Apex opens with couple Sasha (Charlize Theron – The Old Guard 2) and Tommy (Eric Bana) having a rather unwise climbing trip up the Troll Wall in Norway, which requires a 1000m vertical ascent to the top, full of terrible weather.
It’s a shame this segment is left out of the trailer, because with director Baltasar Kormákur having previously made 2015’s Everest, it’s actually the most enjoyable segment of the film with a number of jaw-dropping moments.
Funnily enough, with this film opening with some Vertical Limit-style mountain shenanigans, so did Bana’s superb 2025 drama, Untamed. At the time, that was released as just a “limited series”, i.e. a one-off, but I see since, it’s been renewed for a second season! Excellent!
Back to this, and some years later, with Eric Bananaman out of the process, and Sasha’s on a trip in the Aussie outback, encountering weirdos perving over her, while the only pleasant chap, Ben (Taron Egerton – Carry-On), is actually a raving nutjob, who quickly corners her (once the film gets going) and wants to play ‘Hard Target‘ with her, giving her the length of the Chemical Brothers’ Go song to have a head start.
Despite not seeming to carry this off initially – since Taron Egerton looks about as threatening as my left buttock – his character proves to be mental AF and the actor does ‘menacing’ well, and Apex is one of those films where you’ll know how it’ll end, so it’s more about the destination rather than the journey.
Then again, the journey has a broken engine, throughout. Both Taron and Charlize CAN act when given the chance, but this is one of those ‘thrillers’ where it takes over a third of the film to get going, the script feels written by AI, and the movie takes every lazy cliché in the book, making you wonder why they bothered.
They could all have saved 2 months making this, and the time for everyone who’ll spend 95 minutes watching this. It’s a complete waste of time, albeit with a handful of amusing moments after that decent opening before the film turns as badly as the mountain weather.
You CAN do silly action thrillers AND be entertaining. 2025’s Flight Risk was one such film.
Apex is not. It’s one of those films where everyone takes a big payday, without deserving it. Now, go watch Untamed, instead.
There’s also a brief cameo from Caitlin Stasey as Leah, whose character isn’t named when she pops up, but as well as playing Rachel Kinski in Neighbours, back in the day, most recently she gave a big grin in the opening scene in 2022’s Smile.
One major bugbear, though. Despite using a traditional 2.39:1 aspect ratio many times, Baltasar Kormákur made Apex in an odd 2.20:1 aspect ratio, meaning that if it had been shown on the big screen (as happened with the recent They Will Kill You), cinemas end up treating it like a 1.85:1 film, and if you’re watching it on a 2.39:1-ratio wider screen, it’s horrendously windowboxed, looking like a postage stamp. Similar happened with Project Hail Mary, when not shown in IMAX.
For TWKY, I did try emailing Warner Bros about this, but no-one bothered to reply. It’s so easy to resolve, in sending out two versions: one for 1.85:1 screens, and one for 2.39:1 screens, where the 2.20:1 image is placed within a 2.39:1 ‘container’. However, some film studios really don’t care, it seems. The resolution was shown effectively for 2023’s Oppenheimer, and the recent Undertone, which is a 2.12:1 film within the 2.39:1 container.
Or, Nolan aside – since he mostly makes great films – you could just try NOT be an arty-farty get when making movies!
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Apex is on Netflix from today, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 95 minutes
Release date: April 24th 2026
Studio: Netflix
Aspect Ratio: 2.209:1
Score: 2/10
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Producers: Ian Bryce, Peter Chernin, Aj Dix, Beth Kono, Baltasar Kormákur, Sam Oussama, David Ready, Screenplay: Jeremy Robbins
Magnús Viðar Sigurðsson, Charlize Theron, Jenno Topping
Music: Högni Egilsson
Cast:
Sasha: Charlize Theron
Ben: Taron Egerton
Tommy: Eric Bana
Hunter: Matt Whelan
Sean: Zac Garred
Leah: Caitlin Stasey
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.