Apex | Official Trailer | Netflix<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nPOSITIVES<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between survivalist films like Beast and Adrift, Baltasar Kormakur has already cemented himself as the cinematic ambassador for the resiliency and determination of the human spirit, and considering Apex doubles down on more of this explorative creative outlet for the longtime director, it should come as no surprise that the movie is, at times, an enthrallingly intense and dizzying game of cat and mouse between predator and prey, enacting enough thrills to convince people that it’s something special, despite its obvious derivativity. Kormakur’s documentation of chase sequences are among the most grippingly persistent that I’ve seen in a Netflix produced offering, in quite some time, particularly the swift motions of the lens in and out of the Australian amazon, that not only naturally breeds an unsettling anxiousness to the urgency and vulnerability of this grieving widow attempting to evade her dangerously deadly captor, but also illustrates the insatiable lust and rampant eagerness of this killer to play the game, among a couple of solidly executed action set pieces that keep audiences invested throughout a far superior first half, especially within the confines of a 90-minute runtime that never has a chance to overstay its welcome. Likewise, the decision to establish production on-site in the Australian Amazon artistically breeds a naturalized beauty for the country that helps evade preconceived expectations of Australia being this isolated aridly dry wasteland that feels disconnected from the outside world, granting us a backdrop of intoxicating scenery that serves as the perfect balance of the brutally barbaric hunt taking shape in the foreground of the narrative. Don’t get me wrong, Kormakur certainly taps into the isolated immensity of the established landscapes, as a means of effectively gaging the magnitude of this woman’s impossible escape of her advantageously insightful pursuer, but it’s a refreshing stance that the production chose to indulge upon this vibrantly intoxicating surroundings, almost as a means of painting a false sense of security before the script unlocked some of the darker intentions of its antagonist’s motivation, during the second half, and between full throttle chases taking place on land, air, and sea, Apex is a film that takes ample opportunity to utilize its lavish surroundings, in turn appraising a lot of scintillating imagery to a production company typically associated with an overreliance upon artificial backdrops. On top of urgently underlining direction and on-site naturality, the film is also blessed by wholeheartedly committed performances from Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton making the most of their minimally illustrated characters, with each of them enacting the vital kind of imposing screen presence that is a true delight to see bounce physically and psychologically off of one another. For Theron, this means evoking much more of the gritty physicality that has made her one of the most sought after actresses for the genre, but even in the vapid rendering of Sasha’s character psychology can’t subdue Theron’s penchant for the hauntedly humbled side of this woman’s frail state of mind that in turn appraised humanity to the portrayal, and considering a majority of Theron’s screentime is limited to responding to Egerton’s maniacal madness, the nuance and intuitiveness that she lends to the portrayal goes a long way towards embracing in her character, especially considering Egerton’s performance is so expressively supercharged from any role that we’ve ever seen from the young actor. Some audiences will find Egerton annoying, with his scenery-chewing chatter, but I likened him to something like John Travolta’s work in Face\/Off, where not only does he find quirkily nervous ticks to Ben, in ways that convey something unsettling is persisting from within, but also rabid intensity, the likes of which make him feel animalistic to his primal urges within the hunt, cementing an unforeseen versatility to Egerton’s capabilities that truly took this limited concept miles, in terms of a frenzied fun factor, in turn imbedding meaningful momentum during those elevated moments when his character moves back into frame of this movie’s focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEGATIVES<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, while Apex does conjure enough periodic thrills and anxious urgency in the expanse of its runtime to keep matters engaging, it isn’t without noticeably vital flaws in the extent of its derivatively unoriginal and heavily predictable screenplay, without any semblance of depth or introspection towards fascinating characters who are continuously explored at surface level, throughout the proceedings. This won’t necessarily be a problem for thrill-seeking audiences who simply seek a 90-minute distraction away from life, but for those amply investing in the bold magnitude of these endearing performances (Especially Egerton), there’s an obvious lack of interest in deviating away from a multitude of time-honored tropes and clunky plot mechanics towards characters whom we barely get a grasp on, with the psychology of Sasha’s reeling grief executed in the most obvious and uninteresting manner that survival movies like these have been doing for decades, navigating to a dully inferior second half that atmospherically falls flat, as a result of a couple of noteworthy incorporations that detract significantly from the danger and intensity of the game of cat and mouse that dominates the movie’s first half. The first of these is the motivational backstory of Ben, particularly this surmising ritual, which not only immediately strips the stakes and circumstances of the chase, but also enacts this wildly ridiculous character aspect that single-handedly washed away the killer’s mystique. Because of such, Apex ultimately commits horror’s most uncompromising sin, in that it attempts to answer much more than is needed with these character’s motivations, and considering that it lulls the movie’s progress down towards finally feeling the extensive magnitude of its runtime, it leaves the magnitude of the climax feeling insignificant to a once fascinating dynamic and power struggle between its duo of characters, resolving matters on the exact spot that I expected, an hour and a half prior. Beyond a flatly unregistering screenplay, the film’s technical components also find a detracting emphasis to the film’s finished product, with the cinematography from Lawrence Sher, and the subtly intrusive elements of C.G backdrops, garnering a bit more influence over the finished product than I would’ve preferred. On the former, while most of the breathtaking photography articulates a tranquil splendor over the scenery before the mayhem takes shape, this drably bland and lifeless color pallet slapped directly on the canvas of the film absolves any immersive intoxication to make them feel tangible to audience interpretation, bringing back the single worst kind of memories of Assassin’s Creed to mind, with its post-productive darkening made the movie feel like it was shot at night, and the latter, while far more sparingly utilized than other Netflix action movies of the contemporary age, still slips in at the most transparently obvious of times throughout these intense action sequences, particularly the ones where moments in the rapids of the water don’t feel as authentically on-site as the other on-the-ground scenes, appraising a detracting distraction to scenes that were directed quite exceptionally by Kormakur, but not edited with enough rapidness to obscure those artificialities. One critique that you definitely won’t hear from any other critic, this weekend, is the painfully awful soundtrack that this movie utilizes once Ben reveals his sinister intentions with Sasha, featuring the worst kind of B-grade nu metal aggression rock that you could ever find. While I understand that it’s such a small significance to the movie’s grander picture, and even that music is subjective between each audience, the abrasive vocalizing and obnoxious guitar work of these two songs made me wish for more of the unintentionally hilarious bird noises from Egerton, rather than zeroing in on the radio of his truck, presenting the only moments throughout the film where I truly hated his character, on account of such awful music taste that will have you wishing for death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OVERALL
Apex might occasionally be an enthrallingly urgent game of cat-and-mouse between two physically confrontational specimens, but a meatless script involving underutilized arcs and underwritten characterization, as well as a predictably telegraphed outline, all but wastes away the magnitude of Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton’s committed performances, in turn cementing another bargain bin bruiser of an action film that stands among the many others on the Netflix library. While the film finds palpable thrills while maintaining the simplicity of its gritty gimmick throughout the opening half, the second half squanders away the opportunistic links of expanding upon its thematic arsenal, leaving this a skeletal survivalist thriller full of everything that you’ve already experienced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My Grade: 5.9 or C-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Directed By Baltasar Kormakur The Plot – Sasha (Theron),A grieving woman tests her limits in the Australian wilderness, when she’s suddenly ensnared in a deadly game with a ruthless predator (Egerton). Rated R for some strong violence, grisly images, nudity, and adult language.Directed By Baltasar Kormakur Starring – Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton, Eric Bana Apex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9627"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9629,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9627\/revisions\/9629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilmfreak.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}