This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (April 2026) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Apex
Release poster
Directed by	Baltasar Kormákur
Written by	Jeremy Robbins
Produced by	Ian Bryce Peter Chernin Jenno Topping David Ready Charlize Theron Beth Kono AJ Dix Baltasar Kormákur Will McCance
Starring	Charlize Theron Taron Egerton Eric Bana
Cinematography	Lawrence Sher
Edited by	Sigurdur Eythorsson
Music by	Högni Egilsson
Production companies	Chernin Entertainment Ian Bryce Productions Denver and Delilah Productions RVK Studios
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	April 24, 2026 (2026-04-24)
Running time	95 minutes[1]
Countries	United States United Kingdom Iceland
Language	English

Apex is a 2026 survival action thriller film directed by Baltasar Kormákur, written by Jeremy Robbins, and starring Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton, and Eric Bana. It tells the story of a rock climber in the wild who finds herself being hunted by a hunter as she works to survive. It was released on Netflix on April 24, 2026.

A rock climbing couple, Sasha and Tommy, attempt a tandem climb to scale the Troll Wall, but fail to reach the summit and deploy a portaledge. A storm forces them to rappel back down, but an avalanche knocks Tommy off. Sasha grabs onto his cables but loses her grip; he falls to his death.

Five months later, Sasha drives alone towards Wandarra National Park, Australia, holding Tommy's lucky compass. A ranger warns her of a string of disappearances in that region. She has a tense encounter at the petrol station with two hunters, who leave after a stranger intervenes. The stranger, Ben, gives Sasha two routes to reach the Grand Isle Narrows, with Sasha choosing the harder one starting at Blackwater Bay.

The hunters confront Sasha at the bay, yet she dismisses them. In the morning, she kayaks through the rapids, camps overnight, but wakes to her bag missing. Eventually, she finds Ben's camp. Ben offers additional supplies and food. He hints he knows about her climbing past and was watching when the hunters arrived. A frightened Sasha tries to leave until Ben admits to stealing her bag. He brings out a stereo and a crossbow, saying she has until the end of the song before he starts hunting her. Sasha escapes on her kayak but loses it. She runs through the riverbank and hears voices of a nearby family, only to find it was a recording planted to lure her.

Ben shoots, forcing her into the river. She reaches a ravine and sees a canoe. She approaches the canoe but triggers a bear trap. With Sasha captured, he reveals this was part of a ritual. As he takes her by canoe to a cave, he discloses he researched her incident at Troll Wall, questioning Tommy's death. They reach a cave where the carcasses of the missing people are hidden. Ben reveals he is a practitioner of cannibalistic tribal rituals, claiming consuming others keeps them alive in him and intends to do the same to Sasha. Ben goes to embrace Sasha, as she then bites his ear and escapes through the river. Ben follows, but a steep drop knocks him unconscious. While Sasha attempts to break her bonds, he regains consciousness and overpowers her. She knocks him off and fractures his leg with a rock.

At night, Sasha recounts her guilt of letting Tommy fall and feeling responsible for his death. In the morning, the pair decide to do a tandem climb over a wall to get out of the area. Sasha fashions a Prusik knot to help Ben climb. He tells her any attempts to escape will cause him to pull her off the wall. While climbing, Sasha grabs on to her harness, but Ben pulls her down as a warning. She continues the climb and stops at a ledge. She discreetly loosens her harness, but when Ben notices and tries to pull her again, it slips off. She removes the knot holding him and a horrified Ben falls to his death. Sasha continues the climb now without gear and reaches the summit.

Sasha walks through the forest in the dark and stumbles upon a car which rescues her. She returns to the ranger station and explains where the missing people are. At the end, Sasha goes to a beach and tosses Tommy's lucky compass into the ocean.

• Charlize Theron as Sasha, a rock climber and Tommy's wife.
• Taron Egerton as Ben
• Eric Bana as Tommy, a rock climber and Sasha's late husband.
• Matt Whelan as Hunter

Netflix secured the rights for the film in February 2024, with Ian Bryce and Chernin Entertainment as producers.^[2] The film is directed by Baltasar Kormákur from a Jeremy Robbins screenplay. Charlize Theron stars and is producer on the film alongside Dawn Olmstead, AJ Dix and Beth Kono.^[3] Kormákur is also producing through RVK Productions, as well as Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and David Ready as well as Bryce through Chernin Entertainment.^[4] Taron Egerton joined the cast in November 2024,^[5] with Eric Bana joining in January 2025.^[6]

Principal photography began in Sydney and around New South Wales, Australia in February 2025.^[7][8]

The film's visual effects were supervised by Enrik Pavdeja and produced by Gavin Round, with contributions from Framestore (who previously collaborated with Kormákur on Beast and Everest),^[9][10] ILM, Rising Sun Pictures, Union VFX and Host VFX.^[11]

Apex was released on Netflix on April 24, 2026.^[12]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 66% of 53 critics' reviews are positive.^[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 57 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[14]

• Apex at IMDb