Someone mentioned a rash of epics that were "mid" from the 2000s. Here is my top 3, just movies that I kind of enjoy watching still from time to time. It cannot be critically acclaimed.

King Arthur
Kingdom of Heaven
Reign of Fire

Honorable mention: The Alamo, Australia, & Hidalgo.

Probably not an epic, but I'd throw Van Helsing into a list if I could from a rewatchable perspective.

Was Apoaclypto critically acclaimed?

It was 65% on RT (so was Last Samurai). So, they are on the edge.

Van Hellstink? Well it did have Kate Beckinsale before her BSC was known.

King Arthur is pretty good btw!

Does Troy count?

Bunk Moreland said:

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Was Apoaclypto critically acclaimed?

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It was by THIS critic!

John Carter
Prince of Persia
Scorpion King
Jumper

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Chronicles of Riddick
The 13th Warrior

I'm sorry but Reign of Fire is too good to be a bad movie, it's so much fun. I rewatched Kingdom of Heaven last year and it was better than I remember. I don't remember it being a bad movie, just something I didn't remember, I think it's just missing another actor to take it up a notch. Maybe it's just that Orlando Bloom was in too much stuff during that time period from the Lord of the Rings movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, Troy, and so on.

Agree on The Last Samurai, but I always wondered what the critical and public response would have been had they gone with the name I suggested...Confederate Ninja.

I can't remember what the critics thought about 300, but it's fun for what it is, but I wouldn't say it's a good movie.

The Patriot is decent one as well from back then, I also can't remember what the critics thought of that one.

Alexander on the other end of the spectrum is just an absolute heaping pile of garbage.

SgtBarbarossa said:

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The 13th Warrior

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I believe that was summer of '99, but I'll allow it. We all watched it in the 2000s.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Troy
Alexander

If you're referring to my post in The Odyssey thread, I never called any previous epics "mid". I was actually claiming them to be superior... but maybe you aren't referring to my post.

And many of these posts are definitely not "mid" movies. Anyone who thinks Master and Commander is a "mid" movie is someone whose opinions on movies should be utterly ignored.

It was this exchange that made me think of the idea.

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veryfuller said:
Maybe go watch Troy and then come back with your takes about how mid the Odyssey is, cause that movie is really terrible.
it sure seems like there were lots of terrible wanna be epic movies in the mid 2000s.

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Lathspell said:

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If you're referring to my post in The Odyssey thread, I never called any previous epics "mid". I was actually claiming them to be superior... but maybe you aren't referring to my post.

And many of these posts are definitely not "mid" movies. Anyone who thinks Master and Commander is a "mid" movie is someone whose opinions on movies should be utterly ignored.

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Well, in all honesty, I have never seen it.

Bunk Moreland said:

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Was Apoaclypto critically acclaimed?

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I was on the beach of the climactic final scene of that film just last week.

Great flick.

It is far, far from "mid". Head and shoulders above The Odyssey.

I'm not sure what classifies a movie as an epic, but I'll go with

300
Apocalypto
Last Samurai

All movies I enjoy and all in the 60s on rotten tomatoes

Seriously, what's with the critic score of 65% for The Last Samurai?!

That's definitely one of those movies I love more, every time I rewatch it.

Hank the Grifter said:

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Rex Racer said:

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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Troy
Alexander

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Anybody who thinks Master and Commander is "mid" doesn't deserve a seat at the table of this conversation.

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Again, I have never seen it.

The Collective said:

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SgtBarbarossa said:

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The 13th Warrior

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I believe that was summer of '99, but I'll allow it. We all watched it in the 2000s.

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It's a great book. I liked it much more than the movie, and that's not a dig against the movie.

Belton Ag said:

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Jaspers Ghost said:

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Reign of Fire is an awesomely bad movie!

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Nope. It was simply awesome.

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I mean it's got a 'flying' Matthew McConaughey dressed like Sergeant Slaughter. What's not to love!

I thought 13th warrior sucked as a kid. Fighting too dark to see, etc. Is it actually good..?

The Alamo movie was intended to much more of an epic; I believe it was initially 3 or maybe 4 hours long, with the perspectives of both sides. You can tell a lot was cut. The camera seems to linger on some of the Mexican soldiers in a way that indicates several of them were at one time larger players in the story.

Side note- I was an extra in some of the scenes that were deleted. Billy Bob Thornton made it a point to come hang out with us a couple of times and sat at my table in the 'extras' area for supper one night. He didn't have to do that. Came across as very friendly.

rhutton125 said:

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I thought 13th warrior sucked as a kid. Fighting too dark to see, etc. Is it actually good..?

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13th Warrior is loosely based on the Old English epic Beowulf.

I love it. I think it's a wonderful movie.

Lathspell said:

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Seriously, what's with the critic score of 65% for The Last Samurai?!

That's definitely one of those movies I love more, every time I rewatch it.

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Some **** critics don't care about rewatchability and just wanted to mock Cruise in Samurai garb. This is a badass movie.

Just to make sure, we're ok with The Last Samurai knocking off Fern Gully, Dances with Wolves, etc.

I think it's more complex than this. Movies are interesting because they all borrow from each other and build off each other. So how much you appreciate a particular movie depends a lot on the age you see it, what similar movies you have seen before it, appreciation for the genre, etc. It's almost impossible to be truly objective.

So critics may crap on a movie you saw and loved in your teens/twenties when the average critic that saw it was in their 40s/50s and have a different context they are putting the movie in. And then when you get older and new movies come out, they still can't touch the original feeling you felt watching that older movie for the first time, and suddenly you are like the critics you railed against. But it may be the first of its kind for someone else and becomes their #1.

So personally, I think most 90s action movies are way better than anything that comes out now, but it's probably because that is the genre standard I judge everything against. Only action movies in the last 10 years that are even in the conversation are John Wick movies and M:I Fallout.

As for epics, The Odyssey is definitely the best of the last decade, IMHO. Master and Commander is incredible. Lord of the Rings, obviously.

As for mid epics from the aughts? It's hard to think of mid movies because they are so forgettable.

Grosse Point Blank

Nm. 1997