Apex Review: Bruce Willis Does Little To Elevate Messy, Derivative Genre Cliché

Bruce Willis, apart from being an iconic action star, has been a part of a fair share of commendable sci-fi offerings, with The Fifth Element, Looper, and 12 Monkeys emerging as genre-defining classics in their own right. Lately, Willis has been churning out a sizable number of projects, including Midnight in the Switch Grass and Survive the Game. Unfortunately, the end results have been mixed, or middling at best. However, Edward Drake’s Apex, also known as Apex Predator, situates Willis in a way that completely robs him of his former glory, resulting in a science fiction thriller that is tedious and derivative in terms of narrative and execution. Mindlessly stretched out to pad the runtime, Apex is a stupendously dull, feeble ghost of what a gritty Bruce Willis action starrer could have been.

Apex opens in the midst of a hunt, wherein a group of hunters seems to be chasing a man within the depths of the forest. Once the prey is killed by one of the hunters, trillionaire Samuel Rainsford (Neal McDonough) collects the head of the man as a personal trophy. Right off the bat, the visual cues hint towards the fact that the events of Apex are set in the future, owing to a crackling transportation device and the presence of West (Alexia Fast), who only appears in holographic form throughout the course of the film. Apex is posited as a shadow entity removed from the “real” world, hosting games on a private island wherein hunters are assigned a prey, who needs to be killed before a stipulated time period. West acts as gamekeeper at Apex, looking to recruit a challenging prey for the next game, when she is made aware of ex-cop Thomas Malone (Willis), now imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.

Malone is introduced as a man known to have evaded death by almost-unnatural means, displaying a dogged determination to survive even the worst of odds. Although he initially rejects West’s proposition, he ultimately decides to participate in the hunt, due to a promise that he will be a free man if he manages to win. As the game commences, and six hunters converge at the lodge, discussing techniques to overwhelm their prey while underestimating Malone’s fortitude for survival. Rainsford, of course, is one of them, and the others seem particularly wary of him due to his cold-blooded view of existence, and the ruthlessness with which he claims his trophies. Having been given access to state-of-the-art weaponry by West, the hunters venture individually into the arena, but things take a nasty turn when they slowly start turning on each other due to personal ego, deep-rooted grudges, or a plain lack of human integrity.

While the premise of Apex seems pretty derivative, the plot could have been a gateway to a thrilling action flick, given that the film consists of all the right elements to make it work. In a baffling narrative turn, Malone is seen aimlessly shuffling around in the forest, eavesdropping on the hunters’ conversations, and tripping on radioactively-mutated berries without a care in the world. This decision shifts the tone of the film in a rather drastic way, as the perfect opportunity to utilize Willis’ presence is floundered in favor of inane bickering between the hunters, who stab, bludgeon, and blow each other up without the slightest provocation, making it easier for Malone to make it through to the end.

Malone, unfortunately, is a non-entity throughout Apex, as he does not do much except towards the end, which, when compared with the anticipatory build-up, falls flat. McDonough is formidable as the sadistic Rainsford, landing an aura of ominousness with perfection, although his character is set up for failure during his big confrontation with Willis’ character in the end. Other aspects of Apex fall flat too – the dialogue seems heavy-handed and ridiculous at times, with the refrain “I’m an apex warrior!” being repeated to tediousness, and the action sequences, although well done, are neither arresting nor believable in a visual sense. Too little attention is granted to Apex’s world-building, and the sci-fi aspect of the film seems more of an afterthought rather than an active factor, making the film a terrible, mediocre letdown.

Apex was released on November 12, 2021. The film is 94 minutes long and remains unrated as of now.

About The Author

Debopriyaa Dutta
(328 Articles Published)

Apart from being a features writer and critic at ScreenRant, Debopriyaa is a news writer at /Film. She is also a contributor to High on Films & Fansided, and an editor at Digital Mafia Talkies. Her poetry has been published in a wide array of journals, such as Gideon Poetry, White Noise Magazine, and Literaria. Find her on Twitter @angelusatani.

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