While some movies benefit from a cozy, low-stakes home viewing environment, others would undoubtedly be improved seeing them in a packed midnight 3D screening. From the moment Apex opens with a trippy shot of Charlize Theron’s rock climber Sasha peering straight down an icy Norwegian rock wall from a tent suspended in midair, it’s clear cinematographer Lawrence Sher’s wondrous depictions of the natural world would be much better suited to the big screen than whatever audiences are streaming it on via Netflix. The real loss, however, is the lack of a raucous crowd to scream and gasp at each new twist and turn taken by a survival thriller that starts solidly enough before gleefully careening of a cliff thanks in no small part to an absolutely wackadoo performance from Taron Egerton.
In fact, Apex is like a sampler platter of the recent slate of survival thrillers from Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur. As with the Shailene Woodley/Sam Claflin vehicle Adrift, there’s a touch of romantic drama as Sasha and her climbing partner Tommy (Eric Bana) brave the elements together, making life-or-death decisions about when they should push each other forward and when they should hang back. As with Everest, Kormákur is interested in the psyche of thrill-seekers and what happens when their adventurous ways have fatal consequences. And as with his Idris Elba vs. A Lion thriller, Beast, Kormákur’s not afraid to throw some B-movie energy into the mix either—sometimes for better, but often for worse.
As Apex catches up with Sasha on a solo kayaking trip through the Australian Outback, it initially finds a refreshing new angle on the survival thriller genre. Sasha has sworn off partnership, preferring to thrill-seek on her own so she’s not responsible for anyone else’s life and no one is responsible for hers. Yet Jeremy Robbins’ script smartly realizes that this kind of solo adventuring is very different for women than it is for men. Sasha doesn’t just have to think about surviving the elements, she has to think about surviving the men she encounters along the way—including a group of rowdy hunters who go out of their way to make her feel uncomfortable at a gas station.
