Highest-Rated Movies about 'Exploration'

Alien (1979), There Will Be Blood (2007), Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Cast Away (2000), Ball of Fire (1941), The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (2000), South (1919), Stargate (1994) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Exploration movies.

#1. Alien (1979)

Storyline: In the distant future, the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo are on their way home when they pick up a distress call from a distant moon. The crew are under obligation to investigate and the spaceship descends on the moon afterwards. After a rough landing, three crew members leave the spaceship to explore the area on the moon. At the same time as they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship's computer deciphers the message to be a warning, not a distress call. When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew realizes that they are not alone on the spaceship and they must deal with the consequences.

Plot Keywords: alien, female protagonist, spaceship, outer space, creature, survival horror, future ...

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#2. There Will Be Blood (2007)

Storyline: The intersecting life stories of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday in early twentieth century California presents miner-turned-oilman Daniel Plainview, a driven man who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. He works hard but also takes advantage of those around him at their expense if need be. His business partner/son (H.W.) is, in reality, an "acquired" child whose true biological single-parent father (working on one of Daniel's rigs) died in a workplace accident. Daniel is deeply protective of H.W. if only for what H.W. brings to the partnership. Eli Sunday is one in a pair of twins whose family farm Daniel purchases for the major oil deposit located on it. Eli, a local preacher and a self-proclaimed faith healer, wants the money from the sale of the property to finance his own church. The lives of the two competitive men often clash as Daniel pumps oil off the property and tries to acquire all the surrounding land at bargain prices to be able to build a pipeline to the ...

Plot Keywords: oil, misanthrope, alcoholic, alcoholism, shot in the head, milkshake, capitalism ...

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#3. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)

Storyline: A few decades after the destruction of the Inca empire, a Spanish expedition leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon river in search of gold and wealth. Soon, they come across great difficulties and Don Aguirres, a ruthless man who cares only about riches, becomes their leader. But will his quest lead them to "the golden city", or to certain destruction?

Plot Keywords: megalomaniac, gold, power, river, spanish, conspiracy, convent ...

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#4. Cast Away (2000)

Storyline: A man is marooned on an island after his plane crashes into the ocean. Far away from home, his girlfriend, and any human contact, he engages in a battle of wits with himself as he is tested mentally, physically, and emotionally in order to survive.

Plot Keywords: survival, lost at sea, plane crash, rainstorm, stranded on an island, solitude, airplane ...

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#5. Ball of Fire (1941)

Storyline: Sexy, wisecracking nightclub singer Sugarpuss O'Shea is a hot tomato who needs to be kept on ice: mobster boyfriend Joe Lilac is suspected of murder and Sugarpuss' testimony could put him away. Naive Professor Bertram Potts meets Miss O'Shea while researching an article on slang and in true romantic comedy fashion the two worlds collide. When Miss O'Shea hides out with Potts and his fellow professors, everyone learns something new: the professors how to cha-cha and Potts the meaning of "yum-yum"!—A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net>

Plot Keywords: screwball comedy, farce, moll, gangster, nightclub, singer, professor ...

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#6. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (2000)

Storyline: A retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton 's ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in 1914-1916, featuring new footage of the actual locations and interviews with surviving relatives of key expedition members, plus archived audio interviews with expedition members, and a generous helping of the footage and still photos shot on the expedition.—Jon Reeves <jreeves@imdb.com>

Plot Keywords: expedition, exploration, courage, dog sled, penguin, ship wreck, whale ...

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#7. South (1919)

Storyline: The story of the 1914-1916 Antarctic exploration mission of Sir Ernest Shackleton. The ship sails south, breaking the ice, and ultimately getting trapped by the fast-changing weather. The ship breaks up in the ice, and while 22 men and 70 dogs wait on Elephant Island, Shackleton and a crew of five take a 20-foot lifeboat 800 miles to South Georgia Island to mount a rescue mission. We also get a good look at the exotic animals of the region, particularly the penguins.—Jon Reeves <jreeves@imdb.com>

Plot Keywords: crab, antarctica, tent, pigeon, glacier, buenos aires argentina, survival ...

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#8. Stargate (1994)

Storyline: In 1928, in Egypt, a strange device is found by an expedition. In the present days, the outcast linguist Dr. Daniel Jackson is invited by a mysterious woman to decipher an ancient hieroglyph in a military facility. Soon he finds that the device was developed by an advanced civilization and opens a portal to teletransport to another planet. Dr. Jackson is invited to join a military team under the command of Colonel Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neil that will explore the new world. They find a land that recalls Egypt and humans in a primitive culture that worship and are slaves to Ra, the God of the Sun. But soon they discover the secret of the mysterious "stargate".

Plot Keywords: portal, archeology, slavery, pyramid, teleportation, egypt, military ...

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#9. Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

Storyline: 1914: Milo Thatch, grandson of the great Thaddeus Thatch works in the boiler room of a museum. He knows that Atlantis was real, and he can get there if he has the mysterious Shephards journal, which can guide him to Atlantis. But he needs someone to fund a voyage. His employer thinks he's dotty, and refuses to fund any crazy idea. He returns home to his apartment and finds a woman there. She takes him to Preston B. Whitmore, an old friend of his Grandfathers. He gives him the shepherds journal, a submarine and a 5 star crew. They travel through the Atlantic ocean, face a large lobster called the Leviathan, and finally get to Atlantis. But does the Atlantis crew have a lust for discovery, or something else?

Plot Keywords: expedition, princess, father daughter relationship, kiss, love, hero, king ...

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#10. The New World (2005)

Storyline: Captain Smith is spared his mutinous hanging sentence after captain Newport's ship arrives in 1607 to found Jamestown, an English colony in Virginia. The initially friendly natives, who have no personal property concept, turn hostile after a 'theft' is 'punished' violently on the spot. During an armed exploration, Smith is captured, but spared when the chief's favorite daughter Pocahontas pleads for the stranger who soon becomes her lover and learns to love their naive 'savage' way of harmonious life. Ultimately he returns to the grim fort, which would starve hadn't she arranged for Indian generosity. Alas, each side soon brands their own lover a traitor, so she is banished and he flogged as introduction to slavish toiling. Changes turn again, leading Smith to accept a northern-more mission and anglicized Pocahontas, believing him dead, becoming the mother of aristocratic new lover John Rolfe's son. They'll meet again for a finale in England.

Plot Keywords: fort, native american, existentialism, american history, armor, baby, baptism ...

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#11. The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (2014)

Storyline: Darwin meets Hitchcock in this feature-length documentary. THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR is a gripping tale of idealistic dreams gone awry, set in the brutal yet alluring landscape of the Galapagos Islands. Featuring voice-over performances by Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, Connie Nielsen, Sebastian Koch, Thomas Kretschmann, Gustaf Skarsgard and Josh Radnor, this film skillfully interweaves an unsolved 1930s murder mystery with stories of present day Galapagos pioneers (a handful of Europeans, Americans and Ecuadoreans who settled idiosyncratically on the Islands between the 1930s and 1960s). As such, it is a parable about the search for paradise -- about what happens when a handful of individualists settle on the same small island seeking their own distinct and sometimes clashing notions of Eden.—Geller/Goldfine Productions

Plot Keywords: love triangle, utopia, adultery, reenactment, cave, letter, hotel ...

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#12. The Lost City of Z (2016)

Storyline: The Lost City of Z tells the incredible true story of British explorer Percy Fawcett, who journeys into the Amazon at the dawn of the 20th century and discovers evidence of a previously unknown, advanced civilization that may have once inhabited the region. Despite being ridiculed by the scientific establishment who regard indigenous populations as "savages," the determined Fawcett - supported by his devoted wife, son and aide de camp returns time and again to his beloved jungle in an attempt to prove his case, culminating in his mysterious disappearance in 1925.

Plot Keywords: jungle, based on true story, based on book, explorer, travel, tribe, englishman abroad ...

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#13. Explorers (1985)

Storyline: This space adventure stars Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix as misfit best friends whose dreams of space travel become a reality when they create an interplanetary spacecraft in their homemade laboratory. Ben Crandall is a young visionary who dreams of space travel while watching late-night B monster movies, pouring over comic books, and playing Galaga in the confines of his bedroom. But one night he has a vivid dream of flying over a space-like circuit board and shares his visions with his best friend Wolfgang Muller, a young scientific genius who is able to translate his dreams into a complex computer program that actually works. With the help of their new friend Darren Woods, they create a homemade spacecraft and embark on a secret adventure to another galaxy where they find that things are not always as different as they seem.

Plot Keywords: friend, teenage boy, alien planet, nightmare, dream sequence, girl, boy genius ...

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#14. Flowing Gold (1940)

Storyline: In trying to elude the police on believing he will not get a fair shake in a case of self defense in killing a man in Oklahoma, John Alexander is going by the assumed name Johnny Blake while he looks for work as a roughneck traveling from oil field to oil field across the country, he believing he can make some money while blending in with the crowd. In the process he meets and befriends an oil rig foreman, Hap O'Connor, that friendship on Hap's side because of Johnny coming to his aid, and despite Hap knowing about the police looking for him for the murder rap. In a later situation, Hap reunites with an old friend, Wildcat Chalmers, who is looking for men to help dig a new well, which is made all the more difficult in his arch enemy, Charles Hammond, doing whatever he can to prevent him from striking oil. In working for Hammond, Johnny is also reunited with Hap and changes his allegiances when he learns that Hammond's actions are meant to hurt Wildcat and by association his friend Hap, with who he also joins forces. Johnny and Hap's friendship is threatened when a love triangle forms, the third being Wildcat's daughter, Linda Chalmers, who grew up around the oil fields and knows her away around the men who work on such. While Hap has always been in love with Linda without really expressing it, Johnny also falls for her but doesn't act on it in knowing Hap's feelings for her. What happens with this triangle and Hap and Johnny's friendship is affected by Johnny's past and the goings on with the well, including if they strike oil.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: oil, wrench, wanted poster, lightning strike, dance, broken leg, barber ...

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#15. 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)

Storyline: Big budget account of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas. Released in 1992 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery. Shows the disastrous effects the Europeans had on the original inhabitants, and Columbus' struggle to civilize the New World.

Plot Keywords: brother brother relationship, sword, suicide, public nudity, public humiliation, male rear nudity, male nudity ...

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