One of the coolest tropes in action movies, the “Unflinching Walk” aka “Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions” scene establishes that a character is so badass that they are completely unfazed by an explosion going off behind them, and it makes them look even more awesome as a character. With the new Man on Fire Netflix series out today, it has a high bar to reach, as the 2004 film had one of the best of these types of scenes in movie history. Check out our picks for the top 10 best “Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions” scenes.
10. Shooter- Mark Wahlberg
Thinking they are safe due to their positions in the US government, the men who set up sniper Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) get a rude awakening when Swagger tracks them down and brutally takes them out in their remote cabin hideout. In a classic move, he ruptures a gas line in the house and rigs the cabin to explode, which it does as he lives up to his name and swaggers away from the fiery destruction.
9. The Punisher- Thomas Jane
After pulling off his elaborate revenge scheme against crime boss Howard Saint, including tricking Saint into killing his wife and best friend, Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) is finally ready to take out Saint himself. After shooting him, he chains him to the back of a car, which then gets dragged through a parking lot of cars, all of which Castle has rigged to explode. It’s a bit drawn-out and ridiculous, but Castle gets points for rigging the explosions so they form his trademark skull logo when viewed from above.
8. Con Air- John Malkovich
Villains can also get in on the explosion action, which can show how sadistic and menacing they can be. There’s plenty to establish that from John Malkovich as Cyrus the Virus in Con Air, but one of his coldest moments is when he takes out Francisco Cindino (Jesse Borrego). Learning that Cindino planned to backstab him and escape from Lerner Airfield in a private jet, leaving Cyrus and the other prisoners of the prison plan high and dry. Unknowingly getting an assist from US Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack), the jet crashes, and while Cindino pleads with Cyrus, he casually lights a cigarette and tosses it into the gasoline leaking out of the wreck, burning Cindino to death and exploding the wreckage. As the group of prisoners walks away, Cyrus is the only one who doesn’t look back or flinch at the explosion.
7. Desperado- Antonio Banderas/Salma Hayek
Literally, the box art for the film, Desperado’s explosion scene is one of the most memorable of the 90s as El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) and Carolina (Salma Hayek) find Carolina’s bookstore set on fire by the henchmen of drug lord Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida), and they have to flee to the roof. Luckily, in El Mariachi’s handy guitar/gun case, he has some grenades that he uses to take out the goons, and he and Carolina walk casually away from the flames, both of them looking as hot as the fire behind them.
6. Fast & Furious 6- Jason Statham
Another villainous entry, Fast & Furious 6, ended shockingly as fans of the franchise learned that Han’s supposed death in Tokyo wasn’t an accident but a deliberate act of revenge by the ruthless Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). While on the phone threatening Dom (Vin Diesel), Shaw walks away as Han’s car explodes behind him. Between seemingly killing a fan favorite to tease for the next movie, this is one of the most memorable mid-credits scenes in recent memory, and even though Deckard has reluctantly become part of the family, it’s still a badass way to introduce a new villain.
5. X-Men Origins: Wolverine- Hugh Jackman
While easily one of the worst superhero movies ever made, X-Men Origins: Wolverine at least has a pretty awesome walking away from an explosion scene. After being attacked by Zero (Daniel Henney) while hiding out on the farm of an elderly couple who are caught in the crossfire, Logan (Hugh Jackman) manages to launch himself via an explosion onto Zero’s helicopter and crash it by slashing the rotors. With his healing factor and new adamantium skeleton, Logan is unscathed and, after swearing to kill William Stryker (Danny Huston), he uses his claws to set a trail of gasoline ablaze, walking away casually as the chopper explodes behind him.
4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day- Robert Patrick
Almost everyone on this list walks away from an explosion as it goes off behind them, but only the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) can walk through an explosion casually and continue his pursuit of John Connor (Edward Furlong). After T2’s seminal motorcycle/semi-truck chase, John and the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) escape when the semi-truck slams into an overpass and leaking gasoline ignites, causing a massive explosion. Because he’s liquid metal, the T-1000 doesn’t even skip a beat, walking out of the inferno and getting back to his mission of hunting down and killing John Connor.
3. Iron Man- Robert Downey Jr.
Kicking off the MCU, Iron Man’s explosion walking away scene is still one of the most memorable and badass scenes in the franchise. After iterating on his designs for an Iron Man suit, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) takes it into the field for the first time, fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and rescuing villagers. When he’s attacked by an enemy tank and crashes, Tony gets up and sidesteps the shell and launches a missile of his own, not even looking to see if it’s a mark because he’s so cool, he knows it did and that it was enough to blow it up. If there was any doubt that Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr. was the right choice to hold up an entire cinematic universe, this scene ended it.
2 Man on Fire- Denzel Washington
Probably one of the scenes most people think of when you mention the explosion walk trope, Denzel Washington’s John Creasy captures one of the men involved in the kidnapping of Pita Ramos (Dakota Fanning) and puts an explosive suppository into the man’s backside. Setting a timer, Creasy gets the information he needs, taunts the man about how little time he has left, then walks away like a badass as the butt bomb explodes behind him. This probably would have been number one if another Denzel movie hadn’t taken things to the ultimate, ridiculous peak.
1. The Equalizer- Denzel Washington
You could probably argue that this is where this trope jumped the shark, but no other Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions scene comes close to the level of this one. Trying to live a quiet life in Boston, former special ops soldier Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) gets into a one-man war with the Russian mob when his friend, a sex worker named Alina (Chloë Grace Moretz), is brutally beaten. Moving through the mob’s operations, Robert discovers they are operating two oil tankers, sets up explosives, and destroys them. Between the slow-motion showing all the twisting metal and detonating fuel, and Robert seemingly causing the blast wave by his badass aura, this is the ultimate expression of the trope, and nothing since has even attempted to match this scene’s ridiculous excess.
