BOOM! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the movie explosions that felt the most frighteningly accurate to reality.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down our picks for the movie explosions that
00:08felt the most frighteningly accurate to reality.
00:29Christopher Nolan's epic revolves around J. Robert Oppenheimer and his infamous nuclear
00:33bomb, and hype for the Trinity sequence was as high as a mushroom cloud.
00:38Ultimately, it did not disappoint.
00:48Nolan is so dedicated to authenticity that some people thought he would actually detonate
00:52a nuclear bomb just for the shot.
00:55Thankfully, no, but instead he used a variety of filmmaking techniques, including forced
00:59perspective and miniatures, in order to get the desired effect.
01:03The result was extraordinary.
01:05Seeing and hearing this scene in IMAX truly brought home the unparalleled scale of a nuclear
01:09detonation.
01:22A little-known independent film, The Divide contains a bombing sequence that is 1,000
01:27times more convincing than most blockbusters can muster.
01:30A number of nuclear bombs hit New York, turning the city into an apocalyptic hellscape.
01:35Massive pillars of dust fly through the narrow streets, mushroom clouds rise from the impact
01:39zones, and the sky turns a very threatening combination of orange and yellow.
01:52The explosions themselves are certainly realistic, but so too is the chaos among the people,
01:58and the resulting aftermath.
01:59Residents scream and flee as buildings crumble around them.
02:09The X-Men franchise has done a number of creative
02:18things to showcase Wolverine's healing abilities.
02:20Having him survive a nuclear bomb, though, is one of the biggest and boldest.
02:24Logan is serving time in a Japanese war camp, when the US Army drops Fatman over nearby
02:29Nagasaki.
02:30Technically, the planes are flying way too low, and the bomb falls too far to the ground.
02:35But, as for the burst itself, it's an A+.
02:47The initial blinding flash and shockwave is scarily realistic, and the explosion's sense
02:51of scale is breathtaking.
02:53And that's to say nothing of Wolverine's injuries, which are disturbingly close to
02:57what Japanese victims experienced on that fateful morning in 1945.
03:15There are a million Cold War thrillers out there, but few are as effective as the day
03:19after.
03:20An enormously popular TV movie, it aired on ABC in 1983, and concerns a nuclear war between
03:26America and the Soviet Union.
03:28In the film's most startling sequence, the United States is hit by numerous atomic bombs,
03:32resulting in pure nightmare fuel.
03:42So much of this nuclear strike is realistic, including the height at which the bomb goes
03:45off and the way devices and vehicles instantly lose power from the EMP.
03:49There's also the blinding flash, huge winds, an unearthly orange tint, and total human
03:55vaporisation.
03:56It's all pretty terrifying, but also wonderfully cinematic, especially for a TV movie from
04:01the 80s.
04:10James Cameron has crafted some of the greatest action sequences in movie history.
04:14Top of the list, Terminator 2 contains plenty of fantastic explosions, including the destruction
04:20of Cyberdyne, which was done for real to an abandoned office complex in San Jose.
04:27But, perhaps the most effective scene involves the use of special effects during Sarah's
04:34nightmare.
04:35She imagines a nuclear bomb hitting Los Angeles, in a sequence soaked with realism, including
04:40the orange hue and unfortunately, the effects on the human body.
04:48After Judgment Day came out, Cameron even reportedly received a personal letter from
04:51a nuclear laboratory, claiming that he had made the most realistic nuke sequence in movie
04:56history.
05:09While the scene in question is obviously very stylised, the endless explosions are actually
05:13quite true to life, leave it to Christopher Nolan to combine the real with the sublime.
05:18Movies often like to add massive fireballs for cinematic flair, but real explosions aren't
05:22usually like that, and that's exactly what you see in this sequence.
05:33Flames don't shoot in every direction, and there isn't thick black smoke slowly cascading
05:37into the sky.
05:38Instead, it's just a very quick burst with a huge shockwave that sends debris scattering
05:43to the winds.
05:44Nolan wanted realism, and he got it, and he still managed to make it one of the most memorable
05:48parts of the movie.
06:00After an extraordinary amount of build-up, Fury Road ends in spectacular fashion with
06:05an epic explosion.
06:06Immortan Joe's tanker goes up in a huge bang, with Max swinging in front of it on
06:11a pole, always inches away from death.
06:19Seeing this on the big screen was blisteringly eye-popping.
06:22The movie's practical effects are now the stuff of legend, of course.
06:25And to get this shot, the remote-controlled tanker was rigged with explosives and over
06:291,000 litres of gas, resulting in what George Miller calls a balletic boom.
06:40Yes, the explosion was certainly aided by Hollywood magic, but in this case, what you
06:45see is what you get.
06:46That massive fireball is 100% real.
07:00is an ever-popular filming location, and in 2015, it served as Blofeld's base.
07:06We don't spend very long inside the facility, however, as Bond quickly makes his escape
07:10and shoots a number of tanks, turning the base into a towering inferno.
07:13And what a magnificent inferno it is.
07:21Incredibly, it's another scene that was filmed practically, using a huge number of
07:29explosives and over 8,000 litres of fuel.
07:32To date, it is the largest explosion ever filmed for a movie, and while its sheer size
07:36is pure Hollywood, it still contains a number of realistic elements, including the thick
07:41soot smoke and the jets of fuel that shoot into the air.
07:55A film that tackles one of the most infamous terror attacks on US soil, Patriots Day depicts
08:00the bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013, and the immediate manhunt for its perpetrators.
08:05The movie opens with the bombing itself, which is shown through a combination of real footage
08:09and studious recreation.
08:17Many of the visuals are completely genuine, using archival footage captured from news,
08:22security and phone cameras.
08:24Other shots were recreated at an abandoned Navy airfield in South Weymouth.
08:28The results are painfully precise, depicting the explosions as quick, but violent bursts
08:33of grey smoke.
08:45A grim thriller, this movie concerns the issue of human trafficking at the US-Mexico border.
08:50In one of the movie's first scenes, a group of undocumented immigrants are attempting
08:54to cross the border, attracting the attention of armed guards.
08:57One man gets away, and is surrounded by agents, and that's when he activates a bomb.
09:03It's a devastatingly effective sequence, and another with the explosion itself depicted
09:08as a quick burst that's over within seconds.
09:12The immediate shockwave knocks over the soldiers and sends smoke and dust flying through the
09:16air.
09:18but is disturbingly realistic.
09:32If you didn't already know it, Alfonso Cuaron is a seriously skilled director.
09:36Children of Men opens with an explosion in a coffee shop, and Cuaron films it with a
09:40typically gritty and terrifying flair for authenticity.
09:44The camera follows Theo outside the shop, offering a POV glimpse into what is a brutal
09:49act of terrorism.
09:59As with so many scenes on this list, it's a short burst of smoke and shrapnel, and then
10:03it's all over.
10:04The small details add something extra here though, like the shrill ringing, the screams,
10:09and the sound of tinkling glass.
10:10It all combines to create a very personal sense of space, and a close-up glimpse of
10:15a very real type of tragedy.
10:28In a movie full of iconic scenes, the hospital explosion is easily one of the most famous.
10:33While the eruption is obviously very Hollywood, it actually works in the context of the movie,
10:37as the Joker presumably set these types of explosives himself.
10:40It's breathtakingly obvious that the explosion is real as well, you just can't fake these
10:45kinds of visuals.
10:52Indeed, in reality, Christopher Nolan actually blew up an abandoned candy factory that had
11:01been scheduled for demolition.
11:03Well, this certainly is a demolition job.
11:06It's also movie-making at its most pure, the type of wonder and spectacle that draws
11:10millions of excited viewers to the theatre.
11:28Catherine Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty chronicles the violent hunt for, and eventual execution,
11:32of Osama Bin Laden.
11:34Achieving an unflinching sense of ultra-realism is key throughout.
11:38The film dutifully recreates a number of real events, including the attack on Camp Chapman,
11:42which killed nine targets and injured six in 2009.
11:50The bombing is dramatically depicted as a very quick and high discharge of black smoke,
11:55and the sound design rings unnervingly true with a reverberating cracking noise.
12:03It's a sound and visual combo that brings the terrible reality of that day to life.
12:24The third movie in this legendary series begins with Murtagh and Riggs being demoted after
12:28failing to disarm a car bomb.
12:31It sucks for them, but it's great for us because, whoa, that boom is impressive.
12:41The explosion takes down an entire office complex, and we watch with wide eyes as the
12:45building vertically collapses into a plume of thick smoke.
12:49And this was not a miniature either, but a genuine demolition.
12:52The ICSI building is actually Orlando City Hall, which had been disused and was scheduled
12:57to come down.
12:58Warner Bros paid half a million dollars to do it themselves, and the result is movie
13:02history.
13:17Kilgore loves the smell of napalm in the morning.
13:20It's one of cinema's most iconic lines, but its fiery inspiration is really something
13:24to behold.
13:25What sets this scene apart from others is the sheer scale of the explosion.
13:28We get a firm sense of just how massive these bursts can be, with the camera stationed what
13:32seems like miles away, and capturing both the length and verticality of the fire.
13:46The filmmakers used an enormous amount of fuel, which had been strategically placed
13:49in the jungle to capture that distinct line of napalm that quickly erupts skyward.
13:54All in all, no other movie captures the surreal horror of Vietnam quite like this one.
14:12Here we come to what could reasonably be the scariest non-horror film ever released.
14:17A grim Cold War drama, it depicts the apocalyptic aftermath of a nuclear exchange between America
14:22and the Soviet Union, focusing in particular on the effects in Great Britain.
14:26The bombing sequence is intensely realistic, with on-screen text explaining what's happening
14:31and how it affects the general population.
14:39The initial energy pulse wipes out electronics, and scenes of total panic ensue as windows
14:44are blown out and people gape in terror at the mushroom cloud.
14:47It's a waking nightmare.
14:49Beautifully filmed, terrifically acted and above all, disturbingly educational.
15:04What could be the most famous condemnation of nuclear war comes not via tragedy, but
15:10Stanley Kubrick's satire is widely regarded for its stark but hilarious messaging, and
15:14that especially comes across in the brilliantly subversive ending.
15:17Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again plays over various shots of nuclear bombs, the sardonic
15:21humour showcasing a terrifying and bleak reality.
15:35We say bleak reality because this is footage of real nuclear explosions, taken from the
15:40likes of Bikini Atoll, Operation Sandstone and The Trinity Test.
15:44It's one of the most dour endings in movie history, and an enlightening slap in the face
15:48following 90 minutes of comedic bildle.
16:01The bridge explodes, the bridge on the River Kwai.
16:05David Lean's masterpiece is an adaptation of Pierre Boyer's novel, which frames a
16:10fictional narrative around the real Berman railway.
16:12When the titular bridge goes up, however, we're treated to one of the most magnificent
16:16visuals you're ever likely to see.
16:26In terms of how they shot it, the filmmakers constructed an entire bridge in Sri Lanka
16:31for the sole purpose of blowing it up, and blow it up they did.
16:34The structure is destroyed in a number of quick bursts, sending grey smoke and wooden
16:39shrapnel flying through the air.
16:40Best of all, is the very real train that goes off the edge, lending a terrific sense of
16:44scale and blockbuster drama to the process.
16:54Tuco and Blondie blow the bridge, the good, the bad and the ugly.
17:04Sergio Leone's epic is a dense blend of western and historical drama, depicting a
17:09race for gold in the midst of the American Civil War.
17:12And it gets explosive when Tuco and Blondie come across a raging battle which is being
17:16fought over a bridge.
17:18Realising that they won't get through the fighting armies, Blondie decides to blow it
17:22the fighting will cease.
17:31Behind the scenes, engineers in the Spanish army reportedly constructed the bridge and
17:35rigged it with explosives, resulting in a terrific blast, and lots of flying wood.
17:39And it had to be done twice, as on the first try, the explosion actually destroyed the
17:44camera equipment filming it.
17:45But the final details are amazing, including the visible shockwave, the splashing water
17:50and the debris that flies in every direction.
18:13One of the best war movies of the 21st century,
18:24The Hurt Locker won Catherine Bigelow her first Oscar for Best Director, and the Academy
18:29got it right.
18:30She directs the heck out of this movie, including the iconic opening scene where Sergeant Thompson
18:35is killed by a roadside bomb.
18:46This is the Iraq War, brought to startling life.
18:49More of a documentary than a piece of movie making.
18:52Dust and debris shoot upwards with the initial blast, the ground expands and ruptures, and
18:56rust even shoots off a nearby car.
18:59All great details, but the most impressive part is Thompson's death, with the shockwave
19:04providing a grisly element of realism.
19:06You just don't walk away from explosions like in many of the movies.
19:09This is what actually happens.
19:16So what fictional explosion amazed you the most?
19:19Let us know in the comments.