1 hour ago
4
Apex ★★★
Rock climbing and other adventure sport films have been enjoying a moment recently, which must be as much a boon for drone videographers as for adrenaline fans. Once the domain of niche documentaries, extreme sports stories have surged since Free Solo, which won the Oscar for best documentary in 2019.
The new Netflix film Apex combines that high-stakes action with an Australian “outback” thriller, as Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton face off in a classic game of cat-and-mouse.
Theron is Sasha, an experienced climber who we first encounter scaling Europe’s tallest rock face, the Troll Wall in Norway, with her equally experienced partner Tommy (Eric Bana). They’re so seasoned that they can stop for a snog halfway up the famous “big wall”. But their ascent doesn’t go to plan, and five months later Sasha is in Australia and looking for some solace in nature. (Considering he’s not even featured in the film’s trailer, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to reveal that Sasha is grieving).
The dusty roads, the tiny roadhouse and lack of mobile-phone coverage suggest Sasha is in the outback proper, but Australians will recognise the Blue Mountains as the fictional Wandarra National Park, home to popular climbing spots and rapid-filled waterways.
After dealing with some ocker hunting stereotypes at the roadhouse, a more kindly local tells Sasha about an out-of-the-way camping spot, which can only be found using a paper map … you may well have an inkling where this is headed.
Sasha spends an awkward evening hiding in her van from the dodgy hunters from the roadhouse, who turn up at her idyllic camping spot, and then spends the following day white-water kayaking. But when she wakes up the following morning her gear – including her food and mobile phone – has gone missing.
Taking back to the water, she runs into Ben (Egerton), the nice guy who told her about the spot. But after offering her breakfast, Ben quickly turns into something entirely different, revealing he has Sasha’s bag, which he’s restocked, and a challenge: she has until the end of an incongruous Chemical Brothers song to get as far away as possible, then he’s coming after her with his crossbow. Sasha takes off into the bush, barefoot, and the rest of the film is a classic hunter-and-prey chase through an Australian tourism brochure.
Egerton is suitably creepy as the skilled bushman (and he doesn’t do a bad Aussie accent), making unnerving screeching and trilling noises as he pursues Sasha on land, over rapids and into caves. Theron is serviceable as the ultra-fit prey who gives as good as she gets.
Directed by Baltasar Kormakur, who’s become something of a specialist in nature/survival films such as Everest and Adrift, Apex looks great (some obvious CGI aside), and has a frenetic pace when Ben and Sasha are on the move.
But there are too many clichés and too few surprises. Both Sasha (steely resolve, tougher than she’s given credit for) and Ben (mummy issues, loner) feel flatter than the face of the Troll Wall. If you’re happy, though, with foothold-related tension and Solo Man-style kayak action, get your aqua socks on and strap in.
