Bit of a thread drift, not that it matters, but there have been some interesting modern sci-fi without explosions, thinking of things like Gattica or Existinz, or even Vanilla Sky here (though admittedly less in very recent years).

Though apocalyptic sci-fi of course *has* to have them, plus I do like good futuristic battle scenes myself. One of my favourites ever, being the machines attack on Zion, in Matrix III, which was simply fantastic at the cinema.