I guess I would define a 'movie with splosions' as a movie that derives major plot points from an explosion. Almost every action movie has an explosion in it, but few can use an explosion as a defining part of the film. It doesn't even have to be more than one or two explosions, such as
#1 Die Hard
The elevator scene and the rooftop scene were integral to the plot of the film. I wouldn't say, 'Hey you have to watch this explosion film', but the explosions were a character in the movie. What also would qualify are the gratuitous 'everything explodes' film. Micheal Bay wishes he could make a film like
#2 Demolition Man
Without the explosions, this movie would need to be recast. Just fun and things blowing up real good. Which doesn't mean that there arn't also intelligent explosion movies
#3 The Hurt Locker
This would fall more into the category of the 'Mad Bomber' rather than a war movie. There have been many of these kinds of movies over the years, mostly dealing with a terrorist threat or a bank heist of some sort. The danger of calling any heist movie an explosion movie, is that most of the heist movies would be just fine without the explosions. You couldn't take that threat out of the Hurt Locker. But if I draw the line at the Hurt Locker as defining a war movie in an explosions context, then I have to put in
#4 A Bridge Too Far
a war movie. When I really think about war movies, they are rife with explosions everywhere. But many don't rely on explosions as a major turning point in the plot. Bridge too Far had the bridge scene, the behind enemy lines scene, the artillery in the woods scene... just off the top of my head. This may not make my top five war films, but is in my top five war films with explosions. I also wanted to acknowledge the love that Hard Boiled is getting here. One of my all time favorite action movies. But I myself couldn't classify it as an explosion movie, so I've got to go with
#5 Scanners
... yeah. Not a pure action film. I cheated, but couldn't resist. I wanted to throw that one in there as well to demonstrate just how difficult it is to find a movie that you can honestly say, 'wait until you see the exploding bit!'. It's actually a lot rarer than you'd think. I'm not sure if any of these would make my top five action films, except possibly Die Hard. If you want explosions though, all worth watching.
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