There is no secret that many digital artists have joined the visual effects industry to get the opportunity to destroy things on a massive scale and the ability to do so has been taken to great cinematic advantage, as demonstrated the by film catalogues of Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay.
However, explosions and destruction have been part of the visual vernacular ever since the British silent short film Explosion of a Motor Car directed by Cecil M. Hepworth in 1900 and has since taken on nuclear proportions as demonstrated in the Oscar-winning biopic Oppenheimer in 2023; the latter took advantage of the practical expertise of special effects and elevated the spectacle by digitally layering the various shot elements together through compositing.
Needless to say when highlighting the most explosive moments in cinema it is a mixture of real world and computer knowhow. Below I ask pros in the film industry to share the explosions that got them hooked on filmmaking. If you want more pro insights, read our similar features on the best CG character designs and best CG creatures.
01. Bridge Detonation – A Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
A legendary British filmmaker known for his epic vision and productions over an eight month-period constructed the largest set at the time that cost $250,000, was six stories high, a third longer than a football field, and then he subsequently blew it up!
“Identifying the best movie explosion is a challenge, but the climactic blast in A Bridge on the River Kwai stands out as perhaps the most impactful,” states Robert Legato, director and visual effects director, who was responsible for the dramatic rocket liftoff in Apollo 13.
“The power of this explosion isn't just in the spectacle itself, but in the suspenseful buildup throughout the film, making its arrival far from a mere visual thrill. Unlike explosions that are added merely for effect, this one is integral to the story, delivering a physical and emotional impact that resonates to this day.
"With David Lean's incredible directorial acumen, this explosion is executed with impeccable taste and precision, showcasing his ability to blend spectacle with an incredible buildup of anticipation that doesn’t disappoint.”
02. Ride of the Valkyries – Apocalypse Now (1979)
With Francis Ford Coppola releasing yet another colossal project with the appropriately titled Megalopolis, he was at one time responsible for the largest practical explosion on a film set which has been since surpassed by the likes of Michael Bay and the Transformers franchise.
The moment in question is when a Vietnamese village gets napalmed in Apocalypse Now (1979) as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall) descends with the 1st Squadron, 9th Air Cavalry Regiment blaring the music of Richard Wagner; there to witness the massive undertaking was Scott Glenn who played the minor role of CIA assassin turned Kurtz convert Lt. Richard M. Colby and subsequently starred in The Right Stuff and The Silence of the Lambs.
“They did that again and again because they were trying to choreographic it to Ride of the Valkyries,” recalls actor and producer Scott Glenn. “I forget how many gallons of gasoline but they would try it, shoot it. It didn’t work. Come back next week. Do it again. I don’t know how many times they shot the napalm explosion. They did it a lot of times.”
03. Empire State Building and White House – Independence Day (1996)
Everyone talks about Michael Bay and his penchant for massive explosions but before he burst on the scene with Bad Boys (1995), Roland Emmerich was already doing some series damage with Universal Soldier (1992) and has continued to do so by destroying the world several times over with The Day After Tomorrow (2008), 2012 (2009), and Moonfall (2022).
However, there is one movie in particular revolving around alien invaders with a total disregard for national landmarks that stands out when discussing the works of Emmerich. “Everyone has their favourites,” admits producer and VFX supervisor Sheena Duggal, who did some wild symbiote damage for Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
Sheena adds: “One that sticks in my head is the explosions of the miniatures in Independence Day [1996], both the Empire State Building and the White House, for which detailed scale models were created. This technique was much more popular in the 1990s and early 2000s, and worked great when seamlessly combined with live action plates. The explosions in Apocalypse Now [1979] that were emulated with comedy in Tropic Thunder [2008] were also epic.”
04. Cellphone Triggered Bomb – The Hurt Locker (2008)
Not everything has to be over the top spectacle as the real goal for some is to pack an intense emotional punch rather than produce an awe-inspiring event. When it comes to grounded realism an Oscar-winner gets singled out by VFX supervisor Adrian de Wet who did a his fair share of shark-infested mayhem in The Meg.
“The Hurt Locker. It just seems so real. Not overly pretty or even particularly pyrotechnic, in fact there is minimal flame, but the blast seems real, ugly and lethal. And the surrounding slow-motion shots with the dust lifting off the car and the gravel slowly rising off the ground are an added detail that portrays the brutal force.
"There is so much dust and debris and shrapnel in the blast that it makes it horribly clear how lethal these things are, and yet it somehow manages to be poetic. We used this scene as inspiration for the bomb blasts in the Arena for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
05. Hosnian System and Starkiller Base – Star Wars: Episode VII (2015)
Setting the precedent for planetary destruction within the Star Wars Universe was the Death Star obliterating Alderaan in Star Wars: Episode lV – A New Hope and has been a constant through-line for the franchise which something that is acknowledged by John Knoll, Chief Creative Officer, ILM who readily states, “I really liked the look of the explosion work in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
The ante was magnified by five in the first instalment of the trilogy that concludes the Skywalker saga as the entire Hosnian System consisting of Hosnian Prime, Hosnian, Raysho, Cardota and Courtsilius are annihilated by the super-weapon commanded by the First Order on the icy and kyber crystal rich planet of Ilum that consumes sun as a power source. The devastation is witnessed throughout the galaxy and proves that the Starkiller Base rather than Death Star is a more appropriate name.
Then there is Resistance X-wing fighter pilot Poe Dameron, much like his predecessor Luke Skywalker (in the early of drafts of Star Wars the last name was Starkiller), exploiting a structural weakness that causes the Starkiller Base to implode as it attempts to eliminated the Resistance base on D’Qar.
06. Blofeld’s Base Destruction - Spectre (2015)
When considering the best movie explosion, VFX supervisor Sara Bennett, who is no stranger in digitally enhancing destruction for The Old Guard, answers, “I have to go with the scene in Spectre. The SFX team built this incredible explosion on a huge scale, which looked fantastic and was brilliantly choreographed.”
The Guinness Book of World Records took notice as well, resulting in special effects wizard Chris Corbould and his crew being credited with the largest film stunt explosion for the destruction of a desert base, which served as the lair of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The exterior location was a crater called Gara Medouar in Morocco and the demolition itself was achieved with 8418 litres of fuel, 33 kg of explosives, and 300 detonators programmed to the 1,000th of a second.
Extensive rehearsals took place involving testing explosions ten days prior to principal photography. Adding further complication was having to time the explosion with Daniel Craig finishing a particular line of dialogue.
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07. Coaxium Explosion – Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
In contemporary times it is hard not to mention the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which constantly places the Earth in threat of annihilation from intergalactic threats. In the process of defending our homeland superheroes have a habit of doing some serious collateral damage in their own right.
“Every good action movie deserves a good explosion or two and there are indeed a lot of action movies!” notes Jake Morrison who has regularly accompanied the God of Thunder through his time in the MCU.
“This means a wealth of material to choose my favourite movie explosion from. I have a soft spot for underwater explosions. We shot some wonderful 1000+ fps detonations for the Dark Elf Grenades in Thor: The Dark World before we were asked to veer elsewhere so I was cheering at the screen when I saw Solo: A Star Wars Story."
He adds: "The combination of a photogrammetry reconstruction of a mountain range with a miniature underwater explosion, married to a CG takeover really represented a truly wonderful fusion of all of the tools our chosen art form has given us and hats off to the team who pulled it off.”
