. Snake in the tent. Honestly, for a second, I actually wondered if the movie was going to go into nature survival rather than human hunting. Sasha, as expected, views this situation as a nuisance and continues rowing like poisonous snakes are on his agenda.
Then Ben’s real game begins.
From there, Apex moves into a typical psycho hunting victims in the wilderness movie. Complete with its ritualistic undertones and disgusting revelations about Ben’s obsession, making it more terrifying. Some of the escape route logic stretches credibility, and yes, the broader story beats can feel predictable. I could often see where the next turn was heading long before the movie got there.
Still, the tension works because the film smartly keeps the focus tight. This is mostly a two-person showcase, and both Theron and Egerton do strong work carrying it. Theron, in particular, sells Sasha’s gradual shift from grieving survivor to something colder and more ruthless. That transformation becomes the core of the movie, even when the plot itself follows familiar tracks.
In the end, Apex may not revolutionize the genre of being stalked in the wilderness, but it’s slick enough to make the 90-minute film run fly by. And considering I can be in the Blue Mountains in a couple of hours, this did not exactly inspire confidence in any future day trips.
