Top 10 Thrilling Narrow Escapes In Movies

In a movie all about avoiding danger and eluding obstacles, “The Fugitive” had an abundance of exciting close calls to consider. Although the train crash sequence was phenomenal, we have to tip our hats to the sensational waterfall dive. When Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard corners Richard Kimble at the edge of a storm drain, all hope seems to be lost. Looking at the significant drop below and roaring waves of the water, Kimble refuses to return to police custody and decides to take the ultimate chance by taking the plunge. The sheer bravery displayed here earned Kimble not only his freedom once more, but also a place on our list.

Ouch, right in the childhood. After the “Toy Story” crew saves Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear from a conveyor belt filled with garbage, he leaves them behind as impending doom approaches. Matters don’t look too good as they tumble into a fiery furnace and are all slowly pulled towards the inferno below. The gang struggles and scrambles to find a way out, but in a heartbreaking moment, reality seems to kick in that this is it. When all seems lost, our heroes are pulled away just in the nick of time by theee claaaawwww!!! Our hearts are arguably the ‘real’ escapees in this scene, as our hope is shattered before our very eyes and is then graciously returned. Well done, Pixar.

With so many near misses over the span of this blockbuster franchise, there was no shortage of nail-biting thrills to be found between the very first movie and “Jurassic World”. However, we ultimately chose this sequence from the original movie, given the characters’ limited options for escape. Come on, they are stuck up in a tree! Since they can’t risk jumping because they are too high, the only option is to move slowly, but even that is out of the question because of the car that’s crashing down after them. A perfect combination of breathtaking tension and anxious pacing, this sequence won’t be going extinct from our memories anytime soon.

Hey, handsome. In visionary director Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy masterpiece, there is a chilling sequence where the main character Ofelia ends up in the dining room of a grotesque creature known as the Pale Man. After she munches on bits of fruit that she was warned not to touch, the Pale Man awakens and seems to want to do some munching of his own; except to him, it is Ofelia that is looking mighty appetizing. What follows is a heart-racing sequence in which Ofelia desperately tries to re-open the portal to the human world, with the hideous monster not far behind and its screeching sounds adding to the tension. With not a moment to spare, she fortunately avoids becoming an afternoon snack.

You’d think after the destruction of their first Death Star, the Empire would have learned not to give it a big, obvious weak point the second go-around? Apparently not, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy target to hit, as it seems they like their long, narrow tunnels designed to make sure the rebels job isn’t too easy. In the all-out, epic space showdown which caps off the original “Star Wars” trilogy, Lando pilots the Millennium Falcon into the station’s core and destroys their main reactor with well-placed shots. What follows is pure cinematic gold as he makes a dash for the exit and the Falcon soars out of the Death Star with a blaze of fire surging behind.

When John Connor and his T-800 bodyguard infiltrate the Pescadero State Hospital to break out John’s mother Sarah, the escape plan doesn’t go quite as smoothly as they’d originally hoped. How so? Well, the relentless and terrifying killing machine known as the T-1000 interrupts the Connor family reunion with his own special way of saying hello. Even after a close-quarters elevator shootout, this liquid metal menace is nowhere close to finished, showing its fierce determination by chasing the group’s getaway car on foot. The T-1000 had to have been some sort of track and field runner in the future, because it refuses to let our heroes get away, no matter how much fancy driving they do or how many bullets they shoot.

In this massive, mega blockbuster sci-fi adventure movie, Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum’s characters volunteer to commandeer an alien spacecraft and board their mothership in an attempt to destroy it from the inside. Luckily for the human race, this plan goes smoothly as the alien mothership is put out of commission, permanently. Good news for planet Earth, but not just yet for our heroes; for if they want to live to appreciate their victory, they’ve gotta be able to move fast enough so that the mothership doesn’t close its hatches and trap them inside. Not only do they blow up the alien mothership, but luck strikes them twice as they’re able to come blasting out at a breakneck speed just in the nick of time.

John McClane really does always end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, doesn’t he? We do feel bad that he has to go undergo all this stress and peril in these films, but it’s hard to deny that they provide some pretty damn entertaining movie moments - like this sequence from “Die Hard 2.” Trapped like a rat in a cage, John is stuck in the cockpit of a plane and surrounded by armed goons who are gunning for him - literally. Realizing bullets aren’t quite doing the job, the baddies toss a bunch of grenades in to finish the job. So with just seconds to spare, John straps himself in and goes for a little ride. Yippee ki yay, indeed.

Nobody does it like Bond. When an infiltration plan goes terribly awry, 007 makes an explosive exit out of the facility and onto a runway. Seeing that his getaway plane is taking off without him, James makes an astounding leap of faith after it off of a cliff, without any hesitation. The fun doesn’t stop once he gets inside though, as he still needs to steer the plane out of harm’s way. The suspense escalates to a fever pitch as James struggles with the controls all while a head-on collision with the cliffs below gets closer and closer. Just as the sound of the engine fades away, the plane soars back into view and ensures that this secret agent will die another day.

Before we roll into our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
Cliff Jump
“First Blood” (1982)

Mombasa Escape
“Inception” (2010)

Getting Out of the Pit
“Army of Darkness” (1992)

Flying Out of the Farm
“Chicken Run” (2000)

Holding Back the Waves
“X2: X-Men United” (2003)

Was there ever any doubt about this being the number one choice? In the epitome of a “narrow escape,” everyone’s favorite whip cracking archaeologist proves how much of a badass he is by cheating death in the first few minutes of the franchise’s inaugural film. With a split second to react, Indy has to evade this oversized bowling ball by running as fast as his legs can take him. Against unbelievable odds, he manages to evade the boulder purely based on his wits and will to survive. Dr. Jones has had his share of close encounters with nukes, snakes, and even spiked ceilings, but none of those can quite compare to this masterful movie moment.

Do you agree with our list? Which escape scenes in movies had you at the edge of your seat? For more exhilarating top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.