Father of Four: In High Spirits 

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.