If you'd like to be surprised by the Apex film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer beyond 0:38, because it gives away too much of the plot. It basically provides a summary of the film, up to the ending scene, even the very end is shown.
Apex, movie (2021) - Watch the trailer on YouTube
video © Apex (MFG) Productions
Article updated: 2022.02.27
The Apex (2021) is a futuristic drama film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: Apex, movie (2021)
Original title: Apex
Series: -
Setting: future Earth
Other adaptations of the story: Surviving the Game (1994)
Product type: Film, Genre: futuristic drama, Style: futuristic, sci-fi, thriller, action
Release: 2021.11.12
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2021.11), first time
Rating: Weak (2- out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points)
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This is my review of Apex, a futuristic drama movie from 2021. It's about members of a hunting club having a breakdown. The Apex film is pointless and boring, I don't recommend the film to anyone.
Apex, movie (2021)
image © Apex (MFG) Productions
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Review (spoiler-free) - Apex, movie (2021)
I didn't hear anything about this movie, but I've seen that it has Bruce Willis. As I've seen two recent bad movies with him (Breach (2020) and Cosmic Sin (2021)), I though I could watch this as a continuation of that run. I didn't watch the trailer, so I wouldn't spoil the story.
The Apex movie is about members of a hunting club having a breakdown.
The story is slow and pointless. The pacing is consistent for the first 80%, but when the writer loses creativity, it switches to montage scenes to end the story. There are no character arcs. Beyond the basic problem of the unbelievable concept, there were only logical problems. The only thing I liked was the setting, it was interesting to see how the hunting club works, and what kind of technology thes use. The story is said to be a remake of Surviving the Game (1994), but it's actually a mix of that movie and The Most Dangerous Game (1924) short story.
The cinematography is watchable, but often below average. Visually it's not really interesting, we either see an average house or a typical continental forest.
There are too many characters, some have some background, but they are not well developed. Their portrayal by the actors was mostly unconvincing, as they were supposed to be multi-millionaire geniuses. They took the roles more like parodies of those characters.
The music (by Hugh Wielenga) was often out of place, playing upbeat tones during a possibly intense situation. I assume this was intentional, so the movie wouldn't be boringly depressive, but I didn't find this fitting.
Apex is a boring futuristic drama, I think only the most dedicated fans of the genre might enjoy it.
My experience
I was not satisfied with Apex (2021). It was only my curiosity about the setting info that kept me watching.
Rating: Weak (2- out of 3 points). Apex has a weak story, a weak script, and a boring execution.
Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points). Apex was stupid and boring, I didn't like it.
Rewatchability: I'm not sure. I think it's mostly the twists of the story that makes you feel interested.
Chance of watching it again: Nope.
Chance of watching a sequel: Very low. Based on this movie, I assume we'd get the same story, without the "thrills" of getting to know the setting.
Apex, movie (2021)
image © Apex (MFG) Productions
Will you enjoy this?
If you like action or thriller movies, you might like Apex, although there's not much action, and it's not very thrilling.
If you like movies based on hunting humans, you might be interested in Apex.
If you can get through the first half hour of the movie still interested, you might as well continue, as it will be the same, although it starts to fall apart as the ending closes.
If you enjoyed the Surviving the Game (1994), you might be interested in this story, although you'll probably be disappointed.
If you don't mind illogical elements in your movies, you may enjoy this.
If you like twists of expectations, you might enjoy this movie.
If you prefer visuals over story, you will still be disappointed by Apex, as it doesn't look good.
If you hate violence in movies, Apex is probably not for you.
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in futuristic hunting stories, it might be worth watching the Apex movie for the plot points, but you are probably better off just reading this article.
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Apex, movie (2021)
image © Apex (MFG) Productions
Review with spoilers - Apex, movie (2021)
I didn't like the Apex movie.
It's clear that Bruce Willis didn't have to work a lot for this movie. Most of the time he is either walking in the woods, or sitting in the woods, while the action is happening without him. Even when the character is in action, we don't see his head. Most of the time not even a bald lookalike seen from a distance. (However, we see an out-of-focus young and thin bald guy from the front, and that was a bad choice, as it's clearly not Bruce Willis.) He wears a quite visible red jacket as camouflage, so the audience can see when his double does something, wearing the red colours. The fact that the characters make fun of him for his choice of colour doesn't make this any better.
As RedLetterMedia checked, there's not a single scene when Bruce Willis is with another actor.
Cover
The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it doesn't spoil the movie.
The trailer
The trailer is basically a substitute for watching the movie, and it's actually better, because it's more compact and action packed.
If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Apex film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it could make the movie less interesting for you.
Promise of the first scene
A couple of men are hunting another for sport. One of them jokes about wanting a real challenge. I assume they'll get a real challenge in their next victim, who'll probably kills them horribly, and puts an end to this hunting game.
Execution: I was actually surprised by the unfolding events. The next victim didn't do a thing, the hunters just killed each other.
Plot summary / Synopsis
We see rich men, hunting a human for sport, killing him.
Looking for a real challenge, the game master girl (Alexia Fast as West Zaroff) chooses a tough prisoner (Bruce Willis as Thomas Ernest Malone) as the next target. She offers him freedom if he survives the game. The prisoner is brought to an island.
The hunters arrive, and they act antagonistically towards each other. Among them, there's a hunter girl (Megan Peta Hill as Jeza), and a psycho hunter (Nels Lennarson as Bishop). The old hunter (Neal McDonough as Samuel Rainsford) arrives last.
When the game starts, the prisoner distraction. He also watches two of the hunters fight each other, then the old hunter kills the other. The prisoner somehow gets a pistol. He them ambushes two of the hunters, injusets up a ring one of them, and the psycho hunter kills the injured one. The other hunters decide to get rid of the psycho hunter. The psycho hunter kills the girl hunter.
When the psycho hunter finds the prisoner, he tells him that if the hunter kills him, the game is over, and he won't have a chance to kill the old hunter. However, if he let's him go, the prisoner will take a shot at the old hunter.
Then the old hunter meets and kills the psycho hunter.
Then the prisoner seriously wounds a hunter, and takes his weapons. This makes the old hunter call for reinforcements, and they get five more hunters on the island. We get a one-minute montage showing how the new hunters are recruited. Then we get a one-minute montage scene showing how the prisoner kills them all. Then we get another montage of recruiting and killing even more hunters.
Then the prisoner is found by the old hunter. The old hunter shoots at him, but the prisoner grabs a grenade launcher, and kills the old hunter. Next we see the old hunter dead, and the prisoner away from the burning building, then he gets into the teleport.
The setting
The story is set in the future of Earth, probably 2100s.
They have teleporters, VTOL flyers, protective forcefields.
Apex, movie (2021)
image © Apex (MFG) Productions
The Apex hunting club
Apex has an island. They organise a game of hunting every month. There's a waiting list to get to be a hunter.
The hunters arrive by a teleporting device. The targets arrive by plane.
Sometimes they use vehicles (bikes, quads, motorboats) on the island, but some hunters are against this, as the vehicles can be stolen.
The target stays in a house until the game starts. The hunters can see what the target does in the house, until the game starts. The target is able to talk to the hunters through a radio.
The target gets a three-hour head start.
There's an arsenal of weapons the hunters can choose from, including archaic weapons and landmines. They can take whatever they want.
The hunters can get extra munitions or other supplies if they ask for it, it's teleported to their location.
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one. Somehing about "you only feel alive if you are close to death", or "it's better to hunt people than hunt for money".
The structure of the story
The scenes of the Apex film are mostly played in sequence, following the same storyline.
There's no single viewpoint character.
It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - beginning, action, resolution.
Fan-service
Scenes and elements from previous films:
Predator (1987) movie
- All of the hunters shooting at the empty forest.
The Most Dangerous Game (1924) short story
- Rainsford as the name of the hunter, Zaroff is the name of the owner of the island.
- Rainsford and his friend were big game hunters in Africa.
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Things I liked
- I liked the background setting of the hunting club.
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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
From the works of the writers (Corey Large & Edward Drake), I have seen Breach (2020) and Cosmic Sin (2021), and both were bad, but Apex was probably worse than either of them.
From the director (Edward Drake), I have only seen Cosmic Sin (2021), that also fell apart at the end.
How does it compare to the original source?
I didn't read the original short story, The Most Dangerous Game (1924), so I don't know. The short story is probably better.
How does it compare to other adaptations of the same story?
I think I have seen Surviving the Game (1994), but I have to admit that I don't remember anything about it. It was probably a better story than Apex is.
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Apex, movie (2021)
image © Apex (MFG) Productions
Analysis of the story - Apex, movie (2021)
I think the whole concept of hunters suddenly turning on each other us unlikely, but there were other problems that prevented me from enjoying Apex.
Problematic elements
The prisoner getting the pistol: How was he able to get it? The hunters were all at the body of the dead guy, where the pistol has probably fallen.
Psychotic hunters: It looks like the hunters were just looking for an opportunity to kill each other. It doesn't seem plausible that this is the first time one of them snapped, so the organisers should be prepared for such an event. Even if they didn't want to kill each other intentionally, friendly fire must have been a frequent happening, as shown in the movie. It also seems like the hunter girl always had to intention to cause some death among the hunters.
What happens at the end?: The old hunter shoots at him from a couple of meters away, and the prisoner turns around to grab a grenade launcher, shoots at him, and as the pistol bullet hits the grenade (probably closer to the prisoner than to the old hunter), it explodes. It's unlikely that the prisoner is faster than a bullet, and also, that he is invincible to grenades. Realistically, even if the explosion was right in the middle of them, he should have received almost as serious damage as the other guy. And it's more likely that the explosion was pretty close to the prisoner, as the grenade has less time to fly than the bullet.
Small island: Most of the time the hunters are in hearing distance from the prisoner. So, either the island is really small, or they are incredibly lucky to be constantly around.
Berries: There are scenes when the prisoner strolls in the forest, finds some berries, eat them, then have a trip. And all of that has nothing to do with the story, it's just padding for the runtime.
Communication: It seems that every communication runs through the Apex system, then we see the hunter girl starting to phone her associates. First, I don't think she would get network access in an uninhabited island, but even if she would, Apex should not allow this.
Misleading advertisement: The ads say the prisoner wages war on the hunters by creating traps and using psychological tricks. We do not see any of this in the movie. It also says that the prisoner got into jail for a crime he didn't commit, but in the movie, it's very clear that he indeed committed all those crimes, earning the nickname "The Mutilator".
Unanswered questions
- How did they manage to keep up the hunters club this long, without a singe casualty on part of the hunters?
- What will happen to the prisoner? Will he really get free, or just gets teleported into an incinerator?
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Possibilities of improvement
- Cut the hiring of extra mercenaries part. It doesn't add anything to the story, and it makes it more obvious that it's not Bruce Willis who we see in the screen.
- Edit the scene where the prisoner kills the old hunter. When the hunter reaches for his pistol, show that the prisoner reaches for his gun, and cut. Then we could cut to the scene where he walks away from the burning house. It's better to not show the actual scenes that were shown in the movie.
There might be some way to edit the footage, and add some extra lines to the characters to make this some comedy or parody.
How it could have been better?
Create a story that actually follows the premise that the prey creates traps and uses psychological tricks against the hunters. That could make an interesting movie.
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Apex, movie (2021)
image © Apex (MFG) Productions
Uses for the film - Apex, movie (2021)
Plot
- There's a hunter's club for rich people who hunt humans for sport.
- Members of a club turn against each other.
Scenes
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
Hunters: Human-sized modern / futuristic human warrior.
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Similar stories - Apex, movie (2021)
Short stories
Richard Connell: The Most Dangerous Game (1924): A man is hunted by a team of hunters. The basis of Apex (2021).
Robert Sheckley: The Prize of Peril: A man is hunted by assassins in a deadly game, while being broadcasted.
Novels
Stephen King: The Running Man (1982): A man is hunted by assassins in a deadly game, while being broadcasted.
Movies
Das Millionenspiel / The Millions Game (1970): A man is hunted by assassins in a deadly game, while being broadcasted. Based on The Prize of Peril.
Guns Akimbo (2019): A man is hunted by assassins in a deadly game. A much better movie than Apex (2021).
Le prix du danger / The Prize of Peril (1983): A man is hunted by assassins in a deadly game, while being broadcasted. Based on The Prize of Peril.
Surviving the Game (1994): A group of rich people lure humans into a forest to hunt them. The prey turns on them, causing the dead of all the hunters. Based on the The Most Dangerous Game short story. The basis of Apex (2021).
The Running Man (1987): A man is hunted by assassins in a deadly game, while being broadcasted. Based on The Running Man.
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Frequently asked questions - Apex, movie (2021)
Is the Apex film based on a book or comics?
Yes, Apex is loosely based on the The Most Dangerous Game short story.
Is the Apex film a remake or reboot?
Yes, Apex is the remake of Surviving the Game (1994).
Is there a post credit scene in Apex? Does Apex have end credit scenes?
No, there's no post credit scene in Apex.
Where can I see Apex? Where can I watch Apex online? Is Apex available on Netflix? Is Apex on Amazon?
As of 2021.11.01, Apex is available on Vudu.
Is Apex movie based on Apex Legends?
No, Apex (2021) movie is not related to Apex Legends in any way.
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Resources - Apex, movie (2021)
Information
IMDB: Apex (2021): Database article.
WikiPedia: Apex (film): Database article.
Letterboxd: Apex 2021: Database article.
Rotten Tomatoes: Apex 2021: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
Reviews with no spoilers - Apex film (2021)
Lee Nicholson (for Straight-to-DVD-Heaven): APEX (2021) Bruce Willis / Neal McDonough: Review article about the Apex film with minor spoilers.¤
Adrian J Smith (for MOVIES and MANIA): APEX aka APEX PREDATOR (2021) Reviews of Bruce Willis sci-fi thriller – now with release news: Review article about the Apex film with minor spoilers.¤
Reviews with spoilers - Apex film (2021)
Jim Morazzini (for Voices From The Balcony): Apex (2021) Review: Review article of the Apex movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
RedLetterMedia: Half in the Bag: The Bruce Willis Fake Movie Factory: Review video of Apex (2021) and Breach (2020), and talking about some other recent Bruce Willis movies.¤
Analysis - Apex movie (2021)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Apex.¤
https://www.facebook.com/RLJEfilms/posts/5164770966885274
https://www.facebook.com/RLJEfilms/posts/5129110443784660
https://www.fantasymsinfo.com/2021/10/apex-2021-on-theater-vod-release-date.html
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Buying the product - Apex, movie (2021)
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Have you seen the Apex film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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