Living in San Francisco has its benefits: the weather is temperate, the views are spectacular, and the cultural scene and cuisine are world-class. There are trade-offs: the potential risk of earthquakes, the high cost of living, and if the 1955 Sci-Fi movie, It Came from Beneath the Sea, can be trusted, the threat of giant radioactive octopi leveling our roadways.
This is but one instance of cinematic imagination wreaking havoc on the premiere landmark of San Francisco—the Golden Gate Bridge. A surprising number of films, most recently X-Men III, have used the bridge to showcase amazing special effects work, and a few have gone so far as to entirely destroy it. Here are four of the most egregious offenders:
- X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Method of destruction: Magneto, a.k.a. Eric Lensherr, uproots one end of the bridge and bends it towards Alcatraz - 10.5 (2004)
Method of destruction: Collapses during a 10.5 earthquake - The Core (2003)
Method of destruction: Collapse caused by loss of electromagnetic field due to the fact that the earth’s inner core has stopped spinning - It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)
Method of destruction: Giant radioactive octopus attempts to pull down the bridge with its tentacles
