10 Most Anticipated Movie Scenes Of All Time
3. The Trinity Test - Oppenheimer
Trust Christopher Nolan of all people to make an almost 80-year-old event from world history into an epochal cinematic spectacle for the ages, and one that just about everyone had to see.
We're talking of course about Oppenheimer's Trinity Test - the world's first-ever detonation of a nuclear weapon, as overseen by theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy).
Given that the outcome of the detonation is naturally a matter for public record, most of the excitement surrounded the fact that Nolan depicted the explosion with only practical effects, prompting some very silly online theories that Nolan had actually detonated a nuke in the desert for real.
With Nolan remaining vague about the process pre-release, and the Barbenheimer phenomenon sweeping the world, anticipation was sky-high to see just how the filmmaker pulled it off. Ultimately, Nolan's team created a controlled practical explosion using gasoline, propane, aluminum powder, and magnesium, the result of which is an impressive in-camera feat, even if some nevertheless felt that the filmmaker might've actually benefitted from enhancing the explosion with VFX.