The Top 10 Best Survival Movies

5. Life of Pi

Ang Lee has a habit of not only making visually striking films but also managing to win best director for them when they don’t. Life of Pi is the story of a shipwrecked boy set adrift in a small boat. Unlike the last movie on this list though, he doesn’t have a volleyball to keep him company. Instead, he’s got a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It’s a bit more fantastical than other survival movies, but it’s good to mix it up every once in awhile. Besides it’ got the second best cinematography on this list.

4. 127 Hours

Just like the movie that kicked off this list, 127 Hours is based on a true story. The title comes from how long he was trapped in the desert with his hand pinned by man’s only natural predator, a big rock. Now it might seem boring watching a guy pinned in a canyon for just over 5 days, but it’s a true tale of survival as he does everything he can to keep himself alive just one more second. Spoiler alert, the end is a brutal sequence where he cuts off his own arm with a pocket knife to keep himself from dying. As far as survival movies go, this one is really intense.

3. The Martian

Survival is going to look a little different in the future. The Martian isn’t one of your traditional survival movies, but I think it definitely belongs on this list. After all, the planet Mars can still be considered nature, and it is doing everything it can to kill the main character. In it, a man is accidentally left behind on the red planet and has to spend four years surviving until he’s rescued. The best part is that the movie is actually pretty scientifically accurate, from what I’ve heard. You’d have to ask NASA though to be certain (which is apparently free).

2. The Revenant

Of all the survival movies on this list, The Revenant is probably the most brutal. Things weren’t easy in the old days, and that includes surviving. It’s based on the true story of a man who just might be the toughest bastard that ever lived. During a fur trapping expedition, he’s mauled by a bear and left for dead by his team. He didn’t take too kindly to that and manages to drag himself back to civilization across a treacherous terrain during a bleak winter. It’s the movie that actually won Leonardo DiCaprio the Oscar kept from him for so many years. If that’s not a good reason to watch it, I don’t know what else to tell you.

1. Gravity

The best way to describe Gravity as a beautiful panic attack. Most survival movies feature someone lost on an island or trying to get through the woods. Gravity though is essentially a sinking ship movie set in space. Sandra Bullock plays an astronaut aboard the International Space Station that is forced to escape after it’s destroyed by meteorites. It’s a visually outstanding film that highlights how dangerous the nothingness of space is, as she has to hurl herself into oblivion in the hopes of reaching another space station. It’s one of those outstanding films that you never want to sit through again.

There you have it, 10 of the best survival movies Hollywood can offer. Of course, there are a ton of them out there and much more coming down the pipeline. So, if you have one that you’d suggest for this list, be sure to let me know in the comments below.