Apostle (3/5)

Apostle is a new horror thriller on Netflix with an absolutely brilliant score. This along with the visual style makes the movie better than the actual story does!

Apostle is a Netflix horror thriller that takes place mostly on a mysterious island. It feels a bit like Salem during the time when every free-spirited woman was labeled a witch.

This feel and era also mean that female characters are only there to drive action from the male characters.

Whether those actions lead them to be heroes or villains (or both) is the only real question. But there is a lot of blood and it is very brutal.

The nature of men

The story in Apostle is very much about the nature of men. Both what drives them and what brings them pleasure or pain.

In the case of this story (as with most), it’s greed!

Mostly this greed is for power. But, of course, it’s also for money, since it’s necessary for food. And food means life. It’s a bit difficult to have any power over people if they’ve stared to death.

The other “driver” is to either save or punish women. Though some men believe they save women by punishing them. Ah yes, the good old days!

The only redeeming element here is the fact that the main protagonist is saving his sister. Not a romantic love interest.

God help mother nature

Apostle does feel a bit like an alternative take on the story from Aronofsky’s story in Mother!

The greed of human beings takes everything from the planet. Also, there’s a lot of various takes on religion. Here, a lot of the harm done to one another is with a religious book in one hand and a weapon in the other.

In Apostle, nature is literally a Goddess. Yes, a bit like in Disney’s Moana though much creepier! Also, a few men actually have her [the Goddess] trapped and force her to deliver crop and livestock. In return they feed her.

So what does a Mother Nature Goddess eat? Watch the movie and find out.

Great cast and overall production

The cast in Apostle definitely works really well. Dan Stevens is the lead characters and this is actually his story. We don’t really get to hear anything about his beloved sister that he sets out to rescue from a cult.

Other than Dan Stevens, I should mention Michael Sheen, who is the cult leader himself. Or rather, they call him “the prophet”. And finally, Bill Milner plays a very interesting and endearing character. We recently saw him in The Lodgers.

Also read: Our review of The Lodgers, which is also on Netflix, right here >

In general, it would have been nice to get just a bit more backstory for the Dan Stevens character. We get a fragment of a backstory, but from this fragment until the story of this movie starts, there’s quite a gap.

Writer and Director, Gareth Evans

For the record, I really enjoyed the Indonesian movie The Raid: Redemption from 2011 by Gareth Evans. It’s a crazy Kung Fu kinda ride and I knew Apostle would be very different.

However, the production value for this movie is absolutely brilliant. Also, the score works perfectly and improves the story greatly.

Personally, I wasn’t too crazy about the story itself and felt the movie was a bit too long. Still, it looks great and you should be intrigued to find out how it ends. Not that you will be surprised!

Apostle is out on Netflix worldwide from October 12, 2018.

Details

Director: Gareth Evans
Cast: Dan Stevens, Michael Sheen, Bill Milner, Kristine Froseth, Lucy Boynton

Plot

A man attempts to rescue his sister who’s been kidnapped by a religious cult.