Vacation films are not a rarity in cinema. However, it’s surprisingly rare that a studio goes for a vacation movie within the action genre, but on the surface level, it seems like a slam dunk. Vacation movies work best during the summer movie season, and what are prospective ticket buyers looking for when shelling out their cash? Action. A quick pace. Excitement. Yet, it’s an angle that has been most often utilized in other genres. For horror, there was An American Werewolf in London, Just Before Dawn, Cabin Fever, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, most of the Evil Dead franchise, and The Cabin in the Woods (among many others). For comedy, there have been the Vacation films, the underrated Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Blended, Grown Ups, and the like. There have even been a few vacation disaster movies, most notably The Impossible.
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What follows, however, are the more straightforward action films where the events could not transpire were the protagonist or protagonists not on some sort of vacation. In other words, they’re excellent companion pieces to Nobody 2, which is now playing in theaters.
1) Becky
If one looks at the poster for Becky, they would see the names Kevin James and Joel McHale and be forgiven for thinking one of two things. One is that it’s a comedy, the other is that it’s an action film with too many comedic beats. Wrong on both accounts.
This is an effective little action thriller about a family’s vacation home being broken into by neo-Nazis in search of a particular key. Once the neo-Nazis arrive and kill McHale’s Jeff, his daughter, Becky, takes it upon herself to exact revenge, Rambo-style. This is a movie that belongs to Lulu Wilson, who is phenomenal as the title character. The sequel, The Wrath of Becky, is also well worth checking out.
Stream Becky with a Paramount+ Prime Video Channel subscription.
2) Breakdown
Ever since John Carpenter gave Kurt Russell his adult leading man debut in Escape from New York, the actor has returned to the action genre more than any other. Breakdown is one of the better examples, because it understands that, while Russell is a formidable butt-kicking presence, he plays even better as a timid man who is put in a situation well outside his comfort zone. It’s essentially the ultimate companion piece to Executive Decision.
In Breakdown, he plays Jeff Taylor. Taylor and his wife, Amy, are taking a cross-country trip, one that is cut short when their car breaks down. Amy hitches to get help and, thanks to a truck driver’s apparent empathy, she gets a ride. But then that truck driver doesn’t bring her back. Now, Jeff must find out where Amy is and how they are going to avoid this sinister truck driver.
Stream Breakdown on Kanopy.
3) Deliverance
In Deliverance, a quartet of businessmen want to take a relaxing canoe trip down the Cahulawassee River before it is dammed. Unfortunately for them, the locals are not friendly to “city boys,” and the four men will be lucky to get off the river alive.
Deliverance‘s reputation precedes it, especially one sequence in particular. It’s a film that is haunting, compelling, and atmospheric in equal measure. It is one of the definitive outdoorsmen movies because it captures the four diverse members of the group’s reaction to the wilderness so well. One finds it to be his home more than his office, the other would survive in the woods but not thrive in the woods, and the other two are fully out of their depth. It’s great.
Rent Deliverance on Amazon Video.
4) The River Wild
In The River Wild, Meryl Streep stars as former river guide Gail Hartman, whose relationship with her perpetually working husband, Tom (David Strathairn), is reaching its breaking point. Tom has just pulled out of their family rafting trip down Idaho’s Salmon River, which seems to be the final nail in the coffin. However, Gail has her hopes for her marriage to be salvaged when Tom shows up, and they begin their trip down the river, where she finds so much comfort.
Unfortunately, that comfort is soon obliterated when they meet Wade (Kevin Bacon, who had some outdoors cinema experience via Friday the 13th), Terry, and Frank. Everything is fine at first, but when the Hartmans come upon the trio again, they’re short Frank, who they say was their rafting guide. As they claim, Frank stormed off after an argument. In reality, they killed him because what’s better than splitting a bank robbery’s haul three ways? Splitting it. But now Gail, Tom, and their son, Roarke, know too much, and the family must combat both the robbers and the rapids.
Rent The River Wild on Amazon Video.
5) Spider-Man: Far From Home
It may be widely considered the weakest of Jon Watts’s three Spider-Man movies, but Spider-Man: Far From Home is still a lot of fun. It also devastatingly sets the stage for the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and by extension, where the franchise goes next. After all, Peter Parker wouldn’t have had to wipe everyone’s memory of him had they not learned his identity to begin with.
Far From Home has Parker and his classmates take a school-sponsored trip to Venice, Italy for a few days of sightseeing, relaxation, and learning. But this is interrupted by the Elementals, which are tearing Italy apart (or are they?). Fortunately, there’s multiversal superhero Mysterio there, aiming to help Spider-Man save the day (or is he?).
Stream Spider-Man: Far From Home on Disney+.
What are your favorite vacation-themed action movies? Let us know in the comments below!
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