mine officially blown welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 movie
scenes that must have been nearly
impossible to shoot
we’re taking a look at some of cinema’s
most impressive sequences made possible
through astonishing effects editing and
cinematography the scenes additionally
need to have a certain degree of
difficulty or originality to them
leaving the audience wondering how the
hell did they do that we’ve excluded
continuous uninterrupted shots because
we already have a list dedicated to
those
number ten the smell of napalm in the
morning
Apocalypse Now CGI isn’t a simple
process but it has made achieving the
impossible much easier Francis Ford
Coppola didn’t have this luxury back in
1979 making Apocalypse Now his own
personal apocalypse although every shot
of the movie is an incredible feat this
napalm strike might be the most
remarkable capturing reel f5 Tigers and
a real extended explosion on film
Coppola settles for nothing less than
perfection in recreating the Vietnam War
as impressive as the scene is on a
technical level Robert Duvall’s iconic
monologue truly steals the show
hey all the guys on the world smells
like that
I love the smell of napalm in the
morning number nine bridge collapse the
Bridge on the River Kwai
yet another classic from the pre CGI era
the Bridge on the River Kwai works up to
a crucial scene in which the bridge
itself comes tumbling down
British officer here to blow up the
bridge Oh bitches British commando
orders throw up the bridge
rather than using models the filmmakers
decided to demolish a full-scale bridge
as a train comes plunging into the river
below only getting one chance at
shooting this pivotal not to mention
expensive moment the whole picture would
have basically been ruined if anything
went wrong
fortunately the flawless final product
turned out to be nothing short of movie
magic
number eight the crazy 88 fight Kill
Bill Vol 1
Quentin Tarantino throws everything he
has at his leading lady and audience in
this kick-ass scene you didn’t think it
was going to be that easy to tune you
know for a second there yeah I kind of
did confronted by an army of masked men
the bride engages in a gloriously
choreographed battle full of severed
body parts and blood spewing everywhere
as excessive as it may appear
brilliantly shot and gushing with
creative swordplay Tarantino just keeps
topping himself
the sequence is so overwhelming that you
really need to stop and catch your
breath once it’s over
good thing Kill Bill was split into two
movies number seven deserted London 28
days later
filming a deserted city might not sound
especially complex when you consider the
time and manpower needed to make a huge
capital city look abandoned though it’s
a pretty daunting task
nevertheless Danny Boyle pulled it off
in 28 days later placing Killian Murphy
in the eerily empty streets of London
with the police closing the roads at 4
a.m. and reopening them around rush hour
Boyle only had a brief window of time
each day sometimes only a couple of
dozen minutes to shoot this stunning
sequence but it was worth it the results
certainly created a disturbing
end-of-days vibe
number six the Burj Khalifa Mission
Impossible Ghost Protocol okay Ethan the
hotel servers 11 stories up in seven
units over okay
comm check copy suspending Tom Cruise
outside the tallest building in the
world there are so many ways this
sequence from Mission Impossible Ghost
Protocol could have cheated
rather than relying on a green screen or
hiring a stunt double what the audience
sees is virtually what they got oh the
sequence is only made more thrilling
when considering that’s really Tom
Cruise running and crawling outside the
Burj Khalifa
even if cables are supporting him
it’ll have you hanging at the edge of
your seat
just as Cruz hangs 123 stories above
Dubai number five
d-day Saving Private Ryan
Milind over the course of a month the
Omaha Beach landing sequence from Saving
Private Ryan places the audience at the
center of the action through handheld
cameras although the film hasn’t
introduced us to any characters yet we
immediately share all the anguish and
panic these soldiers endure while the
scene is indeed a visual marvel what’s
truly miraculous is how Steven Spielberg
bluntly immerses the audience in combat
with haunting imagery that will forever
remain etched in our minds never has a
depiction of war felt more hellish
number four joker chase the Dark Knight
through his Dark Knight trilogy
Christopher Nolan aspired to create a
Gotham City that could exist in the real
world this is a bill for that right
his grittier approach to the franchise
especially shines in this freeway chase
chiefly relying on practical effects
filmed on the streets of Chicago the
explosive confrontation works up to an
applauded worthy climax as Batman
utilizes his fully functional back pod
to flip the Joker’s rig and yes the
filmmakers overturned an actual truck
with a driver inside how will Nolan ever
topped this amazing set piece stay tuned
to find out number three car chase
Mad Max – the road warrior
given a bigger budget for the initial
sequel to Mad Max George Miller was able
to go as big and over-the-top as he
wanted he put the money to great use
particularly in the films wildly
inventive climax
driving a tanker our death-defying hero
is bombarded by a gang on wheels
determined to spill his blood for oil
with vehicles crashing vehicles catching
on fire and characters jumping between
vehicles it’s exhausting just thinking
about how Miller got this extraordinary
scene on film however he did it we are
100% grateful
number two the Titanic sinking Titanic
iceberg wanna thank you Titanic is full
of inspiring moments that authentically
recreate the supposedly unsinkable ships
rise and demise utilizing a diverse
blend of sets models green screen
effects and CGI to fashion the most
convincing illusion possible James
Cameron leads the audience gasping for
air
up until the Titanic’s final moments
before it submerged below the sea with
countless extras crowding around the bow
and holding on for dear life as the ship
breaks in half the audience is thrilled
shocked heartbroken and left feeling
totally insignificant compared to the
film’s majestic size
before our top pick blows us away here
are some honorable mentions
number one crashing this plane the Dark
Knight Rises
if I pull that off will you die it would
be extremely painful you’re a big guy
for you trapped in an airborne CIA plane
there appears to be no escape for Bane
was it getting caught part of your plan
of course when a c-130 shows up though
the criminal mastermind puts his
unthinkable getaway plan into action
what’s the next step of your master plan
crashing this hood causing the
government aircraft to take a nosedive
and ultimately crash to the ground this
scene is truly a revolution of stunts
cinematography and staging
it goes to show that Christopher Nolan
will never stop pushing the envelope in
terms of ambitious action sequences from
the corridor fight in Inception
to this unbelievable opening to the Dark
Knight Rises come on down doctor now is
not the time for fear that comes later
do you agree with our list
what impressive movie scenes made you
drop your job for more entertaining top
10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 movie
scenes that must have been nearly
impossible to shoot
we’re taking a look at some of cinema’s
most impressive sequences made possible
through astonishing effects editing and
cinematography the scenes additionally
need to have a certain degree of
difficulty or originality to them
leaving the audience wondering how the
hell did they do that we’ve excluded
continuous uninterrupted shots because
we already have a list dedicated to
those
number ten the smell of napalm in the
morning
Apocalypse Now CGI isn’t a simple
process but it has made achieving the
impossible much easier Francis Ford
Coppola didn’t have this luxury back in
1979 making Apocalypse Now his own
personal apocalypse although every shot
of the movie is an incredible feat this
napalm strike might be the most
remarkable capturing reel f5 Tigers and
a real extended explosion on film
Coppola settles for nothing less than
perfection in recreating the Vietnam War
as impressive as the scene is on a
technical level Robert Duvall’s iconic
monologue truly steals the show
hey all the guys on the world smells
like that
I love the smell of napalm in the
morning number nine bridge collapse the
Bridge on the River Kwai
yet another classic from the pre CGI era
the Bridge on the River Kwai works up to
a crucial scene in which the bridge
itself comes tumbling down
British officer here to blow up the
bridge Oh bitches British commando
orders throw up the bridge
rather than using models the filmmakers
decided to demolish a full-scale bridge
as a train comes plunging into the river
below only getting one chance at
shooting this pivotal not to mention
expensive moment the whole picture would
have basically been ruined if anything
went wrong
fortunately the flawless final product
turned out to be nothing short of movie
magic
number eight the crazy 88 fight Kill
Bill Vol 1
Quentin Tarantino throws everything he
has at his leading lady and audience in
this kick-ass scene you didn’t think it
was going to be that easy to tune you
know for a second there yeah I kind of
did confronted by an army of masked men
the bride engages in a gloriously
choreographed battle full of severed
body parts and blood spewing everywhere
as excessive as it may appear
brilliantly shot and gushing with
creative swordplay Tarantino just keeps
topping himself
the sequence is so overwhelming that you
really need to stop and catch your
breath once it’s over
good thing Kill Bill was split into two
movies number seven deserted London 28
days later
filming a deserted city might not sound
especially complex when you consider the
time and manpower needed to make a huge
capital city look abandoned though it’s
a pretty daunting task
nevertheless Danny Boyle pulled it off
in 28 days later placing Killian Murphy
in the eerily empty streets of London
with the police closing the roads at 4
a.m. and reopening them around rush hour
Boyle only had a brief window of time
each day sometimes only a couple of
dozen minutes to shoot this stunning
sequence but it was worth it the results
certainly created a disturbing
end-of-days vibe
number six the Burj Khalifa Mission
Impossible Ghost Protocol okay Ethan the
hotel servers 11 stories up in seven
units over okay
comm check copy suspending Tom Cruise
outside the tallest building in the
world there are so many ways this
sequence from Mission Impossible Ghost
Protocol could have cheated
rather than relying on a green screen or
hiring a stunt double what the audience
sees is virtually what they got oh the
sequence is only made more thrilling
when considering that’s really Tom
Cruise running and crawling outside the
Burj Khalifa
even if cables are supporting him
it’ll have you hanging at the edge of
your seat
just as Cruz hangs 123 stories above
Dubai number five
d-day Saving Private Ryan
Milind over the course of a month the
Omaha Beach landing sequence from Saving
Private Ryan places the audience at the
center of the action through handheld
cameras although the film hasn’t
introduced us to any characters yet we
immediately share all the anguish and
panic these soldiers endure while the
scene is indeed a visual marvel what’s
truly miraculous is how Steven Spielberg
bluntly immerses the audience in combat
with haunting imagery that will forever
remain etched in our minds never has a
depiction of war felt more hellish
number four joker chase the Dark Knight
through his Dark Knight trilogy
Christopher Nolan aspired to create a
Gotham City that could exist in the real
world this is a bill for that right
his grittier approach to the franchise
especially shines in this freeway chase
chiefly relying on practical effects
filmed on the streets of Chicago the
explosive confrontation works up to an
applauded worthy climax as Batman
utilizes his fully functional back pod
to flip the Joker’s rig and yes the
filmmakers overturned an actual truck
with a driver inside how will Nolan ever
topped this amazing set piece stay tuned
to find out number three car chase
Mad Max – the road warrior
given a bigger budget for the initial
sequel to Mad Max George Miller was able
to go as big and over-the-top as he
wanted he put the money to great use
particularly in the films wildly
inventive climax
driving a tanker our death-defying hero
is bombarded by a gang on wheels
determined to spill his blood for oil
with vehicles crashing vehicles catching
on fire and characters jumping between
vehicles it’s exhausting just thinking
about how Miller got this extraordinary
scene on film however he did it we are
100% grateful
number two the Titanic sinking Titanic
iceberg wanna thank you Titanic is full
of inspiring moments that authentically
recreate the supposedly unsinkable ships
rise and demise utilizing a diverse
blend of sets models green screen
effects and CGI to fashion the most
convincing illusion possible James
Cameron leads the audience gasping for
air
up until the Titanic’s final moments
before it submerged below the sea with
countless extras crowding around the bow
and holding on for dear life as the ship
breaks in half the audience is thrilled
shocked heartbroken and left feeling
totally insignificant compared to the
film’s majestic size
before our top pick blows us away here
are some honorable mentions
number one crashing this plane the Dark
Knight Rises
if I pull that off will you die it would
be extremely painful you’re a big guy
for you trapped in an airborne CIA plane
there appears to be no escape for Bane
was it getting caught part of your plan
of course when a c-130 shows up though
the criminal mastermind puts his
unthinkable getaway plan into action
what’s the next step of your master plan
crashing this hood causing the
government aircraft to take a nosedive
and ultimately crash to the ground this
scene is truly a revolution of stunts
cinematography and staging
it goes to show that Christopher Nolan
will never stop pushing the envelope in
terms of ambitious action sequences from
the corridor fight in Inception
to this unbelievable opening to the Dark
Knight Rises come on down doctor now is
not the time for fear that comes later
do you agree with our list
what impressive movie scenes made you
drop your job for more entertaining top
10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
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