Best Movie

[King Jan III Sobieski]

What's everone's favorite historical period movie (i.e. Gladiator, Constantine (NOT the one with Keanu Reeves ), With Fire and Sword, etc.

Lets try to keep the answers confined to movies dealing with the periods/wars dealt with in the TW series, eh?

[Punicus]

If we're talking strictly in the time period that the games take place, then Gladiator. 300 is really good in my opinion though it is a little off of the time periods we're talking about.

[Veho Nex]

ummm well not covered in a time period of TW but Zulu, and this one is.... Braveheart(mainly for the action scenes)

[Martok]

I'll second Braveheart -- it's easily in my list of Top Ten movies.

For other historical period films, I also enjoy Spartacus, Gladiator, Troy, and Elizabeth; but of course the latter two don't fall within a period covered by any of the TW games.

[Bushi 144]

Well I enjoyed 'The Emperor and the Assassin', which covered the famous story of the attempted assassination of Prince Zheng of Qin by Jing Ke just prior to the unification of the Six States, when Prince Zheng became Shi Huang, First Emperor of the Qin (RTW period). I also enjoyed Kagemusha, which was about the death of Takeda 'Shingen' Haranobu, his succession by his son Katsuyori, and the diasterous Battle of Nagashino (STW period).

Both of those movies were excellent are re-creating the history and got most of their facts right. Which is more then I can say for most western history movies.

[YAKOBU]

I'll have to add Last Of The Mohicans to the list.

Great action, and ended up with a lump in my throat.

[Barbarian]

I just watched finished watching the Braveheart few minutes ago. Had forgotten how good it is.

But in the first place I would put Gladiator

[I of the Storm]

Gladiator of course, and "Kingdom of Heaven" although I'd have to stick to the extended version here. The cinema version is crap compared to this.

Edit: slightly out of timeframe, but "Alatriste" with a surprisingly not bad at all Viggo Mortensen was pretty good too. 16th century warfare with some action in the bogs of Flanders and an interesting depiction of a pitched battle of pike formations against each other in the end.

[Guildenstern]

My Top Seven historical movies:

1) Ben-Hur (1959), featuring a great performance by Charlton Heston;
2) The Ten Commandments (1956), another stunning interpretation by Heston playing the powerful role of Moses;
3) Quo Vadis (1951), I particularly like Peter Ustinov's crazy Nero;
4) Spartacus (1960), wonderful military scenes, probably the most historically accurate among Hollywood movies about ancient Rome;
5) Braveheart, the acting is amazing, the direction is glorious, the landscape of Scotland is really charming, and Wallace's speech at the battle of Stirling is definitely inspirational;
6) Alatriste, a very nice surprise, an entertaining painting about the economic and political decline of Spain in the 17th century, and Mortensen's performance deserves a special mention;
7) Gladiator, the special effects make this film spectacular, but it's the barbaric and cruel fights that make it an epic.

Off topic: let me say farewell to Australian actor Heath Ledger, who was found dead in a New York apartment.

[mrdun]

I'm glad nobody said Alexander. They could have made that a lot better.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Kingdom of Heaven is awesome.
Saladin besieges Jerusalem complete with siegetowers, tribuchets, ladders, and siege rams. I think that the siege scene creator took some hints from TW.

[puklo]

Anybody saw "Knights of the Black Cross"? I don't think many did; after all, it wasn't a Hollywood movie. European-made movie about Teutonic Knights vs. King of Poland. Story line is...well, nice enough within the confines of the historical events. But the battle scenes, baby, were really a sight to see. Battalions of peasants marching to the beat of kettle drums...a knight handling his halberd skillfully...massed knights pacing their horses, then trotting and canter, finally the charge!! The very one thing that amused me (but it was historically true) was one side shouting "God is on our side!" while the other side also screamed "God is on our side!" The scenes really stirred my heart, like it was one major influence why I bought MTW.
"Alexander" was not good at all; I mean, would you believe it? The only redeeming factor was the main actor: I kinda have a crush on him, usually plays the bad-guy role. But there was one scene I liked in the movie: Alexander's Companion cavalry making a wide left sweep to outflank the enemy and the right wing of his infantry (they looked like armored peltasts or Hypaspists to me) running to keep apace with the horses. Made me think, "Girl, this kind of running during combat is what the skills used in the ancient Olympics was all about."
"300" was a complete distortion of history. Well, what do you expect from a movie based on a popular book of paintings? It evoked a lot of admiration of Spartan courage and militaristicism (?) from people who didn't know the difference anyway, but most parts were totally wrong! The ephors were represented as a sinister syndicate of political manipulators only out for sex and gold, the Boeotians readily proposing to run back home at the slightest odor of Persians outflanking them (truth was, the Thespians stuck it out beside the Spartans and died beside them at Thermopylae), etc. (The Spartans in truth were a little politically naive, but were an OK people, really.) Only 2 things I liked in "300": the warriors authentically had long hair (but hey, why were there some baldies there?) and Leonidas's beard looked authentically ancient Greek.
Nuff for now, people. Bye.

[mrdun]

Nice post, goodbye yourself.

[Barbarian]

Make her a member, please!

[TruePraetorian]

Make her a member, please!

I second the notion

Has anyone ever seen the movie/tv series Rome? Its great...it was produced by HBO so I can't tell if it is considered a movie or not. It has a great plot, starting with many funny characters (serious but funny of course), all the way through Caesar's rise to Dictator. He eventually gets assassinated, whoulda thought, with the second season about Marc Antony and Octavian.

When I say Rome as number one, I mean it...rented them the first time from blockbuster and then had to purchase both seasons...it ended with two because of the Sopranos taking up the spotlight.

If that doesn't count as a movie, then I heard Braveheart somewhere up there, but Gladiator tops them all...and if you agree with Gladiator as number one see Rome.

BTW, if you guys wanna meet some friendly people (except for Caius) click my signature and sign up!

[PseRamesses]

Any Akira Kurosawa movie about feudal Japan will end up on my top ten movie list. Loved the battlescenes in Alexander, especially the battle at Guagamela. The initial battle in Gladiator against the germans is awsome. The siege of Jerusalem in Kingdom of Jerusalem is good too. Troy is another of my favorites. 300 for the excellent slow-mo scenes. Braveheart for its inspiration etc. Another really good movie is Apocalypto by Mel Gibson, not much battles but a really good film about the Mayan culture and society.
Recently released swedish movie "Arn" is really good from my point of view as a swede. I wholeheartedly recomend the books (3).

[Martok]

@TruePraetorian: Rome was a TV series that ran for two seasons on HBO. I agree it was pretty good, however. Definitely not perfect, but still enjoyable.

[ByzantineKnight]

Gladiator!

[TruePraetorian]

@TruePraetorian: Rome was a TV series that ran for two seasons on HBO. I agree it was pretty good, however. Definitely not perfect, but still enjoyable.

Yeah, sorry, but it seemed awfully like a really long movie...it could be considered one if you think about it. Like movies and unlike TV series it had one, strong plot. But, again sorry for the misplaced post (still advise it).

[puklo]

Yes, Apocalypto was a good movie. Were they really speaking authentic Aztec (or maybe Mayan or Toltec)? Mel Gibson's foreign-language writer ought to help out in adding voice mods...nah, I'm just wishfully dreaming.
Yes, movies by Akira Kurosawa were great. I liked that one about the Ronins, how they avenged their master's death. About the Japanese, there was also one that starred Toshiro Mifune, but there was no big battle scenes there, only true-blue individual fencing scenes. But the Japanese are really big on the topic of honor, more than the Europeans' attitude toward chivalry, IMO.
And I agree completely: that battle scene of Gladiator in that German forest was really epic. the movie itself had a noble story. But is it reall possible that the Ceasar himself would come down to fight in the arena, cheats or no cheats? I think that part of the story was just a situationer to make the whole movie more delicious.
Bye-bye all you grand people. Bye-bye MrDun. Hear from ya-all next time.

[Barbarian]

Emperor Commodus, which was in the movie, was really one of the emperors, besides, it is known that he himself liked to go to arena time after time and take part in the fights.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

From wikipedia:
Commodus the gladiator

The emperor also had a passion for gladiatorial combat, which he took so far as to take to the arena himself, dressed as a gladiator. This action was considered to be unusual conduct for an emperor by the people of Rome.[8] The Roman people also found Commodus' naked gladiatorial combats as disgraceful and disgusting.[9] It was rumoured that he was actually the son, not of Marcus, but of a gladiator whom his mother Faustina had taken as a lover at the coastal resort of Caieta.[10] In the arena Commodus always won since his opponents always submitted to the emperor. Thus, these public fights would not end in a death. Privately, it was his custom to slay his practice opponents.[11] For each appearance in the arena, he charged the city of Rome a million sesterces, straining the Roman economy.

Commodus did raise the ire of many military officials in Rome for his Hercules persona in the arena. Often wounded soldiers and amputees would be placed in the arena for Commodus to slay with a sword. Commodus' eccentric behavior would not stop there. Citizens of Rome missing their feet due to accident or disease were taken to the arena where they were tethered together for Commodus to club to death while pretending they were giants.[12] These acts may have contributed to his assassination.

Also emperor Neron loved the games so much, that he sometimes appeared in the arena, not so much for fighting, but for entertainment, like, in one case he was acting a wild beast.

[puklo]

Oh. Ah, well, Barbarian, at least that clarifies the question. Live and learn. Thank you so much for the post. Ba-bye-you.

[Puzz3D]

Anybody saw "Knights of the Black Cross"?

No, but I'll have it by Friday. Thanks for the recommendation.

"Alexander" was not good at all;

I've seen Alexander (2004) the theatrical release (175 min), the director's cut (168 min) and the revisited version (220 min). I agree that the theatrical release was not well done, but I think the director's cut is very good with the flashbacks properly placed within the narrative. The revisited version is too long and includes the dubious private scenes from the theatrical release which were removed from the director's cut, and also some additional but gratuitous close up gore during the battles. Within the limitations of a movie, the director's cut conveys the essence of Alexander's character as best we will ever know it using tertiary sources such as Putarch of Chaeronea and Arrian of Nicomedia. The authors lived more than three centuries after the events they described, but they used older, nearly contemporary sources, that are now lost. The film only portrays two battles due to the cost of staging these battles, and it's unfortunate that the filmmaker didn't include the additional battle in which Alexander was actually wounded because how it happened is even more dramatic than the silly confrontation with the elephant. However, the essential elements that his men hesitated to attack and that Alexander was fearless in battle was portrayed as the cause of him being wounded which is accurate.

[Molonthegreat]

Well i think that Gladiator is a brilliant movie it has nice action scenes and great dramatic scene i just love the opening scene against the germanic tribes its great.

[puklo]

Hi again, people.
@ Puzz3D: Well, my friend, thank you for telling that there were actually THREE versions of Alexander. I'm sorry to say that I'm not that extensively informed about the life of ancient heroes. Now that you said it, I know better. As Bushi 144 had implied, western historical movies usually aren't as faithful to history as Japanese (and quite a few Chinese) movies are. At least, a few western movies, like Braveheart for example, are truer to the original story of the real guy than some others are. Another example was "The Lion in Winter" which was truer to the spirit of Shakespeare's play than for the moviemakers to get out of their way to obtain the exact minutiae of Henry's (II) life. Or "Joan of Arc" (both of them) the miniseries TV versions which told their own versions of their story than to present a true historical Jeanne d'Arc.
Very informative discussions we have here--I like it. A lot. Ba-bye, you-all.

[Subedei]

1. Il mestiere delle armi - It is an Italian/French/German production [2001] focussing on the live & death of Giovanni di Medici....great!

2. Monthy Python - "Quest for the Holy Grale"

3. Troy - Brad Pitt running around as Achill is worth watching da movie I think....

4. Aguirre- Klaus Kinski on the quest for El Dorado - definitely worth watching

5. Kingdom of Heavens - A movie which has it's moments - Leaving out the Battle of Hattin felt a bit strange to me

[Guildenstern]

1. Il mestiere delle armi - It is an Italian/French/German production [2001] focussing on the live & death of Giovanni di Medici....great!

It's very interesting but definitely not an easy-to-watch movie. If you're looking for a conventional adventure film then it's not the best choice. You have to pay attention if you want to fully appreciate its value. Besides, I think you need some knowledge of Renaissance military history, considering that the movie is carried out like a documentary. That said, it's a great historical biography about mercenary military captain Giovanni de' Medici, also known as Giovanni of the Black Bands, by one of the greatest Italian directors. The international English title is "The Profession of Arms".

[puklo]

Hi, everyone.
Although Troy is outside the scope of TW, allow me to ask: what really is the style of combat during the Trojan War? Seeing Brad Pitt showcasing his Achilles' talents (an extraordinary range of cast of the javelin, a spectacular dexterity in handling his spear against Hector, etc.), I fall into the conclusion: THIS isn't really how the style of fighting before Troy's walls. And definitely, the phallanx wasn't invented yet (good thing the movie didn't feature any phallanx). So how did the Mycinean-era Greeks fight against the Trojans? At any rate, Brad Pitt is one pretty-looking actor.
By the way (out of topic, but what the heck) Apollo, the "most Greek of all the gods," was originally a god of Troy (and so was Artemis/Diana). The Greeks began to have an Apollo cult only after the Trojan War.
Bye-bye folks! Hope you don't get offended by my out-of-topic.

[cuthach]

I know you will probably laugh, but I would have to say 'The Princes Bride', 'The Mission' and 'Braveheart' are the best films.

[Martok]

I know you will probably laugh, but I would have to say 'The Princes Bride', 'The Mission' and 'Braveheart' are the best films.

I've never seen The Mission, and so I can't comment on it.

The Princess Bride, however -- I presume that's what you meant -- is another story! A good number of people here at the Org are quite fond of that movie, myself included. (Indeed, my best buddy and I can quote the entire Wesley-Inigo fight scene at will.)

The book is excellent too, if you've not already read it.