Which movie has the most REALISTIC nuclear explosion?

Cafe Society
1

…y’know, just like the title says.

I mean, we’ve all seen the movies that just show a cheesy CGI mushroom cloud rising perfectly formed off the ground…and, more often than not, it actually is a groundburst, not an airburst.

And then, of course, there are the movies that just show stock footage of one of the Bikini atoll bomb tests…even when the explosion in the movie’s story is supposed to be occuring over land. :mad: :rolleyes:

So, can anyone here with any expertise on the subject point out some movies with a realistic simulated nuclear explosion? I’m afraid that, while I’m able to spot the badly done ones, I’m not very confident in my ability to spot the really good ones.

Well, thanks for your time,
Ranchoth

2

I gotta admit, I’m partial to the series of nukes in Dr Strangelove. Of course, it’s just more stock footage of various explosions, but they’re quite realistic.

3

The Day After showed horrifying scenes of a nuclear blast doing copious ground-level destruction. I can’t specifically remember if they showed a bird’s-eye view or not, though.

4

The Sum of All Fears does a pretty good job.

My $ 0.02 Explosion: Sum … Immediate After Effects on the ground : Day After

5

I recall almost shitting Raisenettes the first time I saw that dream scene in Terminator 2…

6

My nod goes to T2 as well , with a follow up to Aliens , which was a perfectly good nuclear explosion , only one that should not have happened.

Declan

7

They were gonna take off and nuke the site from orbit anyway, Declan. Rupturing the cooling system was merely a cost-effective way of destroying the hive. :wink:

8

yeah , but the problem in my mind was that the reactor should have done a china syndrome , not detonate.

Had they actually dropped the nuke , i would have had no probles with it , but what they actually did was use artisitic license.

Declan

9

I would definitely say The Day After. But then again, I’ve never seen a real explosion - just tests and movies. :wink:

10

An episode of Ren and Stimpy had a surprisingly well animated nuclear explosion, even including the characteristic “double flash”.

11

Well, I perhaps would have not put it just like that :slight_smile: – but that’s the scene I thought of first!!

12

It’s been six years but I think I was pretty impressed with the one in “The Peacemaker.” Remember? Wasn’t it Dreamworks first movie? And George Clooney’s big step into film after ER?

Hmm, well at least I might have jogged somebody else’s memory.

13

No one did it better than Trinity and Beyond.

14

POSSIBLE SPOILER Re: Empire of the Sun Empire of the Sun had a very pretty, so to speak, view of a nuclear explosion from a great distance - either Hiroshima or Nagasaki, I’m not sure which, as viewed from a Japanese Internment Camp in China. I do not know how accurate it was, but it was believeable, for certain.

15

And you got William Shatner narration, too!

:smiley:

16

The first one that came to my mind was ** Dr. Strangelove**, but after being reminded of T2, I have to say that gets my vote. As Dooku said, definitely a raisinette-shittable scene. :wink:

17

Well, for up-close and personal, T2 was pretty impressive, as was Sum of All Fears. I’m wondering about from a distance, though…I haven’t seen too many of those, but I’m wondering how realistic the 'shroom cloudburst was from the mini-nuke in True Lies.

18

Threads?

19

Reminds me of an interesting little tidbit I read in Entertainment Weekly (before Titanic):

Number of James Cameron films: 5
Number in which a nuclear explosion is a key plot device: 5!

20

Indeed, nukes and feet are his “director’s trademarks.” As you mentioned, the only film he’s done without a nuke in it was Titanic, which could have arguably been improved by the inclusion of same. :smiley:

[sub]Really, feet. Either someone stomps on something, or a bunch o’ people run by the camera, or both, with the shot never showing anything above the knees.[/sub]