Apex TamilYogi Review: Tommy is swinging of a rope that is fraying below him, his boots scratching ice as the force of gravity is rising up. One picture is enough to know virtually everything about Apex. It is violent, chilling, and instantaneously captivating. It seems that the movie will be able to maintain that intensity, at least momentarily. Under the direction of Baltasar Kormakur, and anchored by Charlize Theron, the movie sets a chilling survival premise, with visual confidence. However, tension that existed at the beginning starts to lose its grip as the story progresses. The wilderness is a dangerous place, but the narrative seldom seems to be so. Although the acting is dedicated, notably by Taron Egerton, the movie slips into a familiar pattern, at times exciting, but nowhere near as crisp as its initial scene.
The narrative changes to the mental aftermath of Sasha five months later. She does not decide to retreat but instead decides to keep on to the adventure, a step that leads her to a remote national park. It is there that she gets to meet Ben, a minor yet functional character who offers her two choices to take the easy or the hard way. She decides on the latter by saying that she does not like things that are easy. This choice propels the story. What started off as an intellectual struggle, soon turns into a vicious survival of the fittest battle that takes her into a bloody war that makes up the remainder of the movie.
Kormakur, the director of Everest, applies a familiar visual grammar to Apex. He knows how to create atmosphere and that power is felt all through. A particular sequence is particularly memorable, a one-shot scene showing one character falling of a cliff into a fast moving body of water, then losing sight as the water engulfs them, before them re-surface. It is done with accuracy and it is really immersive. The cold beauty of the landscape is smoothly shot with a camera, and the sound design and visual effects are used to support the landscape rather than smother it. Technically, the film is refined, unified, and hard to criticize.
The small ensemble gives us a feeling of closeness, yet the storytelling limitations of the film are also revealed. With the exception of a small role by Eric Bana, who is only seen briefly before vanishing into the plot, the movie features nearly no other characters, focusing on two people, Sasha and her hunter. One is the prey, the other is the predator. Both Theron and Egerton are committed performers especially during the physically demanding scenes. The film is supported by their effort when the writing is not working.
And that is where Apex strives the least. With a survival thriller that revolves around a serial killer, the tension must be maintained. In this case, that tension is manifested in short bursts. As the movie develops, the relationship between Sasha and her villainous character is oddly unchanged. They do not necessarily work against one another but appear to be running parallel to each other and thus the main conflict is diluted. The narrative logic is sometimes hard to believe, particularly when Sasha seems to be riding with the same man that she is supposed to get away. This option empties a sense of urgency, and it also kills suspense to a large extent.
The predictability also minimizes the impact of the film. The story is predictable with major events being quite simple to foresee. Little sense of surprise is left when the climax is approaching. This is a major disadvantage to a genre that relies on unpredictability.
The movie does not feature any overt sex scenes even though there are brief scenes of nudity. It has an adult certification as well and viewers need to remember this.
Ultimately, Apex is an technically well done film that never quite achieves its full potential. It has beautiful imagery and dedicated acting, but poor writing and the lack of creativity in the structure drag it down. It is a one-time watch, it can be worn to pass time, but it is hardly ever something to be remembered.
Rating: 2.5/5
