Taron Egerton is getting a lot of attention for going dark in Apex, Netflix’s new survival thriller, where he plays Ben, a chilling hunter who turns Charlize Theron’s wilderness ordeal into a brutal game of pursuit. Netflix says the film is now streaming and sets Egerton opposite Theron in a cat-and-mouse story unfolding in the Australian wilderness.
The setup is simple, but nasty in a good thriller way. Theron plays Sasha, a grief-stricken adventurer pushed to her limits in remote terrain, only to discover that the wild is not the only thing trying to kill her. Egerton’s character is the real menace here, and early reviews have zeroed in on that performance as one of the film’s strongest hooks.
There’s also a strong pedigree behind the project. Apex is directed by Baltasar Kormákur, whose work often leans into physical danger, harsh landscapes, and survival under pressure. That fits this movie almost perfectly. The cast includes Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton, and Eric Bana, and the film debuted on Netflix on April 24, 2026.
What’s making Egerton stand out, though, is the contrast. He has often played charismatic, emotionally accessible characters, but here the coverage around the release paints him as something colder, stranger, and more unsettling. The sources described him as sinister and convincing, even in a film it found formulaic, while other reviews said the predator-prey dynamic between him and Theron is what keeps the movie watchable.
The movie itself seems to have landed in that mixed-reaction zone critics know well: admired for its harsh beauty, tension, and the commitment of its stars, but not universally loved as a complete film. Review aggregation pages show Apex collecting critical notices right after release, and several reviews published today describe it as visually striking, tough, and intense, even when they argue it does not fully rise above genre conventions.
Still, for viewers coming in for star power and menace, the sales pitch is pretty clear. Theron brings the steel, Egerton brings the threat, and Netflix has packaged the whole thing as a polished wilderness thriller with major streaming appeal. Whether Apex becomes a critical favorite is another question. But Egerton’s turn as the hunter is exactly the kind of performance people will be talking about first.
