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Movie Epic Battles - Anything that can trump LOTR?

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JB1981

Member
Helms Deep is the only battle scene in the LOTR triilogy that I like. ROTK was a major disappointment for me, for reasons already stated (green CG army). Really, wide shots of obvious CG armies colliding on the battlefield got old real fast. I know WETA invested a lot of money into their 'Massive' tech but it just alienates the viewer when you know that most everything you are seeing is fake.

I'd much rather they scaled back the numbers and made things more up close and personal. This is why Braveheart had such impact when it first came out. There are real extras and the violence is shocking in its realism.
 

Pezking

Member
I always thought the Battle of Gaugamela in "Alexander" was very well done.

It's one of the few movie battles where you can actually understand the tactics behind it.
 

bud

Member
the thing about the battles in the lord of the rings films is that they look "epic" from far away. but once you get up and close with the characters, you immediately notice that there are always no more than, like, 20 people at a time fighting it out. it really takes me out of the whole thing to be honest.
 

Daft_Cat

Member
OP, I know exactly what you mean. There was just something about the battles in LOTR.

I remember feeling like 300 was the closest thing..but that lacked the emotional investment of the LOTR trilogy. Battles straight up weren't as good either.

I have a feeling that's one crown LOTR will have for quite a while. Only thing that stands up right now is Red Cliff.
 

Amagon

Member
When I think of epic movie battles, I think of Legend of Drunken Master (Drunken Master 2). The scene where Jackie and this other dude were fighting off the Ax gang in a restaurant near the middle/end of the movie. Shit was crazy!!!

Ax Gang Part 1
Ax Gang Part 2
 

jett

D-Member
Anything that can trump LOTR?

Pretty much every decent-good movie with "epic battles"?

LOTR's "big battles" are boring, overwrought, constantly filled with unnecessary OMG SO EPIC sweeps and cartoon-like CGI. There's no tension, no intensity and no interest for me. For the life of me I can't understand how these scenes in TTT and ROTK get any love. Then again I personally don't really like those two anyway. The "small-ish" battle at the end of FOTR is better than anything in the sequels as far as I'm concerned.

So here's a list of movies from directors that know what the fuck they're doing:

Kingdom of Heaven
Braveheart
Gladiator
Ran
The Last Samurai
Master and Commander
Saving Private Ryan
Avatar

I'm probably forgetting a lot more.
 

yacobod

Banned
wasn't there a thread about this like less than a week ago?

either way the Siege of Jerusalem from Kingdom of Heaven shits all over LoTR.

and Braveheart has the best, most violent, and visceral pre-gunpowder battles. no other film is close.
 

andycapps

Member
Spartacus, because none of the armies shown were CGI. Though I do love LOTR.

5462677995_2b848888c9.jpg
 

jett

D-Member
wasn't there a thread about this like less than a week ago?

either way the Siege of Jerusalem from Kingdom of Heaven shits all over LoTR.

and Braveheart has the best, most violent, and visceral pre-gunpowder battles. no other film is close.

It's almost the same, except the last thread was about "historical" battles and wasn't started by someone who has only watched LOTR.
 
This is a bullshit argument and you know it. You have chosen to highlight two isolated moments from LOTR's battle scenes while ignoring their main substance. Resorting to a tactic like that makes you look desperate to fool people into supporting your position.


People have opinions, who knew?

I don't agree with you on a lot of different issues, Monocle, but this post is so spot on I had to quote it.

The battle sequences in The Lord of the Rings are breathtaking and have yet to be matched in the last 10 years of cinema.
 

andycapps

Member
Kingdom of Heaven

screenshot-lrg-08.png

screenshot-lrg-20.png

screenshot-lrg-22.png

screenshot-lrg-29.png

Kingdom of Heaven is a great movie, but the sense of scale in Spartacus puts it over the top for me. That and obviously no CGI. Obviously the battle scenes themselves are dated, but you have to think of the state of movies at the time.

2809_18_large.jpg
 

Chuckie

Member
This is a bullshit argument and you know it. You have chosen to highlight two isolated moments from LOTR's battle scenes while ignoring their main substance. Resorting to a tactic like that makes you look desperate to fool people into supporting your position.

Ghost armies, constant banter, on at least two occasions shitty antics (with horrible CGI) from Legolas are a bit more then two isolated events though.

The approach of the armies at Helms Deep was awesome and very impressive. The Legolas and Gimli banter and antics (and the stupid running orc with the bomb) did ruin the atmosphere for me. So you see a cool army... and then a shot of Gimli going: TWENTY-THRRREEE, TWENTY-FOURRRRRR. For you that might not influence how you enjoy the scene of the battle for me it does. Hence it has a huge influence on the scene in whole hence I find it less epic. It has nothing to do with trying to fool people in supporting my postition.


People have opinions, who knew?

Yeah, but saying beforehand that one's opinion is by default wrong is a bit shitty don't you think?
 

btrboyev

Member
I thought LotR's battles were underwhelming. The best one was during the prologue of Fellowship and that lasted a just a few secs.
 

sammich

Member
Ok for me it has to be Omaha Beach at the start of Saving Private Ryan - following the men as they move from the boats all the way up the beach and clearing out the German pillbox. That trumps them all.

Large numbers of troops, top sniping scene .. it's got the lot. Absolutely no Dwarf tossing.

This right here.. still the best. There is so much more weight and emotion to this than anything in LOTR for me and i love those movies. Braveheart is close as well.
 

Mully

Member
I have a feeling The Dark Knight Rises battle scene will be incredible. Judging from the videos and the hype it should be spectacular.
 

SUPREME1

Banned
Another movie with good battle scenes, though not on such a grand scale as the movies already mentioned is:


The Patriot
 
The battle scenes in the LOTR movies, while showcasing the then incredible and innovative Massive tech, also used quite a lot of practical shots. For example, there were 300-400 real blokes on horses during the filming for the Battle of Pelannor Fields (sp?) I think if Peter Jackson had insisted on mainly or completely practical close shots while restricting the (impressive) CGI to wider shots, it wouldn't look quite as dated.

Another shout out from me for the Siege of Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven.
 

1138

Member
If you don't have any problem watching old movies, then Waterloo and War and Peace by Sergei Bondarchuk has as epic battles as you can get. They were made in the 60s and 70s, and has a crazy amount of extras in the big battle scenes. This is from the wiki article for War and Peace:

I took some snapshots from the Waterloo DVD, might take some from part 3 of War and Peace, which has even more extras, if I manage to find my DVD copy later:

jniWM.jpg


5ebw8.jpg


3uKQD.jpg
 

Edmond Dantès

Dantès the White
I took some snapshots from the Waterloo DVD, might take some from part 3 of War and Peace, which has even more extras, if I manage to find my DVD copy later:

jniWM.jpg


5ebw8.jpg


3uKQD.jpg
Such an underrated film, with a very good portrayal of Bonaparte by Rod Steiger.
 

JWong

Banned
Haters hating without their choices.

Props to all the classics. I also love Saving Private Ryan, and Braveheart was great. Will look at those classics.

But... I don't think I see anything that's actually newer than LOTR...

I mean, I would put down 300 at least.
 

jett

D-Member
Haters hating without their choices.

Props to all the classics. I also love Saving Private Ryan, and Braveheart was great. Will look at those classics.

But... I don't think I see anything that's actually newer than LOTR...

I mean, I would put down 300 at least.

Kingdom of Heaven is from 2005




300 is crap.
 
Eh I'd probably only say Master and Commander and Saving Private Ryan.

I really liked LOTR' action sequences. Most notably for the really cool imagery and music accompanying it (dat Gandalf/Rohirrim charge)
 

FStop7

Banned
The start and finale of Helm's Deep are absolutely God tier. But the meat of the battle itself is middle of the road.

The Battle of Pelannor Fields is below average.

There was too much reliance on CG for those and they haven't aged well. The best fight is the one at the end of Fellowship. Which is of course the one with the least CG.

Bravheart's battles were consistently awesome. Go watch it, they hold up very well today.

I just watched the Director's Cut of Kingdom of Heaven, second time I've seen the movie at all since it came out. The battles are pretty good. I was a little disappointed that we didn't really see much of anything of the actual Battle of Hattin - just the aftermath. That always feels like a cop out in films because it screams 'we didn't have the budget'.
 
Pretty much every decent-good movie with "epic battles"?

LOTR's "big battles" are boring, overwrought, constantly filled with unnecessary OMG SO EPIC sweeps and cartoon-like CGI. There's no tension, no intensity and no interest for me. For the life of me I can't understand how these scenes in TTT and ROTK get any love. Then again I personally don't really like those two anyway. The "small-ish" battle at the end of FOTR is better than anything in the sequels as far as I'm concerned.

So here's a list of movies from directors that know what the fuck they're doing:

Kingdom of Heaven
Braveheart
Gladiator
Ran
The Last Samurai
Master and Commander
Saving Private Ryan
Avatar

I'm probably forgetting a lot more.

Definately agree with LOTR. But Gladiator had shit battles.
 

JB1981

Member
Definately agree with LOTR. But Gladiator had shit battles.
The staccato imagery once Maximus gets in the thick of it wasn't so great but you have to admit that the buildup with the Roman messenger coming back headless, followed by Maximus' "echoes in eternity" speech followed by the battle cries of the Barbarians, followed by the archers igniting their arrows, followed by the wide shot of the catapults firing above a marching Roman front line WAS FUCKING AWESOME AND
 

Edmond Dantès

Dantès the White
The staccato imagery once Maximus gets in the thick of it wasn't so great but you have to admit that the buildup with the Roman messenger coming back headless, followed by Maximus' "echoes in eternity" speech followed by the battle cries of the Barbarians, followed by the archers igniting their arrows, followed by the wide shot of the catapults firing above a marching Roman front line WAS FUCKING AWESOME AND
Not to mention the ROMA VICTOR! battle cry from Maximus.
 
The staccato imagery once Maximus gets in the thick of it wasn't so great but you have to admit that the buildup with the Roman messenger coming back headless, followed by Maximus' "echoes in eternity" speech followed by the battle cries of the Barbarians, followed by the archers igniting their arrows, followed by the wide shot of the catapults firing above a marching Roman front line WAS FUCKING AWESOME AND



Arrows shot was incredible. everything else was just sort of Random. I preffered everything else on Jett's list over it.
 
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