While the escapism of being transported to some far-off world is captivating, setting a disaster movie somewhere familiar grounds it in a more chilling reality. Suddenly, the threat of the apocalypse, a natural disaster, or a Martian attack hits closer to home when the target is a place we all know and love.
And when disaster strikes, national landmarks are often the casualties, as is seen in the latest White House-centric thriller Olympus Has Fallen. (Which has many problems that go well beyond blowing up the seat of American politics.)
As beloved as these are, it’s also cool to see shit blow up. These are 25 epic scenes of landmark destruction in movies, in GIFs.
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