In Apex, Womanhood Is More Dangerous Than the Wilderness

Netflix’s new thriller Apex, starring Charlize Theron, puts a twist on survival horror. Despite its setting in the beautiful- yet-dangerous Australian wilderness, Apex is not a movie about man vs. nature. Instead, it’s woman vs. man. While checking out the title card and its unpretentious Netflix release might lead viewers to believe Apex is just another celebrity project churned out of the streaming machine, Apex – whether by luck or by intention – is a consistently harrowing film about the reality of being a woman in a public space. 

The film opens on Sasha (Theron) and her husband Tommy (Eric Bana), both adventurous rock climbers, facing a storm at Troll Wall in Norway. Unfortunately, Tommy has an accident and falls to his death, an experience which haunts Sasha and takes her to Tommy’s homeland of Australia on a solo venture five months later. From this point on, viewers are made keenly aware of Sasha’s vulnerability as a solo female traveler. She is menaced at a gas station by a group of hunters who later find her at her campsite, where she is reduced to cowering in her van holding pepper spray. Luckily, she escapes the next morning to a beautiful spot along the water where a seemingly decent man, Ben (Taran Egerton) has given her directions.

Viewers don’t get too comfortable, however – when Sasha’s supplies are stolen, she finds Ben who offers her provisions. He’s friendly at first, but begins dropping lines that hint at the danger Sasha faces. “Don’t worry,” he says as he hands Sasha a water bottle, “I forgot to pack my roofies.” Most importantly though, Ben – who is getting creepier by the minute – is a small business owner! In fact, he lives in a primitive hut most of the year, selling homemade jerky. When Ben takes out a crossbow and tells Sasha she has the length of his favorite song to run, it quickly becomes clear what (actually, who) the jerky is made out of. Sasha is forced to make a daring, desperate escape, relying on her camping and climbing skills to escape her cannibal acquaintance as she summits a narrow ravine freehand.

As for Ben, he has no deep backstory. In fact, the movie makes a point of emphasizing his delusional behavior as he screeches like a bird, skinny dips while blasting music, and reveals he’s gotten some very expensive dental work to sharpen his teeth into points. Despite all of this, however, Ben is ordinary. He’s an ordinary man full of extraordinary hubris and motivated by an exoticized view of indigenous people. Throughout the film he rambles about the indigenous tribes he admires. “Did you know there are tribes that file down their own teeth to sharp points? Enduring pain is a part of growing up. It’s a rite of passage,” he says at one point. After dragging Sasha into his cave full of corpses, he informs her with wide eyes that “there are native tribes that say in order to capture the spirit of your prey you have to consume its liver.” Ben is not dangerous because he’s powerful, he’s dangerous because he’s average.

In the end, Sasha is able to make her final escape chained to her captor, summiting a vertical cliff freehand once more. While Apex is a rare action film with a strong female lead, much less one in her 50’s, it does lack diversity in other areas due to its limited cast. Nevertheless, Apex is a successful survival horror production that hits viewers over the head with the dangers that extraordinary women like Sasha still face from the festering rage of ordinary men like Ben. In fact, the movie ends with Sasha on the beach, flinching as she hears the squawk of birds and remembers Ben’s animal noises as he hunted her down. As the film closes, viewers are reminded: Sasha may have survived, but will never be safe.