Helms Deep - Greatest Battle Ever?

[aceguide]

Watched the MTV Movie Awards last night (Yoda rocks!) and was reminded of how great the Helms Deep battle is in LOTR TTT.

It got me thinking about some of the large scale battle scenes movies have brought us over time. I'm not talking about Luke/Vader or Neo/Agent Smith one-on-one fights - but truly epic, large scale battles in film.

Certainly, Star Wars has a lot of excellent sequences, on a grand scale with plenty of action. I believe I would include the space battles in addition to the more recent battle on Geonesis. Then there's Braveheart, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, the Patriot ("Bravehart America"), Platoon - this list goes on and on - that all had some remarkable moments where hundreds of actors/cgi's clashed in battles to the death.

My question is this - Is Helms Deep the new measure for on screen battles? Is it the best?

I believe it is. Both time I saw it on the big screen I was simply awestruck by not only the scale, but the tedious level of detail put into every shot. That, sombined with some intense action, makes it the best in my book.

So, fellow forumites, what do you think?????

[The Overlord Returns]

Oh Good lord I disagree..............in a big way.

Helms Deep was fine and all, but I wasn't blown away by it the way so many others were.

Remember, throughout the history of film there have been a LOT of great large scale battle scenes......

[aceguide]

I agree - the decision is difficult.

However, I would be interested in what your thoughts are as to what is better. That is other than your initial basic disagreement.

[The Overlord Returns]

Well....the opening scene in "Saving Private Ryan" would certainly rank higher for me.

The Battle in "Spartacus" comes to mind, also, Kurasowa's "Ran" had massive, beautifully shot epic battle sequences, again something I would put ahead of helms deep.

[Kidhuman]

Private Ryan....Awesome opening battle.

ESB...Hoth battle is great. Loved it

Patriot, Gladiator, Braveheart...pretty much the same. Those scenes where pretty much the same battle in differernt costumes to me.

As for the greatest battle scene of all time, I dunno. There have been really good ones, just enjoy them all I say.

[Exhaust Port]

I think a lot of the older war movies had more battles with an epic feel. I'm not necessarily saying WWII or WWI movies but just old movies about war. I can't remember specifics as I'm not a big movie buff but I've seen some where they used local armies of thousands to recreate these super large scale battles. I just don't get the same feeling from todays computer generated super armies.

"Ran" gets my vote for best epic battle!

[Jargo]

There's an ancient black and white silent movie detailing the fall of rome and that has got to be the best battle scenes ever commited to film. All the CGI assisted ones are nothing when compared the scale of the ancient movies and the poor equipment used to capture it. That achievement alone marks out the old movies as better.
The advancements in technology allow for breathtaking visuals but they don't really have a human quality that the older movies do. That's why i like the LOTR movies because where you get real fighting it is indeed real and blood is spilled for real. The actors put everything into it and there's no stunt doubles used in hand to hand combat scenes. Apart from the really tricky shots with the wizards fight. but that's a different kettle of fish.
One more thing, in LOTR they use CGI arrows for safety and to make sure they have the arrow reach its mark. In the older movies made back in the early 20th century they used real projectiles, you have a scene where an army unleashes a barrage of arrows that rain down on their foes and the arrows are real sticks.
Wherever real weapons are used or real effects like explosions are set off it looks a hundred times better than CGI.

[jpak001]

Man, I totally enjoyed the Helms Deep battle scene. Could possibly be my favorite battle scene as well, but it really is hard to say...... Probably a toss-up between Saving Private Ryan and Helms Deep.

I think the reason I'm so drawn to it is because it's a totally fantasy situation. Not to mention it was just plain fun to watch!

Personally, I do appreciate the older movies (Sparticus, etc..), but the newer flicks (done with a lot of CGI) don't bother me or make me like them any less. I don't care how the do it, as long as the results are great!

[James Boba Fettfield]

I like the battles from Glory, especially the attack on Ft. Wagner.