20 Great Survival Movies to Watch Right Now
From persevering in the wilderness to apocalyptic thrillers—the adrenaline rush is guaranteed.
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As we enter into the latest stage of a multi-year pandemic, if you're looking for a pulse-pounding distraction from our reality–or maybe just a reminder that things could be worse–there is plenty of cinematic fodder that can lend to some escapism in extremes. From dangerous environments and apocalyptic hell-scapes, here are 20 great movies to watch about survival and endurance.
Touching The Void
This is one of the most stressful, blood pressure-raising entires on the list, not least because it’s a true story told by the real survivors. In 1985, veteran mountaineers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates set out to scale the Peruvian mountain Siula Grande–a climb no-one had ever completed before. Though they successful reached the summit, a storm turns their descent into a harrowing and near-fatal ordeal which is told here through a combination of reenactments and first-person interviews with both Simpson and Yates.
Life of Pi
Adapted from Yann Martel's award-winning 2001 novel of the same name, this ocean survival tale follows the 16-year-old Pi who survives a shipwreck, and finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker–among other zoo animals. It's a seamless blend of philosophical drama and gripping adventure.
127 Hours
James Franco's Oscar-nominated performance is the centerpiece of this gripping fictionalized take on a very real survival story. In 2003, climber Aron Ralston suffered a fall during a solo climb in Utah's Canyonlands National Park, and ended up pinned in place by a boulder which crushed his arm. As the hours stretched on, he realized his only hope of survival was to amputate his own arm. Needless to say, prepare yourself for a stressful–but ultimately inspiring–viewing experience.
Open Water
You may think twice about your next scuba diving getaway after watching this deeply upsetting horror movie. Loosely based on a real case from 1998, Open Water follows a couple who are stranded during a scuba expedition after their group accidentally leaves them behind. After resurfacing to find themselves alone, their surprise quickly turns to panic when they realize they're in shark-infested waters.
Apollo 13
The original space survival story. Ron Howard's classic docudrama brings to life the failed 1970 Apollo lunar mission, during which an oxygen tank exploded, damaging the spaceship and critically depleting the crew's oxygen supply. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton star as the trio of astronauts who are forced to keep their cool and work with NASA on a series of jury-rigged solutions to patch up their craft, and get home safely against the odds.
Gravity
And if you thought being stranded in space inside a ship sounded stressful enough, imagine tumbling through space with no ship to return to. Alfonso Cuarón's Oscar-winning epic stars Sandra Bullock as a medical engineer whose very first space mission takes a horrifying turn after space debris destroys her shuttle, killing the rest of the crew. Following every gripping second of Stone's fight for survival, Gravity is both a groundbreaking technical accomplishment and a hell of a blockbuster.
Cast Away
No list of survival stories would be complete without this iconic Tom Hanks-starring entry, which is both a compelling drama about human endurance, and a touching romance between a man and a volleyball. After his plane crashes in the Pacific, Hanks's everyman washes up on an uninhabited island and is forced to fend for himself for months, all alone–except for Wilson.
The Road
While "post-apocalyptic" may be the very last genre you're interested in watching right now, this haunting adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel is worth the agony. Viggo Mortensen starred as the unnamed Man who's struggling to take care of his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) in the bleak wasteland that was once America. Though hardly uplifting, The Road is a gripping exploration of endurance and paternal love.
The Way Back
Not to be confused with either the Ben Affleck drama of the same name from last year, nor the excellent summer movie The Way Way Back. Jim Sturgess stars in this true story as Sławomir Rawicz, a former Polish prisoner of war who is imprisoned at a Siberian labor camp after being betrayed by his wife during World War II. Though he escapes the camp alongside some fellow prisoners, Rawicz's ordeal is just beginning as he must trek 4,000 miles through the Himalayas to safety.
Rescue Dawn
Christian Bale is now well-known for his dramatic body transformations, and one of his most memorable was for the role of Dieter Dengler, a pilot whose plane was shot out of the sky during the Vietnam War. Dengler was taken captive by the by the Pathet Lao, a communist organization who tried to force Dengler to denounce America. The film follows his captivity alongside a number of fellow Americans, and the prisoners' escape attempts.
Rabbit Proof Fence
This absolutely harrowing Australian drama is an adaptation of Doris Pilkington Garimara's novel, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, which is in turn loosely based on a real story. The film follows three Aboriginal girls who are torn away from their family in West Australia and placed in a labor camp–part of the government's historical policy of stealing Aboriginal children from their communities and forcibly "training" them to integrate into white society. After a daring escape, the three girls set out to return home to their families with the authorities in pursuit.
The Shallows
Blake Lively is on screen for almost every second of this taut little thriller, playing a surfer who's stranded just 200 yards from the shore, badly injured by a shark attack. Lively's major co-star is a gull named Steven Seagull, in case you weren't already sold.
Captain Phillips
Tom Hanks is clearly the MVP of the survival movie genre. In this nerve-shredding drama he plays the eponymous Captain Richard Phillips, a merchant mariner who was taken hostage by Somali pirates while sailing a cargo ship through the Guardafui Channel. Though there's plenty of action, perhaps the most gripping part of the film is seeing Phillips's calm, tactical efforts to outwit his captors.
The Revenant
Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his Oscar for this grueling drama, in which he plays a 19th century frontiersman who's left for dead after a vicious bear attack. The film is equal parts revenge thriller and survival story, following DiCaprio's Hugh Glass as he fights for his life, and sets out to hunt down the man (Tom Hardy) who betrayed him.
The Martian
Less stressful than many of the movies on this list, The Martian is a wildly entertaining blockbuster about a man's solo struggle to survive on Mars. Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is wrongly presumed dead by his crew mates, and left behind to fend for himself on the red planet, while NASA engineers back on earth work hard to rescue him.
All Is Lost
This is about as minimalist as movies get—Robert Redford is the sole cast member, and he barely speaks a word throughout the 106 minute running time. Redford plays a sailor who gets lost in the Indian Ocean after a shipwreck, and must survive out on the open sea after being forced to abandon ship.
Buried
Arguably the most nerve-wracking movie of all in a list full of contenders, Buried is absolutely not a good choice for the claustrophobic. Ryan Reynolds stars as an American truck driver who's kidnapped and buried alive inside a wooden coffin. With scant supplies, including a flashlight and a cellphone, he must try to avoid being consumed by panic as he awaits an uncertain rescue.
The Grey
The pinnacle of Liam Neeson as an action star, The Grey stars the actor as a sharpshooter working at an oil refinery in Alaska. When their plane crashes in the wilderness, he and seven colleagues battle the elements in a desperate attempt to make it home before the cold—or the wolves—get to them.
Old
A singularly strange cinematic ride, Old is the latest film from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, who's become known for divisive, high-concept supernatural thrillers with twist endings. This is no exception, centering on a group of strangers at a luxurious beach resort, who suddenly find themselves aging at an incredibly accelerated pace. It's a survival movie unlike any other.
Everest
Based on a tragic true story from 1996, this star-studded adventure drama follows eight climbers whose attempt to summit Mount Everest turns deadly during a blizzard. Jake Gyllenhaal and Jason Clarke star as the leaders of two rival expedition groups, all of whom end up fighting for their lives against increasingly bleak odds.
Emma Dibdin is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who writes about culture, mental health, and true crime. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything.
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