Purely entertaining
It'll hook you in the moment but almost immediately loses its grip on you once the end credits roll
Written by Wowie Lagman
Watching Apex, the latest survival action thriller from Netflix is a fun experience.
It is purely entertaining with its stunning imagery and the intense edge-of-your-seat thrill. The only problem is it's great in the moment. The minute the end credits finished rolling, the movie loses its grip on you.
Not sure entirely why that is. The movie IS NOT bad. It's great, actually. But there's something about it that's very surface-level. There's not much in the plot nor the characters that linger in your senses or emotions; it won't provoke you into contemplating the life choices made by the characters.
The movie did, however, make me appreciate the Australian wilderness. Apex features some of the most breathtaking scenes in any action movies. Highlighted by great cinematography, these places come to life in each scene, from towering rock wall formations to lush vegetation dotted by trees. Aerial shots of dirt roads snaking through patches of tree-lined backwoods and towering rock walls that zoom out into imagery that looks like it came straight out of a painting.
The film's visual language is a character itself. And it's quite effective in setting the tone for this high-tension survival drama that, at times, also feels like a horror movie. No complaints here.
In the movie, Sasha (Charlize Theron) is reeling from the death of her husband Tommy (Eric Bana) in an awful rock climbing accident.
She decides to travel to Wandarra, a stunning patch of nature that's as thrilling as it's dangerous. Sasha learns from a park ranger that quite a few people have gone missing in the area. She takes a pit stop at a local store to stock up on some supplies when a couple of assholes tried to strike up a conversation, obviously trying to intimidate her.
Unperturbed, she finishes her errand despite the men's continued badgering.
It was only when Ben (Taron Egerton), who supplies the store with beef jerky, had stepped in that they stopped.
It was (probably) because of this gesture why Sasha felt comfortable enough to ask Ben for some help with directions. As a local, Ben gladly showed her the best way to reach her destination. As a bonus, he shared a secret spot that is supposedly beautiful. Sasha seemed intrigued by the idea, so she decided to take it despite it being out of the way.
That decision quickly turned out to be a mistake. The guys at the store arrived and started harassing her during the night. But it was nothing compared to what she'll experience the next day.
After a peaceful kayak (a beautifully executed scene, by the way) she settled on a small clearing by the stream and pitched her tent. The next day, she was horrified to wake up with a snake inside her tent. Then she discovered some of her stuff appeared to be stolen. Fortunately, she bumped into a friendly face: Ben.
After some breakfast and a bit of small talk, Sasha starts to feel relieved. Until she starts to realize that Ben isn't the friendly outdoorsy guy she thought.
Not only did Ben admit to reading about her online and watching her the night before, he tells her he stole her bag. Frightened, Sasha tries to leave but Ben took out a crossbow and told her what's about to happen next.
Jeremy Robbins wrote the scene flawlessly. The buildup to the shocking turning point in the movie came as seamlessly as possible. The entire conversation from the moment Sasha paddled into the spot where Ben transitioned very nicely into the reveal.
What follows next are heart-stopping scenes that will make you literally white-knuckle as Sasha fights for survival.
She dodges arrows, swims through treacherous rapids, scales towering rock walls, and runs like crazy through a dense forest with a psychotic Ben on her tails.
Theron's athleticism makes Sasha engrossing in these action scenes. Images of her as Andy in another Netflix movie The Old Guard and Furiosa in Madmax might make you expect her to throw some punches or take Ben head-on for a much more thrilling watch.
But Sasha's character as guarded and inward-looking makes her play defensively. Despite not showing a lot of emotions physically, the terror and anger are clearly flashed in her eyes. This was a great role for Theron because her performance showed us that there's another way to depict fear and terror just as effectively as the ones we're used to.
Egerton, meanwhile, was a delightful revelation in his first central villain role. His portrayal of a psycho hunter is truly unnerving. His boyish charm and disarming presence were great tools in making him even more terrifying in this role.
There's no shortage of suspense here.
The cat-and-mouse game Sasha was forced into taps into a kind of primal fear that is rarely effectively depicted in movies like this. Suspense-thrillers are often potent because the storylines are usually anchored in an unrevealed motive from the killer(s) that builds up to a series of deadly chases. Part of the satisfaction viewers get comes from unveiling the predator's motives.
Movies like Apex creates a more petrifying atmosphere because of the randomness. It's literally being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. The thrill emanates from the unlikelihood of something terrible happening on a lazy, relaxing day, or the sheer terror of realizing a small favor can turn into a fight for your life.
Another good thing the filmmakers did was creating the chase scenes and plastering them against such a beautiful background. It is hard not to be in awe and take a few seconds to marvel at the lush sceneries while a bedraggled Sasha tries to escape the clutches of Ben, like that scene where she scaled up and down a stunning gorge or the one where she was washed downstream through snarling rapids.
While a lot of that was a result of combining CGI with their onsite location shots, the outcomes were fantastic.
That's why Apex is a good viewing experience. It's purely entertaining. But the lack of depth in the characters (and their backstories) is what keeps the movie from lingering in your consciousness. Its impact ends the moment the credits stop rolling. There's not much to make viewers care about what happens to Sasha (and Ben?) after the events in the movie. Or it could just be me. Either way, off to the next on the watchlist.
Cast: Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton, Eric Bana
Directed by Baltasar Kormakur
Written by Jeremy Robbins
Run time: 95 minutes
Distributor: Netflix
