The ear scene in Reservoir Dogs.

Also, when Henry Fonda guns down the family in the beginning of Once Upon the Time in the West.

I think westerns and asian movies tend to have a lot of "epic" scenes. I can name a number from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Leaves, Curse of the Golden Flower, etc.

They probably don't get any more "epic" than the chariot race scene from "Ben Hur".

I see your epic scene, and raise you an epic scene :-


- The final showdown in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

OR

- The climactic showdown in Kung Fu Hustle.


Take your pick - either one, I win. :D

V, great description on the scene in pLatoon, I probably would not have remembered it if you hadnt mentioned it, but that scene is one that stays with you in great detail for the rest of your life. Another one from Platoon is the group walking away as the village burns in the background and pockets of weapons explode. Everyone is devestated by what just happened, except for the jerkoffs who are just pissed at everything.


Hall of mirrors in Equilibrium. The puppy gunfight too.


The climax of 28 Days Later. The moddy guitar music overlaying the rain, all filmed in high speed digital giving it an unreal and hyper real feel at the same time. The Infected tearing around the mansion, juxtaposed with Jim running around like an angel of death, culminating with one of the most brutally satisfying kills ever.


The closing fight of Fellowship of the ring. I love it when aragorn is facing the crowd of uruk hai, and you dont doubt for a second that he is going to come out on top.

its funny - but the scene that got me the most was a smaller one - where charlie sheen was freaking out in confusion because he couldnt tell where the bullets were coming from, if it was friendly fire or not ..

it was the 1st war film i saw that conveyed that experience - that it wasnt one clearly marked side shooting at another clearly marked side ... that at times it was a giant lethal clusterfuck that would take a miracle to make it out of alive.

you used one of my favorite words in the statement.

Platoon is one o fthose rare movies where the whole damn thing was practially an epic scene. Even the one where they are burning barrels of human waste. It was the pinacle of Oliver Stone's carreer in my book.

i use it all the time myself

Absolutely.

When they come across one of their own by the river, throat slit and layed up in front of the tree...

When the fat dude gets shot during night-shift, and is bleeding torrents among the confusion and chaos...

The kids crying behind-the-scene as Charlie Sheen chances upon them (and his fellow soldiers) in sheer horror and disgust..."She's a fucking human being man!" and gets spat upon...

...Its not a war movie by any means, its an exercise, in identification. Its basically a journey of every human on this planet, in discovering himself.

There is so much unsaid and being conveyed in currents throughout the movie (specially through Sheen's describing to his Grandma)..."We didn't fight the enemy, we fought ourselves..."

...goodness, if ever they handed out a prize for the Best Epic Movie Ever Made, Platoon would be my immediate choice. And a strong contender for the prize.

I like Lethal too :)