9: Fight Club (1999)

9: Fight Club (1999) - Fresh start for the world economy.
The fruit of Tyler Durden's surreptitious activities remains arguably one of cinema's biggest SFX shocks, as Project Mayhem destroys the west's credit records. Image Savant's Richard Baily took over 14 months to produce the visual effects for the destruction of the buildings, which are actually based on buildings owned by 20th Century Fox; the company feared litigation if Fight Club were actually to depict the destruction of genuine credit companies.

Impact: Partly prescient of the mood that would soon overtake the world, and partly nostalgic for a time when terrorism on that gargantuan scale was still science-fictional, Project Mayhem can't help but get a response out of the viewer. At the time, it was pretty funny. What it meant two years later was something else, and - along with the likes of Independence Day and Arlington Road (#5), we are forced to view the carnage through more informed eyes.

Click here to return to Top 20 end-of-movie explosions

Top 50 movie special effects
Top 24 worst special effects of all time
Top 25 fictional ads in sci-fi movies
Top 50 sexy sci-fi costumes