Best Battles seen in movies... [Archive]

munrock

08-17-2004, 15:12

I hate battles in Hollywood movies. The enemy commander is always stupid and the good guys always come up with some clever plan that involves fire traps.

Wallace to Nobles: "Take your horses and flank them, but make it look like you're legging it."

English: "See! every scot with a horse is fleeing. Now they can't flank us!"

The Battle of Stirling in Braveheart... in reality it was called the Battle of Stirling BRIDGE, and might better be called the Massacre of Stirling Bridge. That's right, in Braveheart they dropped the flipping bridge and made a whole new battle. They make Wallace look like a genius and make his bright idea of using pikes against horses look like he invented the concept.

The last battle in Arthur, Saxon Command: "Hmm, it seems they've left the door to the wall open. It must be a trap. I'll send one war band in and let my entire army hear them scream as they are cut to pieces."

Spectre

08-17-2004, 15:47

Pickets Charge in Gettysburg at the end of the 4 and half hour of running time. Heart breaking stuff particularly as the movie invests in both sides equally.

eeyoredragon

08-17-2004, 16:17

I wasn't too keen on any LOTR battle scenes. Don't know why, they just seemed rather silly.

I agree on that. Especially the battle at Helms Deep, where the archery in particular was rather clumsy done. ~:wacko:

And munrock, we all now Hollywood can't make movies ~:).

Morgan Frydman

08-17-2004, 16:41

I agree on that. Especially the battle at Helms Deep, where the archery in particular was rather clumsy done.

Exactly. The archers were stupid. Why did they wait for the Orks to go all the way up to the outer wall before firing?
And how did Ganadlf's cavalry ride through that entire pike formation? Ok, so they had the sun in their eyes and they're dumb, ugly orks. But still they all must have been pointing they're spears in the opposite direction for the cavalry to ride over them so easily. It's beyond belief.

Tamur

08-17-2004, 16:46

Agreed on Gettysburg. There's nothing glamorous about it - heart-rending, awful, amazing all at the same time.

The Blind King of Bohemia

08-17-2004, 17:34

First off there is bugger all wrong with the LOTR fight sequences.

I like the First battle in Gladiator, The siege and sack in a flesh and blood and the fighting in Stalingrad

Longshanks

08-17-2004, 18:02

The best battle scene ever in terms of raw, in-your-face realism was the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan.

I thought Gettysburg was quite good also, but would rank it behind the opening scene in SPR because it lacked the same gritty realism. In the movie men just fell over and died rather cleanly, when in reality most suffered horrific wounds and died agonizing deaths.

Louis de la Ferte Ste Colombe

08-17-2004, 18:16

Other interesting battle scenes; Steiner (James Coburn) skirmishing in Russia during WW2 in Cross of Iron from Sam Peckinpah.

Recommanded.

Louis,

The Blind King of Bohemia

08-17-2004, 18:18

Yes i like that film, Coburn is very good in that. Is that the one where one of the officers is having a homosexual relationship and that mad new officer finds out about it! or am i thinking of something else

Accounting Troll

08-17-2004, 18:57

The final battle in Spartacus was impressive for its day.

Some of the uniforms and weapons aren't quite right, and they had to guess at the tactics because the Romans felt slightly embarrased about fighting mere slaves instead of the best that rival nations had to offer, and so they didn't record how the battle went in much detail. However, all the extras they employed give you a good idea how powerful the discipline and organisation of the Roman army actually was, and how frightening it must have been to be opposing them.

These days the film makers can get away with just using a couple of hundred extras and let the computer generated special effects do the real work.

Colovion

08-17-2004, 19:19

besides the ones mentioned already I'd have to say I enjoyed the battles in Troy. It might not have been the best, but it certainly was entertaining - the archers pelting the Greeks and the compact Trojans slowly advancing against them - the band of Achilles taking the beach was rather nice, though a little unrealistic it was cool to see the tactics of a small unit as that work so seamlessly.

Nerouin

08-17-2004, 20:49

In my opinion, LOTR: Return of the King had the best battle scene I've ever seen. The Battle of Pelennor Fields was simply nuts.. the whole scene- the speech and all- of the charge of the Rohirrim had me going nuts, it was amazing.
Helm's Deep in The Two Towers and the battle at the beginning of The Fellowship were also pretty great.. in the Fellowship, watching the legionary style of battle and seeing the field of gold from the allied troops was pretty rad.
Also Glory, Gettysburg, and Saving Private Ryan.

As for someone's question about the Helm's Deep battle- I can probably give a decent explanation for why the horses were able to charge straight into a line of pikes. Regular orcs were not able to be in view of the sun.. it would burn their flesh. You will notice that at all times when regular orcs are on the screen, the sky is darkened, or, as in Mordor, it is simply black.
Uruk-Hai are a merger of orcs and wild humanoids- they were created by Saruman. They are easily distinguishable by their greater size over normal orcs, and can march in the sun without dying. However, they are still part orc, so having the sun directly in their eyes is probably INTENSELY painful. Hence that happening would have probably caused a great loss of concentration in the face of the charge- picture yourself facing a charge, and having someone shove toothpicks in your eyes the moment before the charge hit you.

TCon88

08-17-2004, 21:02

Actually the Uruk-Hai at Helms Deep wernt being affected by sun as Gandalf came running down the hill, it was the light from his staff. Uruk-Hai are imune to the pain of sunlight, whether its in the eyes or not. I know its off-topic ahwell.
Anyways best battle scenes, hmmm well that would have to be Gladiator and SVP, although Black Hawk Down was also very very good.

KillerKadugen

08-17-2004, 22:17

Most of my favorites have already been mentioned. I enjoyed Gettysburg and Saving Private Ryan, but I also thought that Enemy at the Gates had some neat sequences, as did Black Hawk Down, although it was almost exhausting to watch because of the constant conflict once the character building stage of the movie is finished. In terms of sci-fi, who could argue against The Matrix....I mean wow. Who would not like to be able to do the stuff they do in either of those three movies. :jumping:

Lucius Lucullus

08-17-2004, 22:37

Well most have been mentioned, but here are my favourites

The Assault on Dog Green beach in "Saving Private Ryan"

Picketts Charge in "Gettysburg"

Most of "Platoon"

River crossing and subsequent frontal human wave assault in "Enemy at the Gates"

Neys cavalry charge in "Waterloo"

Forest battle in "Gladiator"

Naval battle in "Ben Hur"

Battle of Hoth in "The Empire Strikes back"

Stirling and Falkirk in "Braveheart" (though unhistorical, rather entertaining)

Dont get me started on Lord of the Jackson Franchise ~:mad:

The Blind King of Bohemia

08-17-2004, 23:44

Dont get me started on Lord of the Jackson Franchise

What are you talking about?

The only thing i didn't like in LOTR was the dead army at pelloner and thats it, the battle scenes are wonderful and thats all i'm going to say about it

avatar

08-17-2004, 23:51

I enjoyed the battle scenes in the Japanese movie "Ran."

Sci-fi - "Starship Troopers" those bugs were nasty. :whip:

Kagetora

08-18-2004, 00:08

I thought that "Ran" was alright, and did have better battle scenes than Kagemusha, than I saw "Heaven and Earth" (directed by Haruki Kadokawa), now that movie had some awsome battle scenes. Now lets also not forget the opening fights in "Last Samurai", it gives you a real insight into samurai psychological warfare with the yelling and the look, and the fact that Tom Cruise should have died, but hey he's the big hollywood actor.

Sociopsychoactive

08-18-2004, 02:26

Well, I'm all for historical accuracy, but I like to see a bit of blood and gore there aswell.

The battle at the start of gladiator is good, but unrealistic in some ways. Also, for you film critics, look closely at all the shots of the barbarian army before they charge, there are arrows sticking into the ground and tree's around them before the romans fire a single shot.

Troy was good, but again it;s not historical, the siege went on for years, not days. The actual fight of the battle wasn't that good though, it was all geared up for the hero-battles.

Starship troopers worked well, watch the marines get slaughtered by the bugs.

Saving private ryan, the normandy landing was very good, I loved the grittyness of it, and the way troops were dropping like flies, and it showed that well.

As to LOTR, well, firstly remember it's fantasy.

The battle at the beginning (the last alliance) was the best one in my opinion, it had more of the 'classic' good against evil feel to it.

The battle of helms deep was reasonably good, but I have to nitpick, it focussed to much on the main characters, and you didn;t get a feel for the size of it. As to waiting for the oruks to be within range, one large volley is far more decimating against an anemy if you kill the entire front rank. This however, does not work when fighting oruk-hai. They do not tire, they do not feel pain, they do not fear. They are the ultimate fighting force, and would willingly march up to the walls of helms deep and try to break it down by headbutting it if instucted to. For gandalf and the rohirim, it was the dawn, gandalf uses magic like that all the time and it was he who made the waters rise up like horses in the first film, even though it was arwen who summoned the flood. Gandalf never did flashy stuff in the books, it was all using what was available.

Even to a human the light straight in your eyes would be painfull, to an ork it wold be almost blinding, and to an Oruk it would hurt quite a bit. The horses had sufficiant momentum to leap over the front rank of spears and into the nemy, the oruks didn;t raise their spears to stop this because they couldn;t see, thanks to the sun.

The battle of gondor (the siege, not the battle of pelinor fields) was better still, the siege equipment was realistic, you got a real feel for the size and determination of the enemy, and you thought they were screwed from the moment it started. You really got a feel of being trapped in a great citadel, that although it was designed to withstand a siege, it wasn;t counting on the largest army middle earth had ever seen (larger even than the one defeated by the last alliance)

The battle of pelinor fields I didn;t like. The orks would have held posion for the initial charge, 6,000 ish horsmen would not have routed an orc army that easily, and in the books the remainders of the army of gondor came out to help. Also, while Aragorn did go and rouse the ghosts, they helped to kill a different orc army and get Aragorn the ships, they did not have a hand in the battle of gondor at all. untll the ships, loaded with allied not enemies, arrived the battle of pelinor fields was desperate, and they were losing. With th ships they had the enemy trapped between tham, and though still outnumbered greatly they managed to rout it.

The battle at the black gate just annoyed me.

Kaiser of Arabia

08-18-2004, 03:21

I like Gods and Generals.

desdichado

08-18-2004, 04:00

The last battle in Arthur, Saxon Command: "Hmm, it seems they've left the door to the wall open. It must be a trap. I'll send one war band in and let my entire army hear them scream as they are cut to pieces."[/QUOTE]

I just saw this movie and was extremely disappointed but I wanted to know one thing - how the hell did that gate in Hadrians wall keep opening & closing - there wasn't anybody on the wall and I'm fairly certain I didn't see Arthur with a remote control. Just made a poor film stupid imo.

Back on topic I agree opening scene in SPR was pretty good. Made it seem like hell on earth and not something I would ever want to experience nor wish on anyone else.

I rarely like ancient historical fight scenes as they just seem to turn into a one on one brawl which just seems wrong. They all seem to forget their training to hold the line which I find immensley annoying.

Jihad2Death

08-18-2004, 04:09

Here's my top 5

#1 Tie LOTR-Battle for Gondor
Saving Private Ryan opening scene
#2 Opening scene in Gladiator
#3 Last 45 mins of Star Wars II Attack of the Clones
#4 LOTR Battle for Helms Deep
#5 Battle of Stirling "Braveheart"
Just out of the top 5
First battle in "Last Samurai",Hector vs Achilles,and Achilles taking the beech in "Troy",Drop into Normandy in "Band of Brothers"

I based it on which scenes I either enjoyed the most,or which I thought was the best done.

Alrowan

08-18-2004, 04:43

LOTR was patheticly dissapointing in the battles, save for the charge of rohan in the third film. Helms deep was just unfullfilling, it left you wondering what pellonor was goping to be like seeing as that was dissapointing, as for pellanor, well the oliphants completey screwed it, not to mention the quick clean up using the undead armies, which imo seemed like it was a huge rush job.

As far as good battles go, nothnig gets past band of brothers. Look at the battles of Market Garden, Foye, and plenty of others, its defintly the height of decency in battles. the intro to saving private ryan was quite good, though when you know more of the story of the assault you feel that so mch more could have been done.

I found the last battel in the last samurai to be quite entertaining as well, even for the scale of it.

But when it comes to my #1 movie for battles, i cant go past Alexander Nevsky. Its an old russian film but still has the most amazing battles in it

LeeJackson

08-18-2004, 05:08

I'm surprised no one mentioned Glory. though the fights are short they are intense. I also really enjoy the end batlle in the Moderen Henry V. Then there is Last of the Mochicans.

Seven.the.Hun

08-18-2004, 05:45

i was gonna go see that arthur movie but when i got there i saw it was pg-13, and i dont wanna be paying the price to see an oldschool battle movie that isnt rated r, i mean really, that didnt inspire me atall,
i'll wait a bit to see that one i spose
~:doh:

munrock

08-18-2004, 15:24

Arthur, as a take on the Arthurian legend, did the legend justice. It conveyed the principles about honest goodness well enough.

I would rate Arthur over Braveheart. Braveheart wasn't a take on a legend, it was a twisting of truth. Battles come second to things like this.

Arthur was PG-13 so that kids could watch it, and I'm glad they'll be influenced by that movie, in youth, than any of the other tosh out there.

As for judging a movie by its rating - well that speaks volumes for the kind of people who are like that. Damn, I sound like a grandparent.

The Blind King of Bohemia

08-18-2004, 16:50

The fight at fort william in Last of the Mohicans is bloody fantastic, top notch stuff :saint:

Colovion

08-18-2004, 18:23

When Winters led his troops against the fixed gun emplacement in Band of Brothers on D-Day was awesome

Nerouin

08-18-2004, 20:37

Ah yes, also the part in "The Breaking Part" (episode 7 or 8 of Band of Brothers), in which Speirs runs through the town and back.. hillarious, and amazing that he was actually nuts and brave enough to do that.

I suppose to do such things you have to can the thinking and just do it.

Oleander Ardens

08-18-2004, 21:49

Other interesting battle scenes; Steiner (James Coburn) skirmishing in Russia during WW2 in Cross of Iron from Sam Peckinpah.

Recommanded.

Louis,

One of my fav. WW2 movies. With so many good battle scenes and a hearttouching intro...

I liked also some scenes of "Enemy at the Gate". The sniper sequences are awesome, but others are really bad...

Cheers

OA

Balin son of Fundin

08-19-2004, 08:08

Well i am a lotr man through and through, so i will say all of the lotr battles, but i like the ones in Braveheart aswell..

eeyoredragon

08-19-2004, 17:56

As some have stated not much can compare to Band Of Brothers. Not just the battle scenes, but the whole story is incredible. I'm still looking for some major flaws in the movie (or mini-serie if you want). My favourite episodes is by far Episode 6 - Bastogne and Episode 7 - The Breaking Point, which includes some really strong scenes and battle sequences (the attack on Foy for example). It's one of my favourite movies of all time ~:)

Divine Wind

08-19-2004, 18:01

Gosh! So many to choose from!

Heres a small list i came up with:

Waterloo - Fave part when the french cavalry ride through too the british and dutch squares and get slaughtered.

Zulu - A Michael Caine classic! Love the scene where the zulus run into the platoon volley fire and get massacred.

Glory - The last battle where the regiment attacks Fort Sumner (sp?) is just fantastic. One of the few war movies that has put a tear in my eye.

Saving Private Ryan - Both the beginning and ending battles are some of my favourite all time war scenes. I can remember being completely shocked and bewildered at how SPR was so different from any previous movie portraying the beach assault on D Day.

Longest Day - One of the first war movies i saw as a child and still one of my favourites. John Wayne is a legend.

Lawrence of Arabia - Love the scene where Lawrences cavalry attack the turks base by the port. They dont make scenes like that anymore with all those extras.

Simovek

08-19-2004, 18:02

Blah, The battle scenes in Return of the King sucked bad. The Charge was ok, but then the whole undead army thing just seemed way to rushed, kind of dumb.

EDIT: ^ The Longest Day. Just love that movie. John Wayne is the man. Love the the Brits and the Piper, marching into battle with pipes a'playin :)

Darth Binky

08-20-2004, 00:04

Glory - The last battle where the regiment attacks Fort Sumner (sp?) is just fantastic. One of the few war movies that has put a tear in my eye.

It was Fort Wagner.

You're probably thinking about Fort Sumter, which was the Union fort which was shelled to start the war.

But you're right, it is one of the better war movies out there.

eadeater

08-20-2004, 00:05

Nerouin

08-20-2004, 00:18

They don't make battle scenes like the ones from Lawrence of Arabia or Spartacus anymore for one simple reason- computer generation baby!

It's tough to tell what's real and what's not sometimes!

Tribesman

08-20-2004, 00:32

The final scene in "Blackadder Goes Forth" or the closing charge in "Gallipolli".
All Quiet On The Western Front (the original , not the one with John-Boy Walton) .

Alexander the Pretty Good

08-20-2004, 01:01

A Bridge Too Far was great. Has anyone ever read the book that inspired it? Great stuff. Also enjoyed the Close Combat game based loosely on it.

The Longest Day.

Glory was good, but kinda depressing in my book.

Gettysburg - one of my all time favorites; certainly favorite Civil War movie.

Gladiator was good, beginning was OK, not sure about the firey arrows and English-speaking Romans ~;)

LOTR battles were big and sometimes good, but the Two Towers charge was ridiculus - the horses would've fallen down the hill ~:p never mind the pikes

Lawrence of Arabia - great movie, a little long though

Fighting in Braveheart was good, though complete nonsense (Stirling Bridge... without a... er... bridge)

The Patriot - liked the movie, but Mel Gibson should not be a superman - no one could have done what he did in the film

Fighting in Aliens was moderately cool - exploding Aliens everywhere! If totally sci-fi

Divine Wind

08-20-2004, 17:46

Although most of my favourites (I've watched Gladiator about 100 times now) have been mentioned, I would like to point out one more fight scene that is just classic. Apocalypse Now, when the helicopters fly in from the sea and attack the Vietnamese held beach, and they've got the HUGE speakers blaring out that tune - to scare the Viets, that is just amazing.

That tune is Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries if your interested ~:)

A Bridge Too Far was great. Has anyone ever read the book that inspired it? Great stuff. Also enjoyed the Close Combat game based loosely on it.

Cant believe i forgot this film in my list! Fantastic film and highly reccommended if any of you guys havent seen this. Some really famous names and great war scenes.

Seven.the.Hun

08-23-2004, 08:50

i was kinda impressed by 3rd matrix battle scenes...i am a sci-fi fan of sorts, well a little i guess, but i had not seen anything quite like that one, so it was a cool twist on battles to watch.
~:yin-yang:

Plaxx

08-23-2004, 09:44

Already mentioned, but:

Band of Brothers
Glory
Saving Private Ryan
and you have to like Maximus' war dog in the opening battle in Gladiator! ~;)

Barcid

08-23-2004, 12:34

Waterloo - one of my all time favourites. No other film beats if for sheer scale in pre-CGI graphics movie history. I believe the extras were a substantial part of the Red Army? always wondered if that was true.

Others, well I enjoyed the fortress attack scene in Ran and the battle at the end wasn't too bad either. Quite liked the siege of Orleans in Joan of Arc (The Messenger). The ship battles in Master & Commander are the best i've seen so far. Air battles allowed? - really loved the movie Dark Blue World about the Czech pilots in the Battle of Britain - very CGI, plus bits of the original unused BOB movie footage, but great nonetheless.

TCon88

08-23-2004, 13:23

I know the film wasnt excellent but the battle is Star Wars Episode 2 was quite good if a little short.

Feanor

08-24-2004, 16:06

I don't understand the beef regarding Gandalf at Helm's Deep. He runs through the pikes granted but he's a wizard! A wizard! Come on, it's a film, you have to suspend your disbeliefs. If he could kill the Balrog when he was Gandalf the Grey he can take on a few pikey orcs as Gandalf the White.

It seems odd that watching a film about orcs and wizards is fine yet when the wizard beats the pikes of the orcs it becomes unrealistic.

I agree about the undead army though in that it devalued the Pelennor battle.

Those films were great. :jumping:

Longshanks

08-24-2004, 21:52

The ship battles in Master & Commander are the best i've seen so far.

I definately agree. Master & Commander was outstanding.

Dimeola

08-24-2004, 22:16

My favorite was in the movie Seven samurai. I thought it realistic and portrayed a reality in battle and not the heroic crap.
Onr particular is my fav of the movie. There is a character who is a master swordsman and a zen practitioner as well. At one point they see a need to remove some of the bandits` three matchlocks. He quietly slips out into the night and a few hours later returns with a gun and a head count. Then leans back against a tree and goes to sleep.
If you`ve never seen this one its well worth a rental.
Dimeolas

Dimeola

08-24-2004, 22:19

The Longest day.....yea there is something timeless about Scotsmen marching to battle to the pipes. There is still much to be said for tradition. And thats one of the best.
Dimeolas

kchickenlord

08-27-2004, 00:48

The battle in gladiator was very unrealistic, but on purpose, it was designed to be exciting yet easy to understand, and in that respect it worked.
But realistic? not a chance.

The battles in Braveheart were similarly subjected to artistic license. but made the film better for all but the most hardcore re-enactor.

Arthur was a terrible film, hopefully it wont put film makers off making more arthurian legend films in the future (the films selling line on the billboards was "the untold true story behind the legend" appalling stuff!!)
But at least it wasnt as awful as troy!

Band of brothers has the most authentic battle sequences ive seen yet on film, it put private ryan to shame and exposes disasters such as windtalkers.

Hollywood will never really produce good battle scenes as long as they are appealing to the masses, people dont want to see boring troop movements, they want to see tom cruise and arnie using rapiers like katanas and chopping off limbs with ancient bronze swords with cutting edges like butter knives.

But the all time worst battle scene goes to pearl harbour, never has the raping of history been so complete!

Keep an eye out for tom cruises film "the few" which goes into production soon, this looks as though it may knock pearl harbour off its throne.

DisruptorX

08-27-2004, 01:30

I really couldn't stand the battles in LotR, the clearly cgi armies seemed to move like enourmous sentient masses in the zoomed out scenes and when zoomed in the camera whirled around drunkenly. In fact, the battles in the two towers and RotK were some of the most boring scenes I have ever seen.

My favourite Battles:

The Harem battle and the Final Battle in Conan ~;) All the battles in that movie had "weight", when someone was hit, you could almost feel it.

Braveheart, of course. The battles were just so well done.

I always found the first battle in All is Quiet on the Western front to be rather surreal. What with the soldiers running at the machine guns and dropping like flies, and the the other side charging forth and doing the same thing.

I might need to watch Ran again, the battles in that movie were rather good.

kchickenlord

08-27-2004, 15:39

I completely forgot about the fantastic battle sequequence in the longest day, you know the one, the french commando raid on (ouistreham?, i cant remember) with the large sweeping aerial view, top notch stuff.

Goofball

08-27-2004, 17:35

kchickenlord

08-27-2004, 19:30

Band of brothers is more authentic, but the budget is smaller and people are more attracted to saving private ryan with its flashier visuals.

Devastatin Dave

08-28-2004, 11:49

I LOVED Zulu. There were quite a few historical innaccuracies, but it was still an amazing movie. Another great scene is in The Charge of the Light Brigade. The sad part is that the movie was made back when there were no laws prohibiting animal abuse. It made it really realistic, but it cost many horses their lives. ~:(

Fragony

08-28-2004, 12:49

Saving private Ryan's opening scene was awesome. But someone still has to explain me how private Ryan can remember that battle when he was dropped inlands with a parachute ~:dizzy:

DisruptorX

08-28-2004, 20:42

Nerouin

08-28-2004, 22:15

Fragony- Ryan wasn't crying about that battle. He was crying because Tom Hanks and his Ranger squad had, almost to a man, sacrificed themselves to pull him off the front lines and save his life.

He was asking his wife if he, throughout his life, had been worth it.

It sucked that Matt Damon was Ryan. It should have been a no-namer, not a pretty boy.

Devastatin Dave

08-29-2004, 05:08

Charge of the Light Brigade is an old black and white movie, right?

Yes it is. If you ever get the chance to see, do so. The charge is probably the most incredible piece of film that has ever been made. But again, if you have any compassion for animals, it is a bit hard to watch. But then again, it makes it more real.

DisruptorX

08-29-2004, 07:29

Yes it is. If you ever get the chance to see, do so. The charge is probably the most incredible piece of film that has ever been made. But again, if you have any compassion for animals, it is a bit hard to watch. But then again, it makes it more real.

I saw it 10 or so years ago, but I was rather young so I don't remember anything. I'll have to rent it and see it again.

kchickenlord

08-29-2004, 16:10

Thats one thing i liked about Braveheart, fake horses, beats huting a live animal anyday.
A new film on the charge of the light brigade is in order, the "facts" have changed considerably in the last couple of years.

dancho

08-29-2004, 22:41

The Battle of Borodino in the Soviet version of War and Peace was pretty good. Supposedly, the actually had the same number of extras in the movie as they had soldiers in the battle (100,000?). Amazing aerial footage.

Here's a quote from the Amazon.com review:

"Undeniably, however, the epic battle scenes remain breathtakingly unique; to experience the sheer scale of this film is to realize that such cinematic extravagance will never be seen again."

Marquis of Roland

08-30-2004, 00:25

If only they made Pelennor Fields exactly the same way Tolkien had in the book, it would have been by far the best battle scene ever made I think. I have to agree that ghost army ruined it for me.

Even though Troy as a movie wasn't great, the battle scenes were pretty decent I guess. the scene where the trojans march to the beach to attack the greek encampment beating on their shields, I think thaty gave a realistic impression of how armies back then psyched themselves up/scared their opponents.

kchickenlord

08-30-2004, 13:43

Troy wasnt great? it was TERRIBLE!! it was a disaster, the whole thing was written by trained monkeys, the whole thing seemed like it took place during a weekend off, and they killed the illiad, took the bits they like and discarded the rest (such as the gods). what they ended up with was a mess, neither an epic or a film loosely based on history, they even had greece on the map at the start of the film!!
Im glad it wasnt as popular as planned!

Kaiser of Arabia

08-30-2004, 14:41

Fredericksburg in Gods and Generals,
Seige of Minas Tirith in LOTR III,
We Were soldiers (watch the movie, 80% of it is one battle)
Fort Wagner in Glory (I saw the edited version, so the effects were bad, but I do love to see an entire regiment of yankees get cut down, grr, i hate robert shaw, coward)
Camden in the Patriot (not accurate, i know, but how often do you get to see someones head ripped off by a cannonball?)
The beggining of Gladiator

I gotta see gettysburg, though.

Devastatin Dave

08-31-2004, 08:07

Iguanus Commodus

08-31-2004, 19:08

Here is my top 3:

The helicopter attack in Apocalypse now. Especially when you see the rocketlauncher firing at the drum of Wagners flight of the valkyrie.

The final battle in Platoon.

The battle for the church in The eagle has landed.

Quietus

08-31-2004, 19:45

"Ran" - was pretty sweet. Although the version I saw, i'm not sure if it was cut or what?

"The Emperor & the Asassin" - LOVE that castle scene (with would-be usurpers;Great costumes too!)

"Braveheart" - Great action sequences!

There was also this move I saw on tv when I was a little kid. It was probably a biblical story. There was a battering ram and archer shootout up high in the battlements! Awesome! I just don't know the title. ~:p

Not-so-good battles:

LOTR. Except for the 2nd movies' marginally ok siege. The whole battles are underwhelming. Make it the whole trilogy is underwhelming. ~:(

Attila the Hun - ridiculously funny battles between romans and attila's forces. ~:joker: (It would have been better with more soldiers).

Last Samurai - The ninja attack was the only watchable part here. The rest...ack n/m ~:(

angelofdarkness

09-01-2004, 10:44

Well there are many battles l liked in a film, not because they are historically correct but simply exciting.
1. The landing in SPV as said above by many others. It was so cool and realisitc though as you could see guys really freaking .etc
2. I loved the last battle of LOTR since is so exciting. Also the battle in fellowship of the rings is quite nice.
3. Gladiator the battle in Germania.
4. The Messanger(joan of Arc)MILLA :), had some nice fighting sequences, it showed a very nice medieval way of laying siege and trying to scale the walls of a fort that wasn't a very good idea at that time cause when you managed to climb you were face to face with a spike ball :)
5.Troy has some minor cool scenes, not the entire battles but the way they are using their swords and the way of attack where each man was pusing the one ahaid of him so that they break enemy formation better.
6. Last Samurai since it had samurai in it :) Wicked stuff

Puzz3D

09-01-2004, 18:02

Fort Wagner in Glory (I saw the edited version, so the effects were bad, but I do love to see an entire regiment of yankees get cut down, grr, i hate robert shaw, coward)

I don't see any cowardice here:

A biography of Robert Gould Shaw (http://www.bitsofblueandgray.com/june2003.htm)

Del Arroyo

09-01-2004, 20:06

I'm sorry, but I have seen few movies in my life that I hate as much as I hate Troy. The battles where nothing more than a steaming pile of shayt. The "moral" was a steaming pile of shayt. The whole thing was a steaming pile of shayt. How can anyone who was involved in that movie look themselves in the mirror and not want to commit seppuku?

Gah! ~:p

DA

shogunKatzumoto

09-01-2004, 20:37

i do agree that hollywood has a hard time making battles look real....what i find from time to time is that they can make certain portions of a battle either seem real or they get a certain point across...what seems to stick out in my mind is the first and last battle in "THE LAST SAMURAI".now you could walk through the holes that history have cut into the movie(wrong names,wrong places)but as a movie it made for a great peice.but now back on topic:the first battle emphasizing the fear of honorable samurai: the fog : the full yoroi: the being on the ground and looking up in to the eyes of a brave warrior,behind the mempo and kabuto. and the last battle for the focus on the power hungry,corrupt officials.i understand movies and DOCUMENTARIES are TWO different things.more important to a movie is getting a point across instead of displaying facts.i mean movies are meant to entertain if actual battles are more of your intrest the history channel and the learning channe, the discovery channel all have some good DOCUMENTARTIES.but when a movie is supposed to be BASED on an actual battle....i think hollywood has some work to do...