20. Mission: Impossible
The weapon: Exploding Bubble Gum
When agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) needs to finish off the bad guys while hanging from a helicopter attached to a speeding train, he uses his secret weapon: a piece of bubble gum composed of a red half and a green half.
Combining the halves together makes it explode in just a few seconds. Hunt squishes it to the copter’s wind shield. After it explodes, Hunt is thrown on to the racing train narrowly escaping the rotor blades.
This scene has probably cost me some of my hearing as it was a favorite sound system demo in my younger days and probably blew a few speakers also as a result of loud decibel levels in my basement.
19. Beneath the Planet of the Apes
The weapon: The Alpha Omega Bomb
After discovering the telepathic mutant society sort of cult living beneath the Earth and reuniting with Taylor (Charlton Heston), Brent and Nova (James Franciscus and Linda Harrison) attempt to stop the beings from detonating their “doomsday device” destroying the entire world and the ape population above.
The apocalyptic ending of the film was unusual for the time period also presenting a challenge for filmmakers wanting to continue the series.
18. Robocop
The weapon: The Auto 9 Gun
After mortally wounded Office Murphy (Peter Weller) is pieced back together as the first cybernetic law enforcement officer, he demonstrates his pistol prowess with his new machine gun pistol.
He mows through the target with ease and then is able to holster the weapon within his new robotic leg after performing the signature weapon twirl.
17. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
The weapon: Seismic Charge
The “Star Wars” movies could have their own list of cool weapons for sure, there should even be a separate list of “coolest sounds from the Star Wars Universe”, and this would be one of them for sure.
After tracking Jango and son Boba Fett to the remote location of planet Geonosis, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is now in for some surprises. Slave 1 doses out several bombs with loud vibrations which shatter the asteroids into smaller fragments making navigation more difficult.
A subsequent space battle ensures.
16. V: The Original Series
The weapon: The Visitors Handgun
Although not a movie, the original “V” and “V: The Final Battle” were epic science fiction mini-series events on television in the United States in the mid-1980s.
The story of the “Visitors” coming to Earth on a seeming benevolent mission, only to discover their true form and covert mission was immensely cool and great television.
Their handgun had a very unique design and was most noted when lead character Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) stole one for himself and was the only human guerilla fighter to use it against the “Visitors” themselves.
15. No Country For Old Men
The weapon: Silenced Shotgun
When crazed vigilante Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) finds a tracking device which brings him to a motel on the Mexican border in search of missing drug money.
A firefight ensues when he meets up with the Mexicans who intend on taking the money for themselves. The pneumatic bolt gun in the film is cool in its own right and deserves honorable mention.
14. Tron: Legacy
The weapon: Identity Disc
When Sam (Garrett Hedlund) enters the same video game cyber worldvin search of his father, Kevin (Jeff Bridges), he encounters a whole new world of intense imagery and CGI splendor.
The Identity Disc battle sequence between Sam and Rinzler us a spectacle of sights and sounds and is a marvel to behold.
The martial arts and reflex involved in the discs ricocheting around the battle arena between the two combatants is intense and thrilling as you wait to see who will prevail.
13. Dirty Harry
The weapon: The .44 Magnum
Not sure which one is cooler for this one: the gun and use of it wasting every bad guy in sight or the character of “Dirty” Harry played by the one and only Clint Eastwood and his delivery of the subsequent line “you’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?”
12. Predator
The weapon: All of Them
The screen’s most famous otherworld hunter had many cool weapons in his arsenal including a shoulder cannon, retractable blades in his arms and a self-destruct explosive device.
Add to this, the weaponry employed by Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and company including “Ole painless” used by Blaine (Jesse Ventura).
The scene of Blaine’s death and subsequent ammunition release into the jungle has to be one of the loudest scenes that has gone through my home theatre.
11. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The weapon: The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
“O LORD, bless this Thy hand grenade that with it Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits, in Thy mercy.”
If you are ever in medieval England and need to blow away your enemies, you could do much worse than this holiest of relics.
It’s also really good at killing rabbits!