View Full Version : Best ancient war movie?
I'm looking for a good ancient war movie with *realistic* epic battles(not like braveheart). Looking for something roman or greek, and yes I've seen sparticus. Haven't seen 300 spartans, is it any good?
Papewaio
01-09-2003, 11:16
For its time very. For now it is still good. Far larger focus on the 300 acting as a herioc then say 3 of them doing heroics like modern movies.
Knight_Yellow
01-09-2003, 17:03
well gladiator has got pretty sweet fights in it especialy the beginning.
and ermm since uve excluded braveheart try Henry v lotsa great fights and a load of talking but u wont get bored.
Mithrandir
01-09-2003, 17:10
ahh, with such a question you hsould go to the monastery http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif.
->moved
Well El Cid was a pretty damn good movie way back when, though not sure if I remember a lot of it. Dam I cant remember the name of the other one I was gonna give ya, was a Charleston Heston movie about a judean slave to a roman general, was a huge naval battle and the roman guy tried to commit suicide cause he thought hed lost the fight, and Charleston saved him, so he made him his adopted son. Religious influence through most of the movie, but still a good movie. May be Quo Vadis.
Naagi http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif
Naagi - I believe that movie was Ben Hur.
There was a great old movie about the Trojan War - I cant remember the name though, "Helen of Troy" maybe..?
"Heaven and Earth" is a goodie if you dont mind reading subtitles (it's Japanese)
"Excalibur" of course. The best IMO.
I would say Gladiator, the Rome total war trailer is a cool war movie too, too bad it only last 1 minute and 17 seconds.
[RDH] Spetz Natz
01-09-2003, 22:28
Also, "Ran"...a 1985 Japanese movie based on Shakespeare's King Lear.
Great movie with some of the bloodiest war scenes ever. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Tachikaze
01-09-2003, 22:30
It's rare to see a film depicting pre-5th Century warfare accurately. Usually, the film makers who produce these movies are more interested in fulfilling popular conceptions of those times, or are trying to reproduce a fanciful folktale or heroic epic.
There was a film about Alexander starring Richard Burton. Plenty of inaccuracies, but better than many.
The 300 Spartans movie was not bad, but Thermopylae, especially the version remembered by the West, was not a typical battle.
It's high time someone created a film that ignores the public's images of ancient times and depicts daily life, human relations, politics, and battle as realisticly as we can put together from historical evidence.
Knight_Yellow:
well gladiator has got pretty sweet fights in it especialy the beginning.
Yes I've seen Gladiator, but the opening war scene just ok. It looked cool when they had a bird's eye view of the romans marching up to the germans, but then when fighting everyone is scattered everywhere and it turns into a big mess. It's hard to find a good movie with realistic battle scenes where order is shown.
Naagi:
Yeah I've seen Ben Hur, it was very good, though it didn't have any real battle scenes that I was anticipating http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif
Exile
Excaliber was sweet, thanks for reminding me I should get it on DVD.
I think I've seen heaven on earth though, takes place in the shogun period. Is this the movie with the weird japanese entertainer at the beginning entertaining the emperor?
Anyone seen Gettysburg? That's probably one of the best war movies made, the director tried to recreate the battle scenes almost perfect and still had good acting.
[RDH] Spetz Natz :
Yes that's the movie I'm thinking of, Ran That was a good one, but I think Gettysburg tops it.
Gettysburg was excellent. The best scene was when at the peak of Pickett's charge, the confederates are closing in on a cannon and it fires point blank. The conderates are thrown violently backward in the air awesome. (right up there with the limb-clipping cannon balls in 'The Patriot' and the machine-gun-welcome beach landing in 'Saving Private Ryan'http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
'Gods and Generals', another Civil War Flick, is coming out soon I think. I have high expectations for this movie.
In a broader range, 'Zulu' was a decent war epic. I cant think of any more. I think that you are right about 'Heaven and Earth' buit I cant recall how the movie started, just the battles & treachery and my wife wanting to kill me for geting a movie with subtitles http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
_Martyr_
01-10-2003, 02:41
Scorpion King (jk) http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif
Hakonarson
01-10-2003, 02:55
The costuming in Gladiator is exquisite, but the "battle" tactics are absolute carp
Roman archers and artillery formed up behind the legions historically in open battle (according to what few references we have), and the flaming arrows, etc were nonsense.
The initial charge of the barbarians would have been taken by Auxiliaries not legionaries, and it would have ben a foolhardy General taking himself out of the fight for 10 minutes to charge around behind the enemy on horseback - certainly he would have had troops hit them in the rear, but he wouldn't have gone with them.
But the costumes and the dirty sweat stained unshaven bandana-ed grumbling legionaries were just lovely http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
MacGregor
01-10-2003, 05:11
There's a new Thermopylae movie in the works called "Gates of Fire", they haven't even started production yet. Another company is trying to get a remake of "300 Spartans" off the ground too
and if your into Thermopylae check out the comic book "300" by Frank Miller. Even if your not into comics it's just a great book.
Foreign Devil
01-15-2003, 02:13
Quote[/b] (Tachikaze @ Jan. 09 2003,15:30)]It's high time someone created a film that ignores the public's images of ancient times and depicts daily life, human relations, politics, and battle as realisticly as we can put together from historical evidence.
There's a very simple reason that movies, at least movies made by the big studios, don't do this. Money. The movie industry is a business, and movies that are historically accurate to a high degree, especially if that accuracy goes against the pre-concieved notions of a large part of the potential audience, then the movie simply will not be profitable.
I'm condemning or praising this, i'm just pointing it out as the way the movie industry works. Braveheart and The Patriot were the way they were because they were made to make money, not to appeal to die-hard history buffs. I think these movies can be enjoyed as long as the details are taken with a grain of salt.
Oh, and you should check out "Enemy at the Gates". It deals with WWII, not the ancient world, but its a good flick. I especially like how it deals with the desperation of the Russians- the attacking infantry was given one gun for every 2 men, and the ones without guns were told to pick up the guns dropped when their fellow soldiers were killed. How's that for morale?
TenkiKiller
01-19-2003, 12:46
ne1 seen attilla the hun, that was quite kool. why is there never any films on napoleon?
Blackadder?
http://gurlpages.com/halsgal///veggie1.jpg
Kas http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Negative
01-19-2003, 17:47
No one has mentioned Glory. I love that movie. Great battle sceens.
ARGHHHH A new icon those things always change when you get used to the previous one http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif
Kas http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
deejayvee
01-20-2003, 00:59
Quote[/b] (TenkiKiller @ Jan. 19 2003,05:46)]ne1 seen attilla the hun, that was quite kool. why is there never any films on napoleon?
Attilla the Hun was quite good considering it was relatively low budget.
Have you seen the movie Waterloo? With Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer and Orsen Welles? It's one of my favourite movies and some of the scenes are pretty stunning.
El Cid. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif More of a love story though, but decent battle at the end.
*Edit* Oops you said ancient.. nevermind that one then http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif .
Lord Of Storms
01-20-2003, 17:29
My fave is Henry the V just something about that St. Crispins day speech, Inspiring http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Tachikaze
01-20-2003, 23:35
I see this thread has almost permanently left the "ancient" theme. But I have one more nomination. Does anyone remember The Women of Troy? I can't recall if it had battle scenes or not.
Sounds like a rather cheap porn movie....
Kas http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
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