Apex is a blood curdling survival thriller set in the harsh and brutal landscape of Australia as a haunted mountain climber makes it her mission to find isolation that will lead her to forget her traumatic past. Tommy, her husband, dies in a horrible accident in the Troll Wall in Norway and she carries that guilt with her, leaving her at a remote Wandarra National Park. Her lonely life is destroyed as she meets Ben who is a hideous predator with an unsettling fascination with ritualistic murder. When the real nature of Ben reveals itself, showing his cannibalistic rituals, and his inner disturbing motives, Sasha finds herself in a deadly game of survival, not only to protect her life, but also to battle her own inner demons.
The film does very well in creating a kind of ‘kick in the pants’ sensation for the viewer, immersing them in the brutalities of the Australian bush, which is a hostile adversary. The scenes of chasing (and risky climbing) and rapid escape from the river are well developed and executed to evoke the sense of danger and urgency. It’s very compelling for me to be a weak survivor one day, and a fierce fighter the next, and it’s a testament to the tug-of-war between the human soul, and those primitive instincts that are brought to the surface by her horrific experiences. As the violence and psychological torture intensifies, a fraught, morally ambiguous climax raises questions about her notions of good and bad as well as life and death. She then has to flee again, and discovers the terrible sewerage of Ben, a reminder of the darkness that can live in a man.
Altogether, Apex is a crude examination of the human spirit, the corrosion of morals and the primitive need to survive by any means necessary. The physical and emotional trauma that Sasha undergoes is physically and emotionally draining as it causes her to adopt the darkness, which she had previously feared. The scene of her throwing the compass into the ocean, the same one Tommy uses to navigate with, is a very strong conclusion to the movie, since she is attempting to forget her past and create a new one. It’s an emotional, dramatic story that resonates with you at the level of the gut, and emphasizes that life may sometimes push us to our limits and even to our worst fears.
