But while there are plenty of dazzling action sequences and stunning cinematography in Baltasar Kormakur’s survival thriller, there’s also a much darker origin story hidden in the cracks.
So what happens, and what does Jeremy Robbins’ script reveal about the true motive of the film’s serial killer? Let’s open it.
‘Apex’ Review: This Is Why Women Choose Bears
What is? top About this?
The film follows Sasha (Charlize Theron), a rock climber struggling to recover from an accident that kills her partner Tommy (Eric Bana). Sasha visits a remote national park in Australia with plans to go kayaking alone down a river, but her trip is changed by an encounter with Ben (Taron Egerton), a ranger bent on hunting her down to death – seemingly, at first, just for his own amusement.
Luckily, survival in extreme circumstances is nothing new for Sasha. What follows is a cat and mouse chase across water, canyons and rocks in what is essentially a brutal hour-long battle for survival.
Credit: Ken Schennnar/Netflix
How did Sasha escape from Ben?
As Ben corners Sasha in his murder cave (more on that later), she makes a bid for freedom: cutting off half her ear and jumping off a ledge into the nearby river. Sasha’s hands are tied, and she is tied to a rope with which Ben was planning to toss her into the air; This enables him to attach himself to her while the pair is dragged along with the current. When they finally shower, Sasha breaks Ben’s leg with a stone before Ben can fight him.
Mashable Top Stories
Problem? The only way back to safety is via a large cliff, which they have to climb together to escape. Ben threatens Sasha that he will pull her against the wall if she tries to unbuckle her harness and leave him behind, but halfway through she manages to do exactly that when she becomes partially obscured by an overhanging ledge. Ben is bludgeoned to death while Sasha rescues the rest of the wall.
A radio news broadcast at the end reveals that authorities have recovered 20 bodies from Ben’s cave, and that he is responsible for several disappearances in the area that were previously attributed to the harsh landscape.
Credit: Ken Schennnar/Netflix
What is Ben’s true motive?
Although the film doesn’t tell us everything about Ben, we are still given enough clues. The fact that he is a serial killer is undisputed, but while his initial motive appears to be a desire to hunt human victims, the cave scene reveals a deeper secret: Ben is actually a cannibal who raises his victims like animals, eating parts of them and turning other parts into homemade jerky that he sells at a nearby store.
“There are native tribes that say that in order to capture the soul of your victim, you have to consume their liver,” Ben tells Sasha. “I guess the trick is to find a soul worth capturing.”
It’s not clear what led Ben down this terrible path, but his frequent references to his mother seem to be the best clue that he’s been on this path for a long time.
“She was special,” Ben tells Sasha when she asks about the photo of him and his mom. “She was the first. Do you understand? Now she’s always with me. I’ll keep you with me too.”
Ben seems to have become obsessed with the twisted idea of hunting and consuming human prey as a means of becoming more powerful.
top Now streaming on Netflix.
<a href