Apex

"The hunters will be hunted."

2021 1h 33m EN

😐

5.1

MID

★5.1TMDB · 624

ActionThrillerScience Fiction

Synopsis

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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.

“The hunters will be hunted.”

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Cast

Neal McDonough
Dr. Samuel Rainsford
Bruce Willis
Thomas Malone
Corey Large
Carrion
Alexia Fast
West
Nels Lennarson
Bishop
Megan Peta Hill
Jeza
Trevor Gretzky
Ecka
Joe Munroe
Damien

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Edward Drake
Writers: Edward Drake, Corey Large
Languages: English
Countries: Canada, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 5 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: Canada, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Edward Drake, shot by Wai Sun Cheng. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Hugh Wielenga. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Justin Williams shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Neal McDonough and Bruce Willis and Corey Large carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The hunters will be hunted.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt13265876 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Edward Drake directs. Wai Sun Cheng behind the camera. Hugh Wielenga scores. Justin Williams cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Canada, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 5 years ago.
2International production across 4 countries: Canada, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, United Kingdom.
3Directed by Edward Drake, shot by Wai Sun Cheng. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Hugh Wielenga. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Justin Williams shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Neal McDonough and Bruce Willis and Corey Large carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The hunters will be hunted.".
8IMDB entry: tt13265876 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 10 themes, including "prisoner", "hologram", "decapitation", "hunting".

The technical file

Cinematography: Wai Sun Cheng
Original score: Hugh Wielenga
Editing: Justin Williams
Production design: Duncan Star-Boszko
Costume design: Nataliya Fedulova
Makeup / hair: Samantha Dempsey
Sound: Richard Adrian
Stunt coordinator: Jason Bell
Runtime: 93 min · 1h 33m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Apex (2021)

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Edward Drake

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Steveb292021-11-17
★ 6/10
I saw this movie as a troubling status of our present day situation, where everything is about hate, blood and gore. While I understand that this is a hypothetical story, I have no doubt that the direction this world is heading this could be in our future. The acting was a little weak, but with strong cast members like Bruce Willis and Neil McDonough I put that shortcoming on lines and direction. Even the action scenes left a little to be desired. Still I give this 3 stars.⭐⭐⭐
CinemaSerf2022-09-04
★ 3/10
Bruce Willis is "Stone". He used to be a cop before a miscarriage of justice saw him serving a life sentence for a crime he didn't commit. As luck would have it, though, "Rainsford" (Neal McDonough) and his sidekick "West" (Alexia Feast) are organising a lethal man-hunt on their remote island. They decide that "Stone" would make for an ideal target so offer him his freedom if he survives - and that's a big if. What now ensues is a truly awful hash of a film that sees him wandering about the forest in an hig-vis cardigan generating about as much menace as a day in an ice cream factory. The story has elements of the far superior "The Most Dangerous Game" (1942) but is just remarkably devoid of character. The dialogue is really puerile and, to be perfectly honest, I felt that they could all have been doing with being left on the island to slaughter each other without troubling the audience at all. What is Willis doing here? He cannot need the money? His laid back, slightly sarcastic style falls completely flay and McDonough - well perhaps someone could explain to me how this ultimate in one-dimensional actors still gets work? I think "Nadir" would have been a far better title for this - it really is for all concerned.
tmdb280390232022-09-16
★ 1/10
Apex is an ironic title for something that feels more like a nadir. This is not only the latest but also the dumbest version of the Most Dangerous Game plot, wherein the would-be hunters spend more time hunting each other while their supposed prey sits idly by watching them kill each other. As for the prey himself, the film offers two contradictory narratives, with the character inhabiting a limbo somewhere in between. On the one hand, Thomas Ernest Malone (Willis), aka The Mutilator, has been convicted of assault, fraud, wire fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion, computer crime, robbery, arson, kidnapping, possession of illegal firearms, manslaughter and “criminal activity”. Criminal activity? What’s all the other stuff, then? Hobbies? (comically, both IMDb and All Movie speak of "a crime he didn't commit"). Furthermore, Malone — who “became addicted to gambling and lost custody of his children,” which makes it sound like he bet his offspring on a losing hand — has “active warrants in 47 states” (even though he’s already in prison), and his sentence is "life imprisonment without parole/117 years." Huh? On the other hand, we’re shown a long list of serious injuries and medical problems including "two synthetic liver transplants" (the movie is set 20 Minutes into the Future) and "more than 60 concussions." Finally, his date of birth “cannot be authenticated”; i.e., the character must be as old as Willis himself. This kind of cognitive dissonance reminds me of Demolition Man. In that film, Wesley Snipes can't hide his excitement at the prospect of having Jeffrey Dahmer among his henchmen, unaware that Dahmer would be totally useless in hand-to-hand combat with Sly Stallone. Similarly, it can't be very amusing or challenging to hunt down a battered old man that even the NFL wouldn't clear to play. Sure, Malone may be "the toughest prey" they've ever faced, and "The universe just doesn't seem capable of killing him," but in that case, wouldn't it be quicker and easier to just tie him up, hang him upside down, and club him to death like a piñata? But as I noted above, Malone is essentially a bystander in his own movie — or maybe he’s supposed to be his character from Unbreakable, which would at least explain his otherworldly resilience.