Best New Zealand adventure movies

Many thousands of years in the future, Earth’s cities roam the globe on huge wheels, devouring each other in a struggle for ever diminishing resources. On one of these massive traction cities, the old London, Tom Natsworthy has an unexpected encounter with a mysterious young woman from the wastelands who will change the course of his life forever.

The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle—a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.

A warrior-assassin is forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands after refusing a mission.

Eleven-year-old Mildred’s life is turned upside down when her mother lands in hospital and estranged, American magician father, Strawn Wise, comes to look after her. Hoping to entertain the bookish tween, Strawn takes Mildred camping in the notoriously rugged New Zealand wilderness, and the pair embark on the ultimate test of family bonding – a quest to find the mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.

Hongi, a Maori chieftain’s teenage son, must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honour to the souls of his loved ones after his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery. Vastly outnumbered by a band of villains led by Wirepa, Hongi’s only hope is to pass through the feared and forbidden “Dead Lands” and forge an uneasy alliance with a mysterious warrior, a ruthless fighter who has ruled the area for years.

Filling the giant screen with stunning time-lapse vistas of Antarctica, and detailing year-round life at McMurdo and Scott Base, Anthony Powell’s documentary is a potent hymn to the icy continent and the heavens above.

In 1989 the trimaran Rose Noelle set sail from Picton, New Zealand, bound for Tonga with four crew. After a freak wave capsized the yacht, they drifted for 119 days before landing on Great Barrier Island.

Zenon Kar is 15 and lives on a space station which the military has taken over and is dismantling. She receives a mysterious signal and must convince everyone that it's from aliens who have come to help them.

The film tells the story of Mosley, a "thoriphant" who rebels against his life of servitude and embarks on a treacherous journey to find the fabled city of Uprights.

Hercules and Iolaus take time out from Iolaus' wedding preparations, to help a distant village under attack from "monsters". When they reach their destination, they find the monsters are in fact Amazonian women who are controlled by Hera. "Hercules and the Amazon Women" is the first movie-length pilot episode of the television series "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys".

When villagers begin disappearing it is discovered that they had fallen through a crack in the earth which goes straight to Hades. Hercules once again comes to the rescue and faces one of his most difficult challenges, and must prove himself as a man as well as a god. "Hercules in the Underworld" is the fourth made for TV movie in the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

Hercules comes to the aid of a young woman who is seeking the lost city of Troy. Eventually, Hercules leads her to a camp of refugees from the city, which has been taken over by Hera's Blue Priests. Hercules helps the refugees take back the city. "Hercules and the Lost Kingdom" is the second movie-length pilot episode of the television series "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys".

When all the earth's fire begins to go out, Hercules and Deianeira must go in search for fire to stop the world from cold. "Hercules and the Circle of Fire" is the third movie-length pilot episode of the television series "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys".

Teenage twins battle dark forces hidden beneath Auckland's volcanoes.

In a distant future, a mysterious boy becomes the central figure in the search for a new hope. Who is this kid? Why is everyone looking for it? Sometimes it is better not to know certain answers…

Baelin (Rowan Bettjeman), a simple background NPC in the video game 'Skycraft' has been walking the same route for as long as he can remember. However, his peaceful (and mindless) routine is violently shaken as a short-tempered Adventurer (Ben Van Lier) drags him off his path and into a dangerous quest to escort a mysterious NPC girl named Willow (Phoenix Cross) across the harsh world of Azerim.

Gerry hires a car in Kaitaia with a stolen licence and travels to Invercargill with John, whose wife has just left him. The ultimate New Zealand road trip adventure.

It's the 21st century, the Oil Wars have made a mess of the planet and the land outside major cities is lawless. After Hunter comes to the aid of Corlie, who has run away from the villainous Straker, he takes her to the peaceful community of Clearwater. Unfortunately for the citizens of Clearwater, Straker fully intends to get Corlie back.

Video release consisted of 21 season's episodes 17, 18, 19, 20. Heroic teens Troy, Noah, Emma, Gia, and Jake have defended our planet countless times as the newest generation of Power Rangers. But when evil Emperor Mavro launches his entire alien Armada in a final strike against Earth, these five best friends are called back into action! To defeat the greatest threat the galaxy has ever seen, the Megaforce will reunite with their alien friend Orion, and fight alongside over a hundred Rangers from the past - including Tommy, the original Mighty Morphin Green Ranger - in the most legendary battle in Power Ranger history!

In New Zealand in the 1860s the native Māori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by treaty. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the British until betrayal leads him to seek utu (revenge). The settler Williamson in turn seeks revenge after Te Wheke attacks his homestead. Meanwhile Wiremu, an officer for the British, seems to think that resistance is futile.

When a storm washes a canoe bearing an infant boy ashore upon a small South Pacific island, he is at first well-received as a gift from the heavens, even to the point of the tribal chief adopting him as a successor. However, with time as hardships are blamed upon Tama (as he is named), he is finally outcast to live with the poorest people on the island, Mahana and her drunken father. Mahana is considered homely and undesirable, but Tama feels differently, so when he is old enough to build a craft to sail away, he vows to return for her one day. A lucky stroke brings him to land upon the island of the legendary Johnny Lingo, the wealthiest trader in the islands, and after years of service to him, Tama has learned much about life and himself as he dreams of honoring his pledge to Mahana.

GOOD FOR NOTHING is an adventurous romp set in the sweeping Old West from Mike Wallis in his directorial debut. Inspired by the Spaghetti Westerns and celebrating the Western genre with an interesting twist, the film follows an odd romance and the resulting emotional confusion of an outlaw who reluctantly develops strong feelings for a woman he has kidnapped.

In 1994, New Zealand mountaineer, Mark Whetu, summitted Mt Everest with climbing partner and friend Mike Reinberger. However it was late in the day and after a freezing night on the summit, Whetu was faced with a terrible decision...to leave Reinberger or stay with him forever.

Sam, a fearless young girl raised outside of her Māori culture, is determined to fulfill her mission of connecting with her mountain. She hopes it can heal her from the cancer she is battling. Along the way, she meets some misfits and new kids in town, and together they journey through a difficult route, discovering the true spirit of adventure and the magic of friendship.

In this short James Rolleston (Boy) stars as a Kiwi lad who banters with an elderly bearded fulla (Bruce Allpress) who claims to be God; the 'BMX Kid' challenges him to a Lake Wakatipu bomb competition to prove it. Kiwi stuntman/director Tim McLachlan's film was a finalist in Your Big Break, a filmmaking contest run by Tourism New Zealand which attracted over 1000 scripts from around the globe. Five finalists were given the chance to turn their scripts into a short film. The brief was to "capture the spirit of 100% Pure New Zealand — the youngest country on earth".

What the "spider-pit" sequence from the original King Kong (1933) probably looked like (the original sequence was cut out of the original movie because it was deemed "too gruesome" and was subsequently lost).

Two young teenagers are forced to take control of their own destiny amid the chaos of a pivotal battle in New Zealand’s first land wars in 1864.

When a cave in threatens the lives of four miners, including a father and son, it becomes a fight for survival. The superintendent (Mimi Rogers) struggles against the ticking clock to save her crew and family from impending doom.

A brief experimental montage documentary short films of the wonders of New Zealand.

In an ancient world a warrior and his son are on a quest get a wish from a magic dragon, to fix the son’s stammer but the forest conspires the stop the father. The boy decides to go on alone to face the unknown creatures that await. On his journey he discovers his own inner strength and convinces his father to accept him as he is.

15-year-old Davie Balfour is poised to receive a vast inheritance when he's lured onto a cargo ship, knocked unconscious, and kidnapped by his malevolent uncle Ebenezer, who devises a scheme to sell him into slavery. But Davie's unforeseen rescue at the hands of a Scottish rogue, Alan Breck, leaves them racing across the Scottish moors, with English bounty hunters in hot pursuit.

A hitchhiker takes two kids on the ride of their dreams, but they soon learn that their newfound hero is just as capable of delivering nightmares.

Three ordinary guys are thrust into a parallel world of an old Sci-Fi movie. Trapped in a low budget universe they must somehow fight their way home before it is too late.

Two mysterious figures arrive on earth to hunt down a renegade and determine the fate of the planet.

When teenagers Rachel and Grace travel inside a super-powered rainbow to China, they disturb nature's balance. Using Rachel's connection to the energy of the rainbow and with help from their new friend Xiao Cheng, they must race against time to save the Earth.

Anthropologist Max Scarry mysteriously disappears while doing excavation/research of a lost New Zealand tribe on a remote island. His wife and his twin brother Edward are clueless as to what could have happened, a situation complicated by their city's police suspecting that one of the brothers murdered a local prostitute who was found with a strange tribal charm on her body matching one found in Max's abandoned hut. What most certainly isn't helping matters is the strange behavior of Max's daughter as she seems to have visions beyond possibility, warnings of a supernatural threat and her uncle's fate - and she's the film's narrator, to boot. Edward decides to go to the island to find out exactly what happened, but the deeper he goes into the mystery the more perilous and unknowable his world becomes, leading towards a shocking fate that raises more questions than it answers. (cont. http://view-from-the-paperhouse.blogspot.de/2014/10/the-threat-of-ancient-echoes-lost-tribe.html)

Originally as a web series in 2012, Michael Woods adapted this project into a one off short film. Which follows an enigmatic young man named Belisarius who along with his friends finds a mysterious robot fox.

The main part of the film takes place by the legendary Lethe River on New Zealand’s wild and wondrous South Island. Back in 1988, one of the most iconic fly fishers of our time, Lars Lenth, spent three months exploring the fabled river and fishing for its abnormally large trout. At night, he would sit down in a remote cabin and write down his experiences in a journal. Nearly 25 years later, the young trout bum Rolf Nylinder looses his way in the wilderness near Lethe. By chance, he finds the long-lost journal, full of insights about the very soul of fly fishing. Along with Rolf on the trip is documentarist Peter Christensen, filming their mostly failing attempts to catch trout, and Rolf’s ever-growing interest in the wisdom of the journal. The old book becomes a moral compass for Rolf, who gradually becomes more and more obsessed by the poetic adventures Lenth wrote down in a dreamy past. Destiny forces the two fly fishers together, but what will happen when their worlds collide?

Shot on 16mm celluloid across parts of New Zealand and Samoa, interdisciplinary artist Sam Hamilton’s ten-part experimental magnum opus makes thought-provoking connections between life on Earth and the cosmos, and, ultimately, art and science. Structured around the ten most significant celestial bodies of the Milky Way, Apple Pie’s inquiry begins with the furthest point in our solar system, Pluto, as a lens back towards our home planet and the ‘mechanisms by which certain aspects of scientific knowledge are digested, appropriated and subsequently manifest within the general human complex’. Christopher Francis Schiel’s dry, functional narration brings a network of ideas about our existence into focus, while Hamilton’s visual tableaux, as an extension of his multifaceted practice, veer imaginatively between psychedelic imagery and performance art.