There’s definitely no shortage of explosions in movies. We could easily make this a “Top 1,000 List” based on that criteria alone. But sometimes an explosion is so singularly epic that is stays with you long after the movie is over, lingering in the back of your mind like a goldfish that refuses to flush. These movie explosions brought something more than a flaming fireball to our screens – they took that flaming fireball and dropkicked it right into our hearts.
10. Swordfish
Probably the most memorable part of 2001’s Swordfish is Halle Berry sunbathing topless. Not probably; definitely. Coming in at a close second, though, is the hostage scene. This movie came out right on the heels of the Matrix, when slo-mo action sequences were the hottest thing around. In the scene, a bomb explodes on a hostage, sending a barrage of ball bearings and shrapnel ripping through everything within radius. The camera pans in a circle around the destruction, showing everything in the exact moment of it happening—windows shattering, vehicles exploding, people flying through the air.
In addition to being totally awesome, the explosion was important because it showed the audience that Gabriel Shear, played by John Travolta, wasn’t a man to bluff. When he said he would do something, no matter how despicable, it got done, and this effectively raised the stakes of the entire movie.
9. Die Hard: With a Vengeance
The opening scene in Die Hard: With a Vengeance is memorable because it provides such a stark contrast. The movie begins with shots of New York City bustling about its daily life. Joe Cocker’s upbeat Summer in the City is dubbed over the scenes, and it’s just freaking jovial all around. Just as you’re getting in the toe-tapping mood, half a city block explodes.
There’s no suspenseful lead up, no warning at all, just a single violent explosion in an otherwise perfectly normal day. Like the scene in Swordfish, this sets the mood for the rest of the movie. It will be in your face, and many scenes will catch you wholly unprepared.
We couldn’t find the film clip, so here’s a (somewhat less exciting) reenactment of the scene in Grand Theft Auto IV.
8. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War era satire dared to do what no other movie at the time would: Detonate a nuclear bomb. Kubrick managed to take the greatest public fear of the time, flip it on its head, and turn it into a comedy. The explosion itself isn’t incredibly realistic compared to today’s CGI shots, except that—oh yeah, it was real footage of a real nuclear explosion (several, in fact).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlSQAZEp3PA
7. Independence Day
If you were anywhere between the ages of 12 and 22 in 1996, you probably went crazy about Independence Day. Will Smith, aliens, Will Smith punching aliens: This movie had it all. In addition to inspiring millions of kids to mimic putting a cigar between their teeth and go around saying “Welcome to Earf” to anyone who crossed their paths, Independence Day had one of the most memorable explosions in cinematic history to date: The destruction of the White House via flying saucer laser beam.
You probably already know what I’m talking about, so let’s just cut to the clip:
6. Terminator 2
Choosing just one explosion out of the explosive bouquet offered by the Terminator franchise is like riding an eight-legged horse into the sun: It’s exciting, but impossible.
However, at Top Tenz we’re all about the impossible, so we did it anyway. Here’s the setup:
Terminator and gang are trying to destroy the microchip from the first T-101 (from the first Terminator film) which is being used for research by Cyberdyne. They’re in the lab, they have what they need to stop Cyberdyne from developing Terminators in the first place, and everything is going well. Then the cops arrive, and all hell breaks loose.
With a SWAT team fast closing in, mortally wounded Miles Dyson decides to sacrifice himself to give John and Sarah Connor enough time to get away. The SWAT team discovers him lying on the floor with a weight held over the detonator button, seconds away from death, with the entire lab wired to blow. The SWAT team backs off, giving the good guys enough time to escape.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoIFIpXxdK0
5. Children of Men
The 2006 dystopian film Children of Men gave us a great storyline, amazing acting, and some of the most impressive cinematography ever filmed. In the beginning of the movie, we’re introduced to the violence of present day (2027) London with a bombing in a coffee shop. On the surface it’s just a regular ol’ explosion, but pay attention to the camera cuts—there are none. In one unbroken scene, we see Clive Owen order a cup of coffee in a crowded coffee shop and walk out, only to have the entire cafe explode behind him.
It’s shocking in its realism, mostly because there don’t appear to be any special effects at work in the scene. For all intents and purposes, those are real people in the coffee shop, and that’s a real explosion. It shows the audience that in this world, violence can happen at any time.
4. The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was the second part of the epic LOTR trilogy, and culminated in the massive battle at Helm’s Deep. Who could forget the waves of orcs smashing against the walls of this impenetrable fortress, elven archers lining the buttress, sending arrow after arrow into the seething masses below, the fate of humanity resting in the balance. If Helm’s Deep holds, the armies of Saruman suffer a massive blow; if it falls, all of Rohan falls with it.
As the battle rages, we begin to grasp at hope. Maybe they can do it. Maybe they can hold back the tens of thousands of orcs. And then the crowd parts as a single Uruk-hai runs forward with a flaming torch, and the wall is breached with the first explosion ever seen in Middle Earth.
Visually this explosion isn’t much, but the significance of what just happened lends credence to its epicness: The tide of battle has shifted into the hands of the orcs, and the humans are left with no choice but to retreat deeper into the stronghold. The suspense isn’t bad either.
3. The Dark Knight
This almost shouldn’t be included on this list, simply because everybody already knows exactly what happens, but while most movies use explosions because they look cool, the Dark Knight used it to add to the characterization of the Joker: He’s utterly, completely insane. The visual of him strolling out of a hospital, nurse’s skirt flapping in the wind, and setting off the hospital bomb is comical, sure, but chilling. This is even more apparent as he furiously slaps at the detonator until the second bomb goes off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB0kiU7JRrg
2. Watchmen
Someone once said that Zack Snyder kind of sucks at making his own stuff, but is a genius with other people’s material, and that point is perfectly exemplified by Watchmen. As a movie that was simulataneously loved and hated, you have to admit that it was a very decent adaptation of an “unfilmable” graphic novel. The most memorable scenes were pulled directly out of Alan Moore’s epic graphic novel, and that’s okay, because they were freaking awesome scenes to begin with.
One of the most perfect examples of beauty married to destruction is in the dream sequence when Nite Owl and Silk Spectre II share a kiss on Mars as a nuclear blast detonates behind them, eventually disintegrating their bodies, still locked in the embrace of love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpeDO8L0xs8
1. Akira
The 1988 Japanese movie Akira is a cult classic – but more than that, it was almost signlehandedly responsible for bringing anime to the West. It climaxes with one of the most disturbingly beautiful scenes ever animated: Consumed by his own power, Tetsuo begins to transform into a monstrous mutation the size of a stadium, absorbing all the matter around him.
The entire scene plays out like a David Cronenberg wet dream—The hauntingly visceral imagery of Tetsuo’s transformation, the atmospheric chanting in the background, the heartwrenching moment as Kaneda shoves his way into the writhing mass of flesh in a feeble attempt to save his friend, with no thought for his own life.
And that’s just leading up to the explosion. The psychic energy of the reawakened Akira causes a nuclear-level blast that wipes out Tokyo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awc1ZJVxXhU
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18 Comments
Summer in the City was recorded by the Lovin Spoonful. Don’t know if Cocker ever recorded it, but it was the LS version in the movie
WTF, no deathstar but you have this Tetsuo bullcrap?
Akira is a good choice, but yeah, you shouldn’t have left of the FREEKIN’ DEATHSTAR!!!
Hurt Locker has some really tense explosion scenes.
What about FightClub? That explosion changed everything.
not only in the world the movie took place in but it had meaning in the real world too. The plan to destroy the credit card companies was intended to wipe their customer’s debt away. The 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers was NOT an attack on our freedom as some would simply prefer to believe but was instead an attack on the world’s economy. The only attack the terrorist’s could make that would truly have any meaning. A great parallel if you ask me.
Morrie Mage’s house in Thief. The movie company accidently actually blew up the house.
The embedded clip for die hard is not die hard but GTAIV
We tell you that in the article and explain why we used it. We couldn’t find the movie explosion. Please provide link if anyone find it.
Did you even read the article?
I remember the exploding head from David Cronenberg’s “Scanners”…
This list is far too dependent on movies made after 1990. It’s like explosions barely existed before that time. What about:
1. The already-mentioned Death Star explosion? It was almost like a firework going up in celebration of hope and victory.
2. The destruction of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek III? That scene was brilliant, showing Kirk’s brains and thirst for vengeance for the death of his son while simultaneously showing his love for crew. One of the few explosions I’ve ever cried for.
3. The Bridge in The Bridge On the River Kwai. Victory bought with utter madness culminating in an explosion that brings about justice.
4. Napalm in Apocalypse Now. Illustrating the callousness and recklessness of Lt. Col. Kilgore towards the enemy and the war.
5. The Earth in Koko’s Earth Control. Fleischer Cartoon featuring Koko the clown and his mischievous dog Fitz, who discover the controls to the Earth. While Koko’s content to play with the weather and day/night settings, Fitz pulls a lever that says “if you pull this the world will end”. He does. And it does, complete with melting moons, Fitz fighting a tree, and Satan replacing Koko’s head. Not sure about the meaning, but it’s a lot of fun.
these are all good examples also. I’d like to hrow in the suitcase bomb at the beginning of “The Untouchables,” even though this scene probably never happened in real life the fact that a little girl was holding it when it went off showed the unrestrained violence of prohibiton era chicago.
that was my first thought when i saw the title…i know there have been other, more violent explosions with more casualties…but i saw The Untouchables at a fairly early age and it’s STILL top 3 of my favorite movies of all time..so it stands to reason that the bomb scene with the briefcase jolted me in a way that none have…should have been on the list…i thought Independence Day should have been higher for the simple fact that it’s a real landmark as the home of the leader of the free world and really puts it into perspective how dire the situation was in the movie.
the very fact that the Death Star explosion was the first one mentioned should be some indicator of how important it is.
No Death Star explosion? Really? Die Hard and Swordfish are on here but not the Death Star going WHA-BOOOOM ? That wasn’t just special effects mind you, that was a movie that was made when movies were all about being downers, and losers, and gangsters and the USA was still stinging badly from Viet Nam. That explosion gave us HOPE man, I might even be tempted to call it A New Hope for America. We were winners again and that movie picked us right up.
You are right the death star explosion should be some where up there
Exactly what I was thinking