'Apex' review: Netflix delivers another fast, functional survival thriller

Courtesy of Netflix

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A sturdy Netflix Friday‑night vehicle and yet another riff on “The Most Dangerous Game,” “Apex” works primarily because it understands exactly what it is and refuses to pretend otherwise. Baltasar Kormákur’s 95‑minute survival thriller is lean, bruising, and built for momentum, powered by Charlize Theron at her most grounded and Taron Egerton at his most feral. Writer Jeremy Robbins toys with the idea of subverting genre expectations, but “Apex” ultimately succeeds by leaning into familiarity, not fighting it. When all the pieces click, this is the kind of movie Netflix reliably delivers well: recognizable stars, a stripped‑down premise, and a runtime that never overstays its welcome. It is disposable, efficient entertainment, and proudly so.

Theron, already a Netflix regular thanks to “The Old Guard,” gives one of her most driven performances in recent years as Sasha, a seasoned climber and survivalist retreating into the Australian wilderness after personal tragedy. Sasha is not chasing enlightenment so much as endurance. She is trying to outlast grief through stubborn perseverance, hoping that physical strain might quiet everything else. That emotional vacancy gives the film a useful foundation, even if the script only sketches at it rather than fully exploring it.

When Sasha signs in at a remote resource center, she writes her name beside a wall plastered with missing‑persons flyers. It is an obvious bit of visual foreshadowing, but an effective one. Enter Ben, played by Egerton, a seemingly well‑meaning local whose side hustle appears to consist of selling jerky to nearby supermarkets. He is friendly, almost eager to help, showing up with supplies after Sasha wakes to find her gear stolen. The turn comes swiftly. Ben produces a crossbow, hands Sasha a small bag of essentials, and gives her five minutes to run. No witnesses, no cell service, and miles of unyielding terrain between her and safety.

Egerton is clearly relishing the opportunity to cut loose. His performance is cartoonish in flashes but rarely boring. He prowls the forest naked, sets elaborate traps, and even squawks like a vulture in a grotesque attempt to flush out his prey. It is over the top, but deliberately so, and it creates a villain who feels less like a mastermind than a man desperate to feel important. Much of the film’s thematic tension rests on Egerton’s ability to sell Ben as someone chasing validation through ritualized cruelty. Naturally, this pathology traces back to unresolved maternal issues, because of course it does.

Kormákur proves adept at staging physical conflict and sustained suspense. The chases and brawls are grounded in exhaustion rather than spectacle, and the Australian wilderness is shot as a hostile, indifferent presence rather than a postcard backdrop. The film briefly detours into hokier territory in its back half, especially once the truth behind the missing hikers comes into focus, but those revelations are largely beside the point. “Apex” lives or dies on whether we believe Sasha’s survival instincts, and Theron makes that belief easy.

This is not a film interested in reinvention. It wants to bruise you just enough to keep you engaged, then move on. There was a time when thrillers like this were reliable theatrical programmers, the kind you caught on a random night because the poster looked promising. Now they live on streaming platforms, engineered for immediate consumption rather than lasting impression. There is little replay value here, but that was never the assignment. Not everything can be “The River Wild,” and “Apex” knows better than to try.

Grade: B 

APEX streams on Netflix Friday, April 24th.