Apex

Charlize Theron is literally rock-solid as she maneuvers through the rugged landscape in this extreme-adventure thriller.

The film sets up a tense survival duel but rarely finds the writing or menace to deepen it. A survival drama that feels too familiar.

Under Baltasar Kormákur, whose Everest and Adrift turned survival into spectacle, the premise brims with promise, yet the film feels curiously adrift, stripped of urgency, and untouched by emotional resonance. Where Apex truly comes alive is in its physicality and cinematography, but the film doesn't always meet Theron's performance halfway, and Egerton's menace never quite lands.

The whole affair feels slick but soulless, with no personality or – despite the lush settings – any real sense of place. The plot always feels boilerplate and the rendering of the Australian landscape equally rote.