Apex

I love being out in nature, especially during some hot days during spring and summer and visit a beautiful lake. Usually i bring some hot dogs with me or different sausages, easy to barbecue and some potato salad on the side. Easy, simple and still a great dinner while enjoying being out in nature. I usually go look for dead wood lying around, since it´s dry enough to use for a fire. Oh and i almost forgot, i always bring brewed coffee on a thermos as well. In my childhood i did try camping in some forest areas, while we fished to get dinner out on a lake we were familiar with called Bysjön in Värmland. Back in the late 80´s and in the early 90´s, i remember we could catch quite a lot of fish. I try and go to different lakes and sometimes to the coast line here in Sweden, there are many great locations to stop with your car along the ocean to barbecue and just enjoy the scenery. But what if you are just out on vacation, just heading towards a beautful location to camp and end up in a deadly situation? That is exactly what happened in the 2016 survival psychological horror film Killing Ground, directed by Damien Power ( who also directed the 2022 great psychological thriller No Exit, worth a watch on Hulu or Disney + ). The film takes place out in the beautful Australian wilderness, where a couple Sam ( Harriet Dyer ) and Ian ( Ian Meadows ) are going to camp at a lake where Ian used to go as a child. But after a while something seems seriously wrong, they are not alone out here. Killing Ground is a well made psychological survival thriller with great acting, and beautful shots from the Australian wilderness helps the atmosphere of this film feel more effective. Definetely worth a watch on VOD or physical media. Speaking of survival thrillers i did see the trailer for the Netflix film Apex earlier this year, and since i am a fan of actress Charlize Theron ( especially after her incredible acting performance in the 2003 film Monster ), of course i was curious to watch this film. Is this a must watch on Netflix this summer or should you watch the 2016 film Killing Ground instead?

Sasha ( Charlize Theron ) lost her husband Tommy ( Eric Bana ) in Norway, during a rough storm while rock climbing. After several months she decides to travel by herself to Australia to do a kayak adventure, to try and get herself focusing on something else. While visiting a local store she meets two rude Australian local men, who she just tries to ignore. In this store she meets a man named Ben ( Taron Egerton ), who helps her locate the place she should go on her kayak journey. This may look like a beautiful journey, but there is a dark secret hidden within these mountain.

Apex starts off almost like a different version of the 1993 classic Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone, and then turns into a something similar to the 1994 survial thriller The River Wild with actress Meryl Streep. Obviously, these films does not have any similar plot as Apex, but you get a sense of similar survival films might have influenced the film Apex. The fact that this film later turns into a serial killer / cannibal influenced film is quite a surprise for me. This was not something i expected to see in a film such as Apex but i actually think this give this film a more interesting approach. If we look outside of these many different influences from different films, the plot is not that complicated after all. And i am completely fine with that, since this is meant to bea more violent entertaining version of The River Wild - The Cannibal Version. Actress Charlize Theron is no stranger to being good in an action film, i mean she proved herself several times in films such as Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde and in the Netflix film The Old Guard ( including the sequel ). And she proves herself as a lead actress again as the character Sasha, she is one woman who don´t take shit from anyone. I also like the fact that she is able to use her acting skills not only doing physical action scenes, her dialogue scenes lands pretty good. You can call Apex a psychological thriller as well, since we find out about actor Taron Egerton´s distured character Ben and his hunger for human meat. Taron does his Australian accent a bit over the top, but i enjoy his psychotic performance playing a serial killer. The action scenes in the jungle looks good, the brutal violent scenes feels effective when they finally kick in and the climbing scenes looks beautful. Is there something missing in this film? Honestly, i don´t care about any flaws. I just want to be entertained by a survical action thriller and that´s exactly what Apex manage to do. Apex may not deliver anything fresh or original we have not seen before, but as a survival thriller i would say this film is worth a watch. Director Baltasar Kormákur have worked on survival films in the past with solid films such as Everest and Adrift, and with Apex he manage to show the world he knows how to make interesting survival films.

Rating: DDD