Epic battle movies

Cafe Society
1

Braveheart wasn’t the first big time historical battle movie, but it definitely sparked a resurgence in their popularity. Since then there has been Gladiator, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, Alexander, The Patriot, and King Arthur. And of course there are the fantasy/ scifi battles. Lord of the Rings, The Phantom Menace, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc. Basically, I’m thinking of movies where two giant armies line up neatly across from each other with an open field separating them and than rush at each other.

I just saw the trailer for Mongol. Which apparently is taking this formula an applying it to the story of Ghengis Khan. After watching the trailer I thought how interesting Ghengis Khan’s story must be, but how tired I am of seeing those big epic land battles. Is it getting old for anyone else?

2

Nope, not at all. Next thing you’ll be asking if we’re getting tired of naked women and pizza.

3

Well, you could switch to naval battles - I never get tired of seeing (or reading) Hornblower or Master and Commander (or anything else by Forrester, Patrick O’Brian. Then again, I’ve never got tired of epic land battles, either.

4

Given the Lord of the Rings had Mamluks, Trolls, Fell Beasts and Undead, I won’t get bored watching it again. :slight_smile:

5

Um?

6

He obviously meant “Janissaries”.

7

Thanks, totally clears things up!

8

How about Golfers vs Porn Stars?

9

The Longest Day would seem to qualify. I could see the Last Samuri making the cut also (pun intended - but sorry none-the-less). Also Napolean would, if I remember correctly, qualify.

10

I watch Zulu as often as I can. It is incredible movemaking. And it is about 99% accurate, even to the diaglog as reported after the battle by those who survived it.

11

Ran
And the best battle scene of them all, Alexander Nevsky. Watch it here.

12

The alltime greatest battle movie is Sergei Bondarchuk’s eight-hour War and Peace.

13

First fight scene in Gladiator was very good.

14

Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus has a great epic battle scene. (Warning: do not watch the pan & scan version.)

15

I thought the parts about Hook being a malingerer were made up, and that would already be more than 1% of the movie. I’ll be looking for a cite for I fear you will ask.

16

I have to learn to read properly Telling an l from a ! is very important. I saw the title and wondered what it had to do with Ghegis Khan. After all, …

Mongo only pawn… in game of life :smiley:

17

Waterloo

The Polish movies The Deluge and Colonel Wolodi…woli…Colonel have some ‘good for their time’ battle scenes.

Can’t forget Cromwell (or maybe you can).

Scipio Africanus. Just don’t see it if you like elephants.

Some of the Nazi propaganda movies have ‘epic’ battle scenes, but they are so inept its embarasing even without the Nazi propaganda element.

18

There was a serious lack of beards & mustaches on the primary characters as well.

AS for Hook, his entry in wikipedia notes:

As I understood it, the hook descendants almost threatened legal action.

19

This is true. You can’t beat 120,000 real (i.e., not CGI) soldiers.

20

Or if you mind telephone poles in ancient Rome.