Gorgo (1961)
The Damage: What do you do with a large mutant lizard? Parade him through Trafalgar Square on the back of a lorry – a trail that foreshadowed the ruin wrought upon the city by Gorgo’s mum, Ogra, in this 1961 gianꩵt monster movie. Wading up the Thames, she knocks down Tower Bridge like it’s made of matchwood, before her paper mache claws make mincemeat of Big Ben, wipe out most of Whitehall, vaporise Piccadilly Circus and even clobber the premises of L.T. Robinson & Son: Watch Makers.
Destructometer: 10/10
Reign of Fire (2002)
The Damage: Holy mother of dragons, London isn’t let off li༒ghtly here: Rob Bowman’s blockbuster reduces the entire cityscape to ashen skeletons after planned engineering works unearth a dragon’s den under the city.💮 “This town’s gone to hell,” says Christian Bale as a winged beast soars in front of the charred remains of Tower Bridge and St Paul’s. He’s not wrong.
Destructometer: 10/10
Flood (2007)
The Damage: Flood is a film about a catastrophic flood🌱 that floods the United Kingdom. Sure enough, the flooding reaches the capital city, where even the Thames Barrier cannot stop it, leaving London half-submerged in floodwater. Trafalgar Square, the Underground, the Houses of Parliament; all of theꦅm completely flooded.
Destructometer: 8/10
28 Days Later (2002)
The Damage: Danny Boyle’s modern horror fo꧑cuses less on the structural damage and more on the human cost: as Cillian Murphy wanders around a deserted city, we see buses toppled on the Mall and cars abandoned in Piccadilly Circus, but no sign of major structural damage. The effect remains startling.
Destructomer: 0/10
The War of the Worlds (1953)
The Damage : “The people of Britain met the invaders magnificently,” explains The War of the Worlds’ narrator, but neglects to show us footage of the actual battle after relocating the H.G. Wells novel to America. We are told the Martians are “unavailing” in one worldwide montage, but it can’t be that bad: the narrator also adds that the British Cabinet remained in session in the Houses of Parliament✱ throughout.
Destructometer: 3/10
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
The Damage: The Thames itself gets it when the Silver Surfer opens a🍃 sinkhole right by Westminster Bridge. The force of it is enough to dislodge the London Eye, causꦍing its spindle to break away from the cantilevered hub, the cables flailing against the windows of London County Hall.
Destructometer : 5/10
