For the follow-up to Sam Mendes’ widely enjoyed Skyfall, the current captain of the good ship 007 had to top himself somehow. [Now is a good time to excuse yourself if you haven’t had the chance to see Spectre and are wary of spoilers.] The grandest set piece of the newest Bond film takes place when James and his Lea Seydoux-played paramour take leave of a massive criminal facility in the middle of the desert, and on their way out, detonate explosive charges destroying the whole thing. Like, the entire place. It’s a big-ol ‘splosion of the first caliber, putting the blow-ups in Tropic Thunder and the opening shots of Apocalypse Now to shame.

The good folks at the Guinness Book of World Records have taken a special interest in this Spectre sequence, and proudly announced yesterday that the scene constitutes the largest stunt film explosion of all time. Yesterday, lead actors Daniel Craig and Seydoux appeared with producer Barbara Broccoli (presumably, Sam Mendes had other stuff to do) to receive the official certificate from the Guinness committee, though the title will be formally held by special effects supervisor Chris Corbould. According to Guinness’ press release, the detonation took place in Erfoud, Morrocco and spent 8,418 liters of kerosene along with 33 kilograms of powdered explosives. In all, the 7.5-second explosion yielded an equivalent blast to 68.47 tonnes of TNT. One can’t help but imagine Corbould standing before the destruction his ambitions hath wrought, sighing bittersweetly as he considers all he’s accomplished and whether anything still stands before him.

Guinness editor-in-chief Craig Glenday proffered the following quote, beaming with pride at man’s capacity for absolute ruination:

The James Bond movies are synonymous with pushing cinematic boundaries. The latest film, Spectre, has again captured the imagination of global cinemagoers, and this will certainly be due in part to the phenomenal stunts. The scene featuring the world’s largest film stunt explosion is spectacular and will live long in the memory as one of the outstanding moments in the Bond franchise.

Truly, there’s no better way to spackle over plot holes and inconsistencies of character than with the biggest explosion of all time.

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