Top 10 Movie Explosions of All Time

Michael Bay may never win a Best Director Oscar, but Scorsese will never be able to lay claim to an arguably higher honor: the Guinness Record for biggest explosion ever caught on film with actors present. The blast in question takes place in Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, which opens on June 24. As millions of people line up to see the biggest blast ever, we look back to rank the ten greatest explosions in movie history.

Not all great explosions involve fireballs. If comedy is the disconnect between the expected and the actual outcome, then the infamous head explosion scene in David Cronenberg's psycho psychic thriller is absolutely hilarious (and may have served as inspiration for watermelon-smashing comedian Gallagher). For first-time viewers, the bursting cranium is so unexpected, so shockingly gory, and played so straight, that the only possible reaction is laughter. The explosion was created by make-up artist Dick Smith (the same guy who turned Linda Blair into Satan's vessel in The Exorcist). And while the mess of brains and flesh might suggest otherwise, no actors were sacrificed in the making of this scene—the effect was created by shooting a dog food and rabbit liver-filled latex cast with a 12-gauge shotgun. The result is, in our opinion, a far more realistic head-bang than any computer has been able to create since.

This scene was also immortalized in the first Wayne's World movie, when Garth tosses out the throwaway line: “Ever see that scene in Scanners when that dude's head blows up?” Click the clip below and you can say you have.

These days, it's common knowledge that crossing the beams of your proton pack is a bad idea. But as the Ghostbusters showed us, an unstoppable King Kong-size hunk of corporate marshmallow mascot can leave you with little choice. The result: The awesome demolition of an ancient Sumerian temple (conveniently located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan), and an entire neighborhood of jaded New Yorkers covered with molten marshmallows.

Die Hard is the action movie by which all action movies since have been judged. The formula is simple: One hard-boiled cop, one team of terrorists and one claustrophobic enclosure (this time it's an L.A. skyscraper—which was actually the then-unfinished real-life headquarters of 20th Century Fox). But the swift pacing, memorable one-liners (yippee-ki-yay!), and awesome action made it work then, and hold up today. In one of the film's climactic moments, John McClane (Bruce Willis) uses a fire hose to jump off the roof of the building just as it explodes. According to director John McTiernan, most of the exterior building explosion shots were real explosions set around the building

As a movie, Swordfish was a cliché-ridden exercise in style. But what style. In this scene, an unfortunate hostage and her C4 vest are blown up in unflinching Matrix-like slow-mo, allowing us to see shockwaves shatter a line of cop cars as ball bearings fly through the air like BBs, tearing through anybody in their way.

While Stealth was a bomb in the box office (its total haul was about $60 million less than its budget), it also had one of the biggest explosions movie theaters have ever seen. In this scene, a stealth bomber shoots its way out of a hangar using a high-powered rocket, leaving an army of bad guys smoldering in its wake. To create the massive wall of fire, the filmmakers used 500 gallons of gasoline.

There's an argument to be made that the destruction of the original Death Star was a better explosion than the second. But for our money, we'd rather watch the bigger, better, and far fierier fate of the second Death Star (even if it means fast-forwarding past scenes of Ewoks celebrating). The clincher for us: The added element of suspense. Unlike Luke, who simply had to shoot some torpedoes into surface-based tubes to blow up the first Death Star, the Rebel fighters this time are forced to fly into the core of the Death Star. And while we all know George Lucas wasn't going to let that fire catch up to the Millenium Falcon, it sure was awesome watching Lando outrun a wall of fire as he squeaked through the narrowest of escapes on his way back out.

In 1984, director James Cameron was a relatively unproven talent, and lacked the budget to bring to life the ambitious mega action scenes that would make him famous. As a result, the original Terminator was a lean, focused, low-budget thriller—by today's standards, it's almost a model of restraint. Of course, by the time the sequel rolled around seven years later, Cameron had the sway to spend whatever he wanted, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day was stuffed to the gills with intense action scenes, then-cutting-edge CG and massive explosions. Our favorite: the detonation of Cyberdyne headquarter. For this scene, Cameron employed 11 cameras to capture the demolition of a real building in Fremont, CA (the building was actually rebuilt after the filming, and still stands there today.)

Just one year stands between Independence Day and that other Will Smith-vs.-Aliens blockbuster, Men In Black. But in terms of how each film's creepy crawlies and spaceships were brought to life, they couldn't be more different. While Men In Black was made with generous helpings of CG, Independence Day largely relied on man-made models (it still holds the record for the most miniature models ever used in a single film). Our favorite use (and abuse) of miniatures: the destruction of a scale-model White House. For this scene, the crew created a 10-foot long, 1/12th scale replica that was blown to smithereens with 40 explosive charges. The scene was shot with nine different cameras playing at different speeds. The explosion was made to appear larger-than-life by playing back the footage from the fast-shooting cameras at a slower frame rate.

In Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film, Zabriskie Point, actress Daria Halpren fantasizes about blowing up her boss's lux Phoenix pad—something we witness happen again, and again, and again, from every conceivable angle. As the building burns, its clutter and contents psychedelically fly through the air to the beat of the Pink Floyd-supplied soundtrack. One of the strangest, longest and most awesome explosions ever caught on camera.

Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan is quoted as saying: “I wanted to blow up more things than anyone had ever blown up before.” The film's most explosive moment: the destruction of Gotham General Hospital as Heath Ledger's maniacal nurse-dressed Joker hobbles away. For this actual demolition shot, the crew destroyed the old Brachs Candy corporate headquarters in Chicago, creating an explosion that could be seen citywide (check out amateur videos of the blow-up here and here). Because the crew only had one take, it required an immense amount of preparation and choreography. Nolan later stated how impressed he was by Ledger's ability to walk away from the explosion (which happened with him in the frame) without looking back.