Apex (2026)

This stripped back survival thriller may have a relatively straightforward plot, but Charlize Theron demonstrates impressive physicality in the lead role, while Taron Egerton is clearly having a lot of fun playing a deranged psychopath.

Premise:  Grieving a recent loss, adrenaline junkie Sasha (Charlize Theron) sets out to whitewater kayak and camp her way across a national park in the Australian Outback – but when she unexpectedly finds herself prey to a deranged hunter, Ben (Taron Egerton), she has to rely on all her survival skills if she is to evade Ben and escape the wilderness.

Review:

On paper, Apex sounds like the kind of run-of-the-mill, generic thriller that are a dime-a-dozen on streaming services, with its plot about a male serial killer in the Australian Outback hunting a female adrenaline junkie through the wilderness.  But the people involved in making Apex have elevated the basic premise to provide a gripping cat-and-mouse thriller, as well as a heart-in-mouth viewing experience that really brings the landscape and practical stunts to life.

Front and centre is Charlize Theron, who not only carries the movie with her emotionally buttoned down performance as Sasha (a woman with barely concealed repressed trauma from a recent bereavement), but who also brings impressive physicality to a role that clearly involved a huge commitment to practical stunts.  Calling to mind her memorable performances in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road and 2017’s Atomic Blonde, her performance as Sasha might not reach quite the same heights (Sasha is not as emotionally complex as her roles in either of those earlier films), but it carries the movie nonetheless.

“…Taron Egerton’s psycho works best as a force of nature…”

But a protagonist is often only as good as their antagonist – and Charlize Theron’s “mouse” is mercilessly toyed with by Taron Egerton’s “cat” for most of the film’s runtime.  While the film does attempt to flesh out Taron Egerton’s psycho Ben a little bit, he works best as a force of nature – another wild element that Sasha has to fight to survive.  Taron Egerton plays against type (and with a pretty good Aussie accent) as the crazed loner who hunts people in the Outback, striking just the right balance between malevolence and entertainment, so the film (and the character) never strays into the realms of sadism and torture-horror.

Director Baltasar Kormákur is probably best known for 2015’s true-life survival thriller Everest, and he brings that sense of heart-pounding, adrenalised vertigo to a number of the climbing sequences in Apex.  Between Baltasar Kormákur’s direction, and Charlize Theron’s commitment to practical stunt work, the film doesn’t disappoint in any of its grounded-yet-exhilarating action sequences.

“…a schlocky B-movie made by A-listers bringing their A-game…”

I say the plot is thin (and don’t get me wrong – it is), but I wouldn’t want to give the impression that it’s bad or predictable.  In fact, the hunt itself unfolded in ways I wasn’t expecting, and the final act felt quite far removed from your usual Hollywood dénouements.  But ultimately, Apex is more of a vibe-based film than a plot-based one.

All in all, while Apex is undeniably a schlocky, serial-killer-thriller, B-movie – but it’s one made by A-listers bringing their A-game, which makes the end result far more entertaining, gripping and memorable than it probably had any right to be.