A defining line between Action & Adventure is the integration of Location into the action.
While Action may happen in an Adventure movie, Harry Callahan isn't likely to run from stampeding rhinoceri in the middle of San Francisco. Then again, I haven't been to Folsom Street in a while, who knows how things have changed...
In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, I discussed researching Locations both domestic and foreign. Here, I want to get into some of the why Location can be so important to your stories, and how Location (capital L) is inseperable from Adventure writing.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle got my thinkum dinkum about that line of demarcation between Adventure and its more popular sibling, Action. The shared Action/Adventure genre skews towards Action (now) for a number of logistical reasons. Primarily cost. Action is cheaper than Adventure to make by a jungle mile.
I already know whas you want to say to me for calling Action "cheap". Bear with me. Also, while Arms were Beared in this movie, no Bears were Armed. Which should be its own movie by now. BEARTANK!
Action, and I will assert that I am a huge fan of balletic violence and daring-do, is easier than Adventure; in that you can make a great, even memorable Action film Like Shoot 'Em Up, Crank and Hardcore Henry throughout a series of warehouses or interchangeable buildings/sets. You need only close off the occasional street for the obligatory car chase scene and most of your filming ends up on closed sets or in front of greenscreens.
Yeah, I think we're about to wrap this up. Nah, I don't think I'll need to worry about clearing my schedule for any sequels.
Adventure requires the Location, whether familiar or exotic (Tho Adventure will always trend towards the exotic) to play more than a mere backdrop to the action. The Location an Adventure story is set in is a living presence in the drama, characters are exposed to the elements, flora and fauna (Hence, the aforementioned rhinoceri (but wolve are always popular)). Adventure requires your inner DM to summon up those random encounter & resource management charts. The weather will slow your protagonists, forcing them to seek shelter, or aid them, leaving their quarry's tracks visible in the mud.
Your protagonist may also find herself using mud (involuntaritly) as a form of transportation.
But when location is in effect, that effect is astounding. Half the Romance of classic films like Romancing the Stone* and Ladyhawke utilize Location to challenge their protagonists with more than an ever increasing army of baddies. The conflict of Man Vs. Nature is brought into play, as are aged castles, nighttime refuges, feral beasts and breathtaking vistas.
Ice. If it's in a story, it's either cooling booze or cracking under your feet. But this makes three immediate examples in my screencaps where I can thoroughly illllustrate that gravity is not going to be your protagonists' friend.
But in fiction, your budget is limitless. Soviets can chase Doc Savage through the Arctic wastes. Venters & Bess can take refuge from rustlers in a hidden valley. Rift storms can imperil your characters with temporal & spatial anomalies, if not landing alien creatures in their midst. Once you commit to integrating the Location as a living, breathing player in your fiction, all this is possible.
Just as long as you remember to ALWAYS WALK ON THE LEFT SIDE!
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*Also known as The Greatest Film of All Time. You can fight me on this, but you'll lose.