A big part of the earlier movies are the craft. Nothing like this had ever been done before. Sure they could have used b-roll of real tanks but creating dozens of rc tanks with fireworks, or an entire city to be destroyed was a different class of artistry and devotion.
I mean look at this from 1993. It’s less than half of a highly detailed city to be destroyed. That sky scraper on the left doesn’t last long and it’s marvelous.