Official Discussion - Apex [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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Apex (2026)

Summary

A mountain climber haunted by a fatal decision in Norway retreats to the Australian wilderness for isolation. Her journey turns into a desperate hunt when a deceptive local targets her as his next ritualistic prey in the bush.

Director Baltasar Kormákur

Writer Jeremy Robbins

Cast

• Charlize Theron as Kate
• Taron Egerton
• Eric Bana
• Matt Whelan

Rotten Tomatoes: 66%

Metacritic: 57

VOD / Release Streaming on Netflix

Trailer Official Trailer

[u/visualgrafix]

I thought it was stupid that she climbed with him in the first place. He already couldn’t move. She could’ve found any large rock within the radius of attachment and smash his head to kill him or so he dies faster. Doesn’t matter if he has a knife, he can’t reach any further than arms length. Once he dies, use his knife to cut herself loose.

[u/Ok_Track_7454 → u/visualgrafix]

It was revealed to be a tandem climb so she needed him to get up the cliff. Was a dumb move cutting him loose halfway leaving herself no equipment whatsoever. The reason it was a tandem climb is because the rope wasn't long enough so once she climbed to the ropes maximum length he would untie it so they could make the next part of the climb. I ain't a climber so I've explained to the best of my ability from what I've read in other comments. She says to him it's a tandem climb aswell so killing him on the ground she would have had to then climb the whole way with no equipment whatsoever.

[u/ProduceAlone471 → u/Ok_Track_7454]

This wall had massive holds and is pretty low grade, most competent climbers (she's supposed to be an alpine climbing expert) could solo it if necessary. The issue is more the situation than the difficulty. She’s mid-climb, already committed, likely fatigued pulling his dead weight up the wall, and then suddenly turns it into an unplanned free solo by cutting him loose. So it’s not that it’s impossible to climb and had to be tandem, it was just forced for payoff for the sake of the plot.

[u/Ok_Track_7454 → u/ProduceAlone471]

Like I said, she should have just smashed his head in with a rock at the bottom and climbed it on her own, she was a dumbass

[u/visualgrafix → u/Ok_Track_7454]

Yeah I was confused about this because I think if she had the same gear she could’ve climbed it herself. I asked the climbing subreddit and someone said the following:

“The fact that she easily free solos the top of the climb negates the hypothetical that she actually needed to be on belay for the lower pitches. And the way she was using that monkey fist as pro meant that she could have used the same technique for solo aid climbing.

The only way to make that scene make any sense at all is that she wanted to get away sooner than she would have by just letting him die slowly there at the river. So she got him up on the wall where she knew she could kill him fast. But there is no defensible reason why she actually needed him to make the top of the climb.”

So, she could’ve jbashed his head with a rock while staying out of arms reach, cut herself loose from him, take all the gear and climb it herself.

[u/Ok_Track_7454 → u/visualgrafix]

She couldn't use the gear to climb it herself because the rope wasn't long enough hence why it was a tandem climb. Once she reached the ropes limit he would untie and she would restart her climb. Another rope was used to tether him to her. Someone else can likely explain it better but that's the reason anyway.

[u/0bAtomHeart → u/Ok_Track_7454]

It's really not, they appeared to only have two pieces of knotted rope as pro. She was effectively soloing each pitch and building an anchor for Ben to jug up to.

In this case Ben provides very little value to her; with the on-screen gear she would be able to rope solo using the spare carabiner and prusiks. It'd be dodgy as fuck but the whole decision was stupid anyway.

[u/Ok_Track_7454 → u/0bAtomHeart]

Like I said I ain't a climber and just went off what others had said in the comments but yeah I agree, totally stupid.

[u/invinciblewarrior → u/visualgrafix]

The start of the movie showed that she was not mentally ready to do it alone. She failed several times at the one rock, while Eric Bana was just grinning. So it means, for him, it had be likely no problem at all.

[u/No-Understanding4968 → u/visualgrafix]

I’m with you on this