In Netflix’s latest release, Apex, Charlize Theron moves around as if she has always lived dangling off the side of an imposing Norwegian mountain, or has always known the ins and outs of the Australian wilderness. Either way, Theron is almost immediately at ease in this survival thriller. This also means that the film hurtles towards a foregone conclusion. There is no way that Theron doesn’t survive, so the challenge for Apex lies in engaging the audience in a believable-enough thriller. It lives up to the task sporadically, not nearly as consistently as its lead actor.

Director Baltasar Kormákur, after Everest (2015) andBeast (2022), returns to the survival-thriller genre in the Australian wilderness. The opening sequence, however, paints a quick picture of Sasha (Theron) as a determined adrenaline-seeking mountaineer who wishes to summit Norway’s Troll mountain, despite the doubts expressed by her partner Tommy (Eric Bana). Tommy wants a slower life, and Sasha has her eyes set on the next ledge she should use for support. A freak storm, as the two rappel down the mountain, knocks out Tommy and forces Sasha to make the hard decision to untether him from her.

The film reintroduces Sasha driving through the Australian countryside, her eyes still steely, but her passion a bit muted since Tommy’s death. Sasha is here for a solo kayaking trip in the dense national park. Her trip begins with a slew of ‘missing person’ posters just outside the park, and a ranger warns her against venturing into the wilderness alone. She is also troubled by a group of unruly hunters, who only leave her alone after the intervention of Ben (Taron Egerton). Later, robbed of her belongings, Sasha quickly realises the danger Ben poses when she runs into him again in the forest.

An eager Egerton loses himself behind the impatient energy of Ben, who launches a game of cat-and-mouse and forces Sasha to run for her life.

Apex unfolds in the quick span of 95 minutes, but covers the vast expanse of the fictional Wandarra National Park. Juxtaposing a frantic chase against the stillness of the dense vegetation, the film corners Sasha in crevasses and creeks. Lawrence Sher’s work as the film’s cinematographer particularly stands out when, combined with Theron and Egerton’s performances, it manages to transform the forest into a nauseating escape room.

Yet, the film leaves much to be desired in the way of a more captivating script. The back and forth between Sasha and Ben, as they exchange fortunes periodically, becomes repetitive until it culminates in a predictable fashion. Apex’s singular focus on a chase across the forest leaves little room for anything else to breathe in the script. As a compact thriller that pans out exactly as its audience expects it to, Apex works well, but fails to do much beyond that.

Apex is available for streaming on Netflix