14: V For Vendetta (2005)

14: V For Vendetta (2006) - Destruction of the houses of Parliament.
Alan Moore's UK-set dystopia arguably has even more impact for British fans than the huge following it attained abroad. Its theme of fascism, surveillance and Orwellian culture-control strikes an uncomfortably resonant note in the most-surveilled country in the world. This is ironic when you consider that Tony Blair's son Euan is said (by Stephen Fry) to have worked with James McTeigue's production team to secure unprecedented access for the destructive scene featured here. MP David Davies criticised Blair for granting access, given the film's anarchist-terrorist theme, and the film-makers are said to deny that Euan Blair was influential, but rather that the access was granted after more than a year of negotiations with the British government.

Impact: Blowing shit up isn't quite what it was in the 1990s and earlier. The total destruction of the Houses Of Parliament has a disturbing cultural resonance that mixes uncomfortably with the joy that Hugo Weaving's 'V', himself a very ambiguous character, has achieved his objective. For once, the political ambiguity of a big movie is a challenge rather than a diplomatic cop-out. The 1/10th scale model explosions are refreshingly low on CGI, and were constructed by VFX company Cinesite over 11 weeks at Shepperton studios. The explosions themselves were enhanced by compositing both CGI and practical pyrotechnic footage.

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