By Jacob Cameron

Apex is a new thriller with a twist on a classic story. It sees a most dangerous game set in the Australian Outback. A cat-and-mouse game is set on the raging white water rapids. This leads to some unexpectedly good results.

Apex was directed by Baltasar Kormákur, director of movies such as Everest and Adrift. It stars Charlize Theron and Taron Edgerton. It tells the story of a woman named Sasha, played by Charlize Theron, who is in Australia for white water rafting. She is always looking for a rush, hence why taking on a roaring river. Along the way, she meets Ben, played by Taron Edgerton, who starts off as friendly. But soon traps Sasha in a cat-and-mouse game where his more psychotic tendencies are slowly revealed.

Theron is quite good  in the movie. Her character is almost always on the back foot, so she has to rely on her own instincts to survive. Along with the environment around her, every rock and tree is a weapon. And without it having to be explained, the movie does a good job of showing that she is good at what she does in terms of climbing. Taron Edgerton is the overall best part of the movie. Without spoiling anything, his character is mentally deranged and unstable, with each revelation only more depraved than the last.

What is smart about the movie is that you don’t know the true motivations of Edgerton’s character until a certain point. You get the implication that there was some kind of abuse, both physical and mental, but it is never revealed. There is no attempt at sympathy, however. And it is never an excuse for how psychotic the character is. The lack of an explanation is just as scary, or more so, than an actual explanation.

The biggest strength of the movie is how straightforward it is. This film is just about 90 minutes long, and there is not a moment wasted. Theron and Edgerton are the only two characters on screen for approximately 85% of the film. Eric Bana has a few scenes near the very beginning of the film; but it’s those two from that moment on. Both actors are quite compelling. This can be quite a difficult task but done quite well.

The biggest problem here is that some of the CGI is not good. It’s not outright terrible, but it’s painfully noticeable. To be as fair as possible, for some of these scenarios in the film to be feasibly filmed, then some CGI had to be used. There are some genuinely good-looking shots of Australia, and there is an effort to make Australia just as much a factor in the narrative as possible.

Ultimately, this was one of the more pleasant surprises of the year so far. The acting was all solid. There were some genuinely tense moments interlaced with good action sequences. This is an incredibly enjoyable film.

4 stars