It has a big title but that’s because it’s a big category, many o these big Epic Adventures also have war parts to it, many historical films with it being fiction or not are all set around big battles or battles within what there doing, for me, they can often be spectacular and some of the most well-known films in history spanning almost 100 years to films like King Kong, Lawrence of Arabia etc but with myself being born in the 80’s man of the films I hold dear spawn across 80‘s to now.
For me, though it’s a tough list, many films do slightly bridge this but I was keen to keep sci-fi out of it, as well as modern-day war films because I’ve done lists for both of those, and some of these films deserve a separate recognition. As I’ve said previously some of these are my favourites and great to watch at cinemas or a big home cinema experience, they’re often heavily storey led with a combination of that action so it’s often a delicate balance.
Table of Contents
Lord of the Rings
Possibly my favourites films of all time, I don’t like to give definitive number 1s etc, thus the top 5’s across multiple genres etc, but if there’s a film/franchise that goes close its this, I’m a nerd and this type of story, D&D, is my type, and this was filmed and portrayed greatly,
I actually like its length, yes it’s near 3 hours (or longer for extended) but I have no issues, its slow pace at times all the way to giant battle scenes that in 2001-2004 we hadn’t really seen to that level yet, there were many parts of it that we groundbreaking, it might not be your type of thing, you might be a star wars fan, or modern action or something completely different but, for me this mind-blowing when launched and still holds a special place in my heart.
Troy
For me this is a brilliant film, it stars a host of people including Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, and Brad Pitt among others, but not only was the acting solid but the story and action were great, it didn’t at times feel like it had the same grandeur of other Epic films but it did, I don’t always think to remember how good this film is but it really is. If you are a fan of these films I personally would find it hard to name a better.
Kingdon of Heaven
Its Orlando Bloom again (weird) I went into this film not thinking much about it, I hadn’t watched it at the cinema, none of my friends had spoken about it, I think I watched it on Sky Cinema at the time just as a punt, but actually turned out to be a great film, set more in the middle east that often doesn’t get shown that much, it’s interesting to see a different worldly story than the normal American Hollywood blockbusters etc.
Gladiator
Let’s be honest right from the start, if your a fan of action, or historical, or anything else similar, you WILL have watched this film, regarded as one of the modern-day greats with a host of Awards and Oscars and a breakout performance from Russel Crowe, this story is one of the best portrayals of Roman based eras of films for many years and my personal favourites of it.
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves
This film when released was a big film, the Bryan Adams song was even bigger, but the film starring, Kevin Costner, Alan Rickman, Morgan Freeman etc was a big success, and for me the best telling of the Robin Hood story there’s been, it was a solid film though probably slower compared to modern-day films, and less big action it still doesn’t harm it.
Overall
Overall for me, this genre is great, as I mentioned earlier, the films are not as frequent as many other genres, but when they are done right they can be spectacular. There are a few films that could make the list but like I said previously they spawn across other genres and I think these deserved some praise.
Alterative Films that could make a separate list.
The Hobbit | This is, of course, great, but I was fair and left it off for another film.
Braveheart | Many people found this great, i didnt mind it
300 | This should probably be on my list, its one of my favourites, shot very different from other films.
Wrath/Clash of Titans Remake | I actually enjoyed these remakes, the Wrath was not as good but still solid films.
Pirates of the Caribbean | I could write a whole post on this, it should be on my list, number1, and half of number 2, but then it all goes sideways….story for another day, thus it’s not on my 5.
