Plot: A time-travel experiment in which a robot probe is sent from the year 2073 to the year 1973 goes terribly wrong thrusting one of the project scientists, into a plague ravaged alternate time-line whose war weary inhabitants are locked in a constant battle with killer robots from the future.
I remember renting A.P.E.X. on VHS way back in 1994 when it first came out; I haven’t seen it for many years and forgot what a good time it is. I don’t think I have ever witnessed more explosions in a single film before. It’s kind of a Terminator knock off where a scientist is sent through time and ends up in a post-apocalyptic future battling against robots.
For the first ten minutes you may be wondering what this movie is about, but once Sinclair (Richard Keats) arrives in the Hellish future that’s where the fun begins. The film is just over 95 minutes and there isn’t much time wasted with only a few moments here and there where something doesn’t explode. A small group of humans are battling these robots with Sinclair having to team up with Shepherd (Mitchell Cox), Natasha (Lisa Ann Russell), Rasheed (Adam Lawson) and Taylor (Marcus Aurelius). Sinclair is trying to get back to his old station where he can repair the port and get back home to prevent this war from every happening. It’s familiar stuff but like I said, there is so much action and I really do miss movies like this with real explosions as they always look fantastic.
Sinclair requests Natasha to join the team as she was his wife in his timeline, but in this one she is infected with a virus and treated like a pariah. Mitchell Cox looks awesome and all I could think of while watching is how he could have played a great Duke Nukem in a live action movie; he certainly had the hair right. The most insufferable character here is Taylor who spends the entire movie complaining and shouting about literally everything and he nearly ruins the film.
I still think the robots look cool and despite some early CG the visuals in the movie still hold up; practical effects win as always!
Overall, A.P.E.X. is a hugely entertaining Terminator knock-off giving us the future war movie we always wanted from the later sequels; the explosions are plentiful and the pacing tight making this an easy 95 minutes viewing.