Quartile rating: 5/10 · 1 rating
Ex-cop Thomas Malone is serving a life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. He is offered a chance at freedom if he can survive a deadly game of Apex, in which six hunters pay for the pleasure of hunting another human on a remote island. He accepts, and once he arrives, all hell breaks loose.
Apex is a low-budget Most Dangerous Game derivative that brings almost nothing new to a well-worn premise. The plot is formulaic and predictable, following a standard wrongly-imprisoned man forced to survive against hunters setup with little narrative depth. Acting from Bruce Willis (in one of his later phoned-in performances) and the supporting cast is largely flat and unconvincing. Cinematography is serviceable at best, with generic action filmmaking and limited production values evident throughout. Novelty is low as this is a straightforward rehash of a concept explored many times before (The Hunt, Hard Target, etc.) without a distinctive voice or creative spin. The ending resolves predictably without any memorable or satisfying payoff. Across all dimensions this is a below-average genre entry that earns its middling reputation.