Subject: Retrospective: A.P.E.X. (1994)

From: Dragan Antulov <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 21:06:44 -0000

A.P.E.X.
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2001

More experienced fans of science fiction cinema tend to
watch out for three things in any upcoming title of that
particular genre - low budget, time travel as major plot
point and homicidal robots as chief villains. When all three
of those elements are brought together in the same film, the
results are rarely above abysmal. THE TERMINATOR, one of the
best time travel films of all times, had all those three
ingredients, but it is usually considered to be an exception
to the rule. At first glance, A.P.E.X., 1994 science-fiction
film directed by Phillip J. Roth, might look like nothing
more than cheap copy of THE TERMINATOR, but it is actually
one of those very rare instances when low budget, time
travel and homicidal robots don't produce a bad piece of
cinema.

Plot begins in Los Angeles 2073 AD where the group of
scientists led by Doctor Nicholas Sinclair (played by
Richard Keats) conduct a time travel research. One of their
experiments goes terribly wrong and for a brief period of
time Sinclair is transported back to 1973 AD. Upon his
return to 2073 AD Sinclair sees that the world has changed
beyond recognition - Los Angeles has turned into
plague-stricken wasteland where few survivors, including his
wife Natasha (played by Lisa Ann Russell), fight desperate
war against A.P.E.X. killer robots. Those robots had been
made by Sinclair's laboratory and designed to kill any
witness and erase every trace of time travel and thus
prevent the time paradox. Sinclair knows that the only way
to stop the robots is to erase the time paradox, so he must
start looking for a workable time machine in ruins of Los
Angeles in order to correct the fatal mistake during the
initial experiment.

Thorough nit-picking of Roth's and Ronald Schmidt's script
would probably find a lot of logical flaws and
implausibilities, but A.P.E.X. looks a masterpiece compared
with similar films. This is mostly due to rather cerebral
approach to the problem of time travel and its consequences,
including the time paradox, which is usually, absent in most
other examples of this popular sub- genre. In A.P.E.X. the
time paradox not only exists but it is the cause of all
trouble and it must be dealt with. The more intellectual
approach can be also seen in movie's protagonist who happens
to be scientist instead of action hero. His character, as
well as many others, are fleshed out nicely and played by
relatively unknown but truly competent actors. Like in all
classic films by James Cameron, action scenes are
intertwined with character exposure and as a result, the
viewers tend to care what happens to the protagonists.
A.P.E.X. is surprisingly good even in technical side. The
lack of budget is compensated with good use of locations and
CGI. Unfortunately, the shootout scenes are done rather
poorly and rely too much on sometimes tiring pyrotechnics.
But the end result is still the intelligent, entertaining
piece that gives a good name to low budget science fiction
films.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

Written on July 4th 2001

Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
Fido: 2:381/100
E-mail: [email-masked]
E-mail: [email-masked]

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X-RT-RatingText: 7/10